Chloramphenicol, also known as Chloromycetin, is no longer given parenterally or orally in humans except in extreme cases, due to the incidence of aplastic anemia, but it is sometimes used topically and in eye drops for dogs and cats. It is not banned, though its use may be restricted.
It is widely used in other parts of the world in aquaria, though it's not an over-the-counter medication here. Certainly, as you have reminded us, we should all responsibly handle the disposal of water that contains antibiotics, especially those that have the potential for harm. There are other chemicals we use in aquaria that can be carcinogenic and we have to exercise care there as well.
I don't think Juice or the others who have posted here need a lesson in that, though newbies certainly may need reminders of this and so that has now been covered.
My vet was happy to prescribe Chloramphenicol for my ADF, though I couldn't justify spending $75 on it. It's not that expensive when they have the eye drops at the vet, but in my case this was going to have to be compounded at a compounding pharmacy.
At any rate, Furan 2 is a good choice and with SubRosa's experience with mixing it with food successfully then this is definitely what I would do.
I have the hardest time following your line of thought some times, Cerianthus, not to be unkind, but sometimes it seems that English may be a second language?
I don't think that Juice will be able to get any researchers or biologists at API, or Jungle Labs, or any of the drug manufacturers, as you suggest, to venture more than an educated guess, just as we have, about what's going on in her tank.
It would be nice if we could all afford to run to a veterinarian for a tank full of sick $3.99 fish, but we can't. Neither will we be able to get a fish biologist/researcher at a pharmaceutical company to consult with us and give us anything more than basic advice; they don't have enough with our descriptions to be able to make a definitive diagnosis either.
Your suggestion that she document the course of events and share them with us in the end is all well and good and I think she should, and I think that we all should keep records and learn from our experiences and share them with others, and I think that's why she is on this forum asking for help.
We ask others here who've experienced similar symptoms in their fish and who have been able to treat them successfully, or not, and learn from their experience and maybe help our fish, or not.
Without a microscope and the ability to prepare slides and identify specific bacteria we can't know specifically which bacteria may be causing this illness in her tank. The most logical thing would be to try to treat with as broad a spectrum an antibiotic as possible, provide pristine water quality, and hope for the best.
No one, neither I nor SubRosa have offered a positive diagnosis of true Furunculosis, as caused by Aeromonas salmonicida, more likely this a bacterial infection caused by Aeromonas h. that we know is very common in aquaria. It could be Strep, it could be viral, but it does appear to be an internal infection that is systemic.
Juice is a good fishkeeper and there seems to be no obvious stressor that we can pin this on, but for whatever reason - infections do happen.
I hope you are able to help your fish, Juice, and I hope we can help in some way with that... even if only as moral support, ultimately.
