Question on Mixing Medications - Antibiotic and Anthelmintic

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Kilgore

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
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147
Location
Portland, OR
Hello,

Has anyone had experience mixing an anthelmintic with an antibiotic? I am trying to treat a secondary infection of columnaris on guppies that are infected with a Protozoan. They were treated with PrazTastic (i.e. PraziPro) six days ago but I am going to repeat the treatment tomorrow after a PWC because they are still flashing. I have given them medicated food as well.

I believe the males have a secondary infection of columnaris (due to the saddleback appearance of the discoloration behind their dorsal fins).
So I was thinking of treating with Maracyn 2, which treats gram-negative bacteria, since Columnaris is gram-negative. Any thoughts, or cautions?

Please let me know soon as I plan to treat starting tomorrow.
 
Should be fine, IMHO. What kind of medicated food are you giving them? Since PraziPro treats internal parasites, I don't see the need to dose them both, and the antibiotic. Otherwise, the two(anthelmintic and antibiotic) shouldn't give you any negative results.
 
Thanks for the prompt reply. I was treating with the Praztastic to treat the protozoan issue in conjunction with the Jungle Labs medicated food to treat the Flex - antibiotic variety, which contains sodium sulfathiazole and nitrofurazone. I thought about doing a round of the anti-parasitic medicated food because supposedly the metronidazole is effective against Flex, but didn't want to overdo it on the praziquantel.

Unfortunately they are not taking well to the food - it is pellets rather than flakes. I tried soaking it in garlic and they still didn't seem interested. Besides, I am not sure those antibiotics (sodium sulfathiazole and nitrofurazon) are particularly effective against Flex.

I am hoping the Maracyn 2 will do it alone, but I have read that one should combine it with Maracyn for best results. Based on my recent experience of Maracyn killing off my filter bacteria, however, I am loathe to use it in the main tank. And since all the guppies have symptoms, quarantine is not an option since they would likely just die from poor water quality and stress in QT. :(

Before this post, I tried to call Mardel and just got voicemail. When I called the PrazTastic company to see about mixing the praziquantel with Maracyn or Maracyn 2, their vet said "you don't mix erythromycin with anything." Which is funny, because that is the active ingredient in Maracyn and the instructions for it say it can be used concurrently with other medications. So neither customer service center has been helpful thus far.

Since the first PrazTastic treatment is over tomorrow, I think I will do a water change, treat for the Flex, which is arguably more urgent, and then repeat the PrazTastic later if I have to. That way, I am not running anything concurrently. But if someone is sure that doing so wouldn't be a problem, please let me know.
 
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