Kanamycin Dosing and Biology experiments

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jessibell

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
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Northern BC
I have two bettas with a mild but worsening case of popeye - I have tried treating them with melafix, pimafix, indian almond tea, but no cigar. The only antibiotic our pet store had was kanaplex (kanamycin) and the directions say to dose every two days - my question is, do I just add the new dose to the existing water, or change the water and then dose the new water?

Internet sites reccomend Ampicillin. If this does not work I am going to try to get some.

I am taking microbiology right now and for an extra curricular project I am streaking a couple plates from these tanks for isolated colonies to see what i can identify. Of course, there should be a multitude of bacteria in there and which one(s) causing the popeye won't be identifiable, but I can test some of these colonies for antibiotic resistance, just for fun. I currently have a two plates testing e. coli and staph against both indian almond leaf extract and melafix (at the reccomended aquarium dilution, not concentrated right from the bottle) to see how effective they are against gram - and +. Should be interesting.
 
If it's not internal parasites, you can try getting rid of the popeye with clean water, or use salt.
I would do a water change before dosing the meds. Bettas only take 1/2 doses also.
 
Thanks dkpate, it is good to know the little bettas only need half. I have been changing the water every 2 or 3 days (they are in one gallon containers kept separate) and have been adding a touch of salt to the water, but perhaps it is not enough. What dose of salt would you add? (I am just putting in a pinch per gallon at the moment)
 
Sorry for the late response, I have been afk.

When I dosed the salt, the first day I did 1/2 tsp per gallon, dissolved before putting in tank, and on the second day I dosed 1 tsp per gallon. Salt does not evaporate, so you have to manually remove it. If you put 1/2 tsp in one day, and do a 50% water change the next day, you would only need to add 1/2 tsp more, to make 1 tsp, hope that makes sense.
Do not use salt for more than 10 days with bettas, as it affects their kidneys. :(
 
Unless packaging has changed, the dose for Kanamyacin is too low. The brand I had recommended 150mg per 10 gals. In the Tetra Manual of Fish Health, the recommended dosage is 12 -13mg per liter. That is almost 3 times higher. They recommend a 5 day bath, applied daily and with daily partial water changes of 25%. Kanamyacin is supposedly absorbed through gills and tissues, which should make it more effective than many of the other commomnly used antibiotics.
 
The dosage instructions on the package indicate 180 mg/5 gallons. (there is a little pre-measured spoon in there) It works out to 36 mg per gallon and only 9.4 mg per litre (assuming 1 gal = 3.8 L)

Since I only have 1 gallon containers, I mix 180 mg with 5cc of aquarium water in a syringe, fully dissolved, and add 1cc/gallon of that solution to each of my infected containers and repeat every 2 days with a full water change, and not to exceed 3 doses. I can easily increase it to 13 mg/L with a little bit of math for my final dose. I have one more dose left to go and still no change. I did some reading and it has been suggested to use nitrofurazone at the same time, so that is my next step. (although I won't he using the kanamycin at the same time because I will be done dosing)

I have also heard that kanamycin can be hard on their kidneys as well so it is not reccomended for long term exposure.

Thanks for all the information!
 
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