Erythromycin good for discus with fin rot?

[Diann62]

I have a 110 gallon planted tank with 6 discus. One of the discus's fins are frayed. I'm assuming I have fin rot. The rest look OK.

I just got back from a trip and had someone clean the tank twice while I was away (went for a week). He said 2 of the discuses died.

I went to the LFS last night and he gave me E.M. Erythromycin. Upon reading the instructions I didn't get enough and need to buy 2 more boxes. This treatment will cost me $80.00. I'll pay it if that's the best treatment. I'm just wondering is it? Should I be using anything else?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Star_Rider]

I would make sure to check water quality.
then look for aggression in the tank.
damaged fins really do not need any medication to heal.. high quality(aka clean) water will do the trick.

but you need to find out why the fins got damaged.

fin rot is a Sx. that could be caused by a multitude of issues.


poor water quality( ammonia spikes etc. ) will give the same Sx.

aggression will also lead to similar Sx.

Is this a Discus only tank?

Diann62,
I had to deal with fin damage on wild angels that were too long in the transport.

some had nearly their entire find eaten away .. clean water did the trick for them

specifically I had the angels in very low TDS water. my kh and gh are really low so I mixed RO with tap and added peat.
this got the fish in acidic water bacteria in this case was pretty non existent.
water changes were done daily.

but I have also done the same with tap and had the same results.

I believe that clean water helps the fish remain healthy and allows their immune mechanisms to go into over drive.

 

[stephcps]

I agree with Star...may just need some nice water changes. When I medicate my discus tank, I lower the water line. Usually saves a lot of money/med

 

[LeahK]

I'm sorry to hear about the discuses you lost. Here's a link to a very informative site on fish meds: http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumMedication2.html
You'll see that the author actually does not recommend erythromycin.

I've had success with nitrofurazone (in Jungle Fungus Clear), and I hear that kanamycin is good.
But in my experience with fin rot, many times, just extra water changes will do the trick. I have cured some fairly extreme-looking cases with clean water only.

In fact, something similar happened when I last came back from a vacation. My 20 gallon betta tank was fed, but not cleaned, for almost a month. The betta developed fin rot so bad that he had bloody streaks running through his fins--a sign of an advanced bacterial infection. When I returned, I immediately started doing 75-85% water changes every day, and over the course of a few weeks, the situation turned around, and he healed up.

Even in cases where I've used meds, I think it's the water changes that actually made the difference.

Good luck! I hope your fish gets better,

 

[Diann62]

I do a 50% water change every 3 days. That's why I'm thinking I should medicate......since I've already lost 2 fish. I don't remember seeing any fin rot on them though.

I'm just afraid that if I wait on it, then I'll lose more fish.

I also have 3 clown loaches, 2 bristlenose plecos and about 80 cardianal tetras.

 

[LeahK]

Wow, this is a tough situation (although your tank sounds beautiful, with all the tetras).
You were gone for a week, and then you got back and two fish had died, and a third had frayed fins, right? Before the trip, I'm guessing everything was fine.

I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts:

1) Fin rot is not a fast killer. Fish don't usually die just because of frayed fins. Fin rot has to progress really far before it gets deadly. Fish can go for weeks, maybe months, with lingering cases of fin rot.
2) Fin rot is not particularly contagious. It'd be like me scratching my finger and you "catching" the scratch from me. Of course, opportunistic infections can spread from injury to injury, or can be exacerbated by really bad water conditions, but it doesn't sound like this is the case with your tank.
3) So I doubt that fin rot is what killed your first two discuses. There could be some other underlying problem. For example, ich can cause fin rot, because the little wounds the parasites make on the fish can get infected. Or, any disease--parasitic or otherwise--can stress a fish out, and stressed fish are more susceptible to secondary infections by opportunistic bacteria.

Again, I'm not an expert by a long shot, and you should go ahead and medicate if you think it's best. But if it were me in that position, I'd probably wait and try to diagnose the root problem first, before medicating, to make sure that antibiotics are actually the right meds for the situation.

Are there any other symptoms at all?

 

[Diann62]

OK I've decided not to medicate. I have 2 things I'm wonder about.

#1. I had 3 bristlenose plecos and now I can only find 2. I've moved everything and can't seem to find him. I don't know if he got eaten or what.

#2. I only feed my discuses once a day. I'm wondering if that would cause them to weaken and maybe that's what killed the 2 while I was away?

I should mention that I've lost 7 discuses in total since keeping them.

I read that everyone says to feed them frequently but I've also read that once a day is enough.

Any thoughts?

 

[elpulgarverde]

How big are the discus? Are they adults? Even then I'd feed them twice a day. Big fish-> Big appetites. The 7 lost Discus could mean something, How long have you been keeping Discus? (if it's 5 years that's not a worry)
Let's try and figure out what is going on so you can fix it...
Sounds like a really cool tank. Do you have pictures?

 

[Diann62]

I'll have to see if I can get some pics. I currently have 6 discuses ranging in size from 2.5 - 3.5. I think I've been keeping them for about 2 years.

I've started feeding them twice a day so I'll see how that goes. They're an expensive fish to be learning my mistakes from....

 

[ODPILOT]

In nature, they would not eat just one big meal once per day. They would eat continuously thoughout the day. I think breakfast, lunch, dinner, small amounts is best -- I do this for my angels and they are very healthy. Erthromycin is an antibiotic that kills only gram (+) bacteria. It has limited anti microbial activity therefore for only certain types of bacteria. Fin rot is more likely caused by fungus, which an antibiotic will NOT have any affect on. Don't waste your money. Make sure your water quality is good, make sure you're not polluting your tank by feeding only 1 big feeding per day (much of the food will rot and pollute the tank anyway). Consider a UV sterilizer to kill any parasites in the water and 8 hours of light per day.
IF there is an infection in the fins, you will never know what is causing it unless you scrape a fin and check out the results in a microscope or a culture dish.