Maracyn

[tender]

Hi!
I have finally been able to get hold of Maracyn (which is quite a job here in Norway, as the medicaton is illegal).

However, the Maracyn I have is Maracyn 1. Is this the right product to use in connection with skinny disease?

I suddenly started to wonder if it was Maracyn 2 that was recommended?

Kind regards
Marius

[raecarrow]

Maracyn and Maracyn-2 are used for the treatment of fungal and bacterial infections. (pop eye, columaris, fin/tail rot, etc) not for skinny disease.

The recommended treatment for skinny disease is Levamisole Hydrochloride (a pig dewormer, preferably in a water soluable form). Skinny disease is caused by intestinal parasites, not an infection.

Here is the Loaches Online page about treating skinny disease.
http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/l ... chloride-1

You will have to do research to find out how you may be able to get this medicine in your country. I have no knowledge if it is illegal or not.

[tender]

Hello!
No that is not quite correct. I`m fully aware of the different meds. However, Maracyn is also used against skinny, as it can also be an infection. Ref http://www.geocities.com/pktechlizard/skinny.htm

My question is whether it is Maracyn 1 or 2 which is used

[Ashleigh]

Raecarrow, the problem with 'Skinny disease' is that if you just treat for parasites ect, generally the fish will be exposed to secondary infection due to the stress it was under and also the damage that was caused by the parasites. It is always best to do a 'general' bacterial treatment after all parasite treatments have been carried out, to ensure that this does not happen. I have had baby cl, who have under went a number of parasite treatments, but only started make an vast improvement when Shari recomended me to treat for secondary bacterial infections


Tender I think its a combo of both or just Maracyn but Im not 100%, although Ive only used Maracyn 1 as the Maracyn 2 I was sent was out of date It seemed to work regardless though


Ashleigh

[tender]

Thanks Ashleigh!
I performed a Flubenol cure quite some time ago. Should I now do another one, before giving Maracyn or should I use the Maracyn right away?

By the way: the leaflet says 1 packet pr ten gallons. We work with liters here in Norway. How do I know if it is canadian gallons or "the other gallon"

Kind regards
Marius

[raecarrow]

Ashleigh - I was never told that I would have to do another treatment for secondary infecitons. I'm in the middle of treating my guppies and loaches for intestinal parisites. Great to know this info. I would hate to see my poor guppies and loaches die because of my ignorance.

Tender - Sorry about what I said. As noted in my response to Ashleigh above, I had no idea that a treatment for secondary bacterial infections was part of the regime. From your post, I thought you were treating skinny disease exclusively with Maracyn. Sorry for the confusion.

[Ashleigh]

Tender, Im not 100% sure on gallon conversions but.... if you have the measurements in inches, multiply them all together and divide by 231 that will give you US gallons. I have never left gaps between treatments, I do two-three weeks of 'parasite' treatment and then an antibiotic straight after. Im not sure if I gap would affect this or not-I assume if the fish in question are gaining some weight then the 'parasite' problem should be cleared up. You can always do another treatement if things don't improve.

Glad to hear you eventually got hold of some worming product-I remember you were having a hard time getting hold of some



Raecarrow, no problem. We are all hear to learn I only learnt to treat as my fish were not gaining weight as I would have liked, it was Shari that was kind enough to suggest this to me, to be honest I didn't quite believe it, but it sure did work I guess one always has to consider every single option when treating for possible nasties.



Ashleigh

[Diana]

Maracyn is active ingredient erythromycin, and treats Gram positive bacteria. Most (9but not all) fish bacterial diseases are caused by Gram negative bacteria. Maracyn II treats Gram negative bacteria. Neither treat fungus, except in the sense that some bacteria problems are mis-called 'Fungus' that are actually bacterial in origin.

The timing that seemed to work for my fish was to alternate between anti-parasite and antibacterial meds.
Parasites follow a life cycle that varies with each species, but in general they have some phase of their life that is vulnerable to parasite meds and some parts that are resistant to these meds. By timing the meds correctly you get several generations of the parasites as they become vulnerable.
Re-read Shari's article, but if I remember the timing is to alternate a 5 day anti-bacterial treatment with several days of parasite meds with plenty of water changes to remove the fallen parasites. Do a total of 3 parasite treatments and 2 bacterial treatments.

If you want to use Maracyn, use both, at the same time. The bacteria that they each kill are different, and the two products work well together to slow the growth of most of the bacteria that may be causing problems for the fish.

[raecarrow]

Diana - I know what you mean. I was trying everything I had in my arsenal to treat something in my guppies (Tetracycline, Pimafix, Melafix, etc) but nothing was working and my guppies were dropping like flies.

I told people that my guppies got and opaque white band on their bodies and then the scales would lift up (like a pine cone) and white fuzzy stuff would grow out from under the scales. The only thing people focused on was the "pine cone" part of the symphtoms and not anything else and told me it was Dropsy. The problem with that diagnosis was that the pine coning was only in the white fuzzy area, and the fish didn't "bloat". Through rigorous internet searches and good advice from someone on Yahoo Answers I found out that my guppies had a bad strain of Columnaris that Maracyn Plus would treat. Unfortunately, the guppy that had it the worst died but the rest of my fish were saved. They are now free of that particular nasty and I am going on to treat them for skinny disease because some of the babies looked hollowed out. I will also get started on treating my loaches as soon as I get them moved to my new place, my Zebra is nice and fat but my Yoyo and kuhlies aren't putting on any weight (though they don't look hollowed out) I want to make sure they are healthy before moving them to a new tank I will be setting up for them and getting them some new friends.

[tender]

If you want to use Maracyn, use both, at the same time. The bacteria that they each kill are different, and the two products work well together to slow the growth of most of the bacteria that may be causing problems for the fish.

Thanks Diana!
So it`s not enough with Maracyn 1. That means I will have to wait a couple of weeks because the meds have to be ordered from petco. They are the only firm that still ships to Norway. Because of the big risk of it beeing seized by customs most other firms don`t ship here anymore

But then I can start with treating with Flubenol (wormer plus) 3 times in a row, (it is a 7 day cure) and then follow up with maracyn. Have I understood you correctly? And one last question: I believe to have read that Maracyn does not affect filter-bacteria. Is this correct?

Again; thanks for all the help!

Kind regards
Marius

[Diana]

I have used both Maracyns together and the nitrifying bacteria were not affected. I have heard stories of some who have used these products and did have problems. The label says they are safe.

[Ashleigh]

I can also agree with Diana that I have never had any problems using Maracyn in an established tank


Ashleigh