Purple Tang w/Pop-Eye...treatment ?

[lazluvtoo]

My purple tang has had a bad case of pop-eye for the past month. After several water changes, it has remained unchanged. The fish is swimming around and eating normally.

I am at a point where I would like to move him to a "hospital tank" to treat him with Maracyn 2.

Questions:

1. Is this the antibiotic of choice for pop-eye?

2. Is it OK to run an external filter in this tank with carbon, or will the carbon filter out the medication?

Any other input would be helpful as well.

Thanks!
Cindy

 

[kevin2000]

Maracyn 2 should be fine ... use twice the mfg recommended dosage.

I would not run carbon when your using any meds in a QT.

 

[camocustom]

no dont, trust me on this...you have to catch him in order to do this...and be quick about it...maracyn kills precious nitrifying bacteria. anyway....what you do.... get E.M. tabs(erythromycin) and crush it into powder, then get your purple out and quickly sprinkle directly onto BOTH eyes, and put him back in...you have to do this daily for 3-4 days.....its a trick that i learned thats passed down. IT WORKS, did it with big Majestic Angel

 

[camocustom]

nevermind about the bacteria, move him to that hospital, but still dont use the maracyn, its still very very stressful, and never use twice the mfg dose, thats not good at all....EVER

 

[kevin2000]

There are a zillion threads on this subject on the disease forum.

Maracyn 2 has been proven as an effective method for treating bacterial infections.

Maracyn is erythomicin which is not considered a great antibiotic in a marine environment but will work in a pinch. Maracyn 2 is simply Minocycline which is considered a better antibiotic in SW but also "weak" (which is why many recommend using twice the dosage). Nitrofurazone, Nitrofurazone, Neomycin and Kanamycin are stronger antibiotics but are often hard to find at your LFS.

This subject is covered under the disease FAQ sticky at the top of the page. I could not get the FAQ to open .. might be one of RC's many "search feature overloaded problems" or something else.

Heres a thread on the subject from the archieves .. might help.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8440

 

[lazluvtoo]

Thanks for the tips!

More questions..

My local pet store did not carry Maracyn 2 for sw so I picked up Maroxy. Is this OK?

Also...I am planning to run an AquaClear Power filter for water circulation w/o the carbon...OK, right?

Thanks for ref to the link...I will check it out!

Cindy