Three Medications.........What Is Best Or All Good?

[ClassicRocker]

Decided to get a fungus/bacteria treatment to have on hand. In reading postings and reviews, these were the three best (?), BUT, some people did have problems with each as well. Some people stated that the problems were due to people not following directions on how to use.

API Tetracycline
API Fungus Cure
Seachem Paraguard

Last night we bought the API Tetracycline (coupon sale).
Please remember, we don't have a problem currently, but want a good product on hand if needed.

Would like to know what the folks in this forum think of these three.

Thanks

 

[jlk]

Decided to get a fungus/bacteria treatment to have on hand. In reading postings and reviews, these were the three best (?), BUT, some people did have problems with each as well. Some people stated that the problems were due to people not following directions on how to use.

API Tetracycline
API Fungus Cure
Seachem Paraguard

Last night we bought the API Tetracycline (coupon sale).
Please remember, we don't have a problem currently, but want a good product on hand if needed.

Would like to know what the folks in this forum think of these three.

Thanks

Of the three, I would not chose any for addressing a fungal issue or a bacterial infection.

Tetracycline has a very limited scope of treatment, the highest degree of antibiotic resistance thanks to misuse and abuse and can become toxic at or beyond its expiration date.

Paraguard is a malachite green base and is useful for specific parasite issues.

API fungus is a malachite green base with acriflavine (antibacterial, not antibiotic).

If your seeking a 'general' treatment that can address fungal and some bacterial issues, Tetra's fungus meds contain two antibiotics and an antifungal med.

True fungus is actually not that common and is usually secondary to an already present bacterial infection and/or open wounds/slime coat damage. Unhealthy water is the largest culprit in true fungus issues. Please ask any questions!

 

[Delapool]

Of the three, I would not chose any for addressing a fungal issue or a bacterial infection.

Tetracycline has a very limited scope of treatment, the highest degree of antibiotic resistance thanks to misuse and abuse and can become toxic at or beyond its expiration date.

Paraguard is a malachite green base and is useful for specific parasite issues.

API fungus is a malachite green base with acriflavine (antibacterial, not antibiotic).

If your seeking a 'general' treatment that can address fungal and some bacterial issues, Tetra's fungus meds contain two antibiotics and an antifungal med.

True fungus is actually not that common and is usually secondary to an already present bacterial infection and/or open wounds/slime coat damage. Unhealthy water is the largest culprit in true fungus issues. Please ask any questions!

Could you list the tetras fungal med ingredients if known? Just out if interest but hugely curious

Edit - found it but still none the wiser as had never heard of it. Potassium what's it??

'two antibiotics (nitrofurazone & furizolidone) and an anti fungal (potassium dichromate)'

 

[jlk]

Could you list the tetras fungal med ingredients if known? Just out if interest but hugely curious

Edit - found it but still none the wiser as had never heard of it. Potassium what's it??

'two antibiotics (nitrofurazone & furizolidone) and an anti fungal (potassium dichromate)'

It's potassium dichromate (antifungal) and two fura antibiotics. I believe they are nitrofurazone and furazolidone which are the same fura antibiotics in Furan2. Tetra may have changed the formulation but this is what used to contain. Jungle fungus tabs have the same ingredients but as Tetra bought out Jungle years ago, the product was discontinued and changed into Tetra fungus tabs. The Jungle fungus tabs are still around though. Hope this helps!

 

[Delapool]

It's potassium dichromate (antifungal) and two fura antibiotics. I believe they are nitrofurazone and furazolidone which are the same fura antibiotics in Furan2. Tetra may have changed the formulation but this is what used to contain. Jungle fungus tabs have the same ingredients but as Tetra bought out Jungle years ago, the product was discontinued and changed into Tetra fungus tabs. The Jungle fungus tabs are still around though. Hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for the reply. It seems I must do more research I think I'll have to start compiling a list, my head is full....

 

[ClassicRocker]

Read more reviews about API Tetracycline.........some loved this medication and what it did, while others didn't. Was going to take it back to store, but decided to keep it. We wanted to have a good medication available to us, just in case.

Our beta has had two fungus and/or bacterial attacks since we've got it in February. For the first attack, we used a 5-day treatment of Jungle All-In-One Lifeguard and it really worked great. Unfortunately, had another attack a few weeks later, used the leftover Jungle treatment.........but it didn't work at all that time. Our beta lost part of it's dorsal and tail fins. We read about using AQ Salt, but all of our plants are live ones and I read that live plants don't do well with a salt treatment. Anyway, our beta has been doing fine for the last month and has a terrific appetite. I do fast him once a week and have increased the w/c's to 40% from 20% each week.

I have Prime and Stress Coat Plus and it seems like both put an "oily" slick on the top of part of the water. Guess this "slick" doesn't hurt fish........just sort of ugly looking.

 

[Delapool]

Information on tetracycline in link.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumMedication2.html

For gram negative bacteria like columnaris it isn't much use. I tried it anyway with no success.

I was reading a post last night that said fin rot can be treated with gram positive/ negative meds but gram positive meds like tetracycline are more likely to kill off good bb.

Salt I find a useful tonic.

 

[jlk]

Read more reviews about API Tetracycline.........some loved this medication and what it did, while others didn't. Was going to take it back to store, but decided to keep it. We wanted to have a good medication available to us, just in case.

Our beta has had two fungus and/or bacterial attacks since we've got it in February. For the first attack, we used a 5-day treatment of Jungle All-In-One Lifeguard and it really worked great. Unfortunately, had another attack a few weeks later, used the leftover Jungle treatment.........but it didn't work at all that time. Our beta lost part of it's dorsal and tail fins. We read about using AQ Salt, but all of our plants are live ones and I read that live plants don't do well with a salt treatment. Anyway, our beta has been doing fine for the last month and has a terrific appetite. I do fast him once a week and have increased the w/c's to 40% from 20% each week.

I have Prime and Stress Coat Plus and it seems like both put an "oily" slick on the top of part of the water. Guess this "slick" doesn't hurt fish........just sort of ugly looking.

Do you have a liquid test kit for your parameters? What do they read?

It's always best to start with water quality then progress to other possible causes for ill health. Prime nor Stress Coat cause an oily residue on water surfaces so I suspect something else is behind what you are experiencing. Certain foods can create this effect as can other issues such excess debris hidden in the substrate or filter media with heavy waste buildup.

Lifeguard is nothing more than a stabilized form of chlorine and it's only FDA approved use is as a contact lens disinfectant. As fish meds are not regulated in the US, the grandiose claims this product makes are a bit ridiculous and it generally can cause more harm than good. It's important to know what you are adding to your tank and why you are adding it in order to be able to understand the benefits and risks of any product. With meds, this is especially important. Please ask any questions!

 

[Matt68005]

Okay, First lesson, dont believe everything you hear or read on a bottle, coz 99% of it is false.
Tetracycline medicines have been used for so long that most modern infectious bacteria have long ago evolved to be immune to it. It turns your water brown, froths bubbles all over the place, dosent kill diddly, BUT WAIT, it does kill you Beneficial bacteria.
Fungus cure is a mildly effective medicine, just don't get it on your hands or let your dog drink it, its unsafe for humans and pets.
Never used Paraguard, will problably work tho.
Id say ditch the teracycline and get a real antibiotic like kanamycin or maracyn-2, even triple sulfa would work better than that. Your prboably okay with the other two. Malachite green is mildly effective for fungus but is more for parasites, so definately you got parasites covered.
Methylene Blue, (liquid) is completely safe, kills fungus like a rockstar, and even has mild bacterial help, and increases the oxygenated blood in the fish's body. it kills Benificial bacteria, but not too bad. What i would reccomend is treat the main tank while the filter runs somewhere else (a bucket of DL'd water?) and throw a little food in there (the bucket) and treat the whole tank for a week 5ml per ten gallon, or so its medium blue (4ml, 3ml, whatever the color is check everyday and keep it medium to darkish for a week and no more fungus)
Like devapol said, salt is great to use for bacterial infections, thats why they use to pack food in it. Just make sure dissolve it in a bucket with an airstone agitating it for at least 30 minutes before adding it to your tank.