Fish Q&A Section: Using Antibiotics
There is much controversy when it comes to using antibiotics on
tropical fish and Koi. Applications are confusing, and
everywhere you go for advice, someone is telling you something
different.
To clear a few things up, we have created this section, so
treatments with antibiotics are less confusing.
If you have purchased our products here at National Fish
Pharmaceuticals, you will notice on the label that we tell you to
use the product every 24 hours with a 25% water change before each
treatment. Then we instruct you to treat for 10 days.
However, if you have a body of water that is 100 gallons of water
or larger, the antibiotics will stay effective much longer, and not
dissipate out as quickly as say... a 10 gallon tank. So
instead of treating every 24 hours, we suggest treating every 3 days
with a 25% water change before each treatment. This will not
only save you some water changes, but some money on medications
also.
Rules of thumb:
1). Always use antibiotics for at least 10 days to prevent
a resistant strain of bacteria from developing.
2). Antibiotics may not be used as preventatives, or as a
"dip". You can create problems doing this.
3). Never mix any antibiotics together without proper
consultation. Some antibiotics are not compatible when mixed,
and the results can be fatal to your fish.
4). If you are treating your water with antibiotics, do not
feed your fish during the treatment time. This may cause
Ammonia levels to become toxic, and besides...fish can go up to 30
days without eating anything and be perfectly fine.
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