oxytetracycline dosing

[beanbag]

What is the recommended dosing for oxytetracycline?  The sticky thread has a mention of " 1000mg per 40ltr ", but I don't know if that refers to total amount of powder, or active ingredient percentage.

I live in USA, where oxytetracycline is not as common, but I was able to obtain a bottle of powder.  On the bottle, it says [calculated out to] 75 mg / 10 gal, which is a wayyyy lower value.  Also, the manufacturer / distributor won't tell me the fraction of the power that is active ingredient vs filler.

This is for a Taiwan Bee shrimp tank with pH 5.5 and Gh 5, in case that matters for the effectiveness of oxytet in these parameters.

I also have doxycycline available if that is equivalent / better.

It's to treat that "short antenna disease" in one of my tanks that seems to show up once every few months.

I've already dosed with Maracyn 1 (erythromycin) and 2 (minocycline) and they didn't seem to work.

[jayc]

11 hours ago, beanbag said:

The sticky thread has a mention of " 1000mg per 40ltr ",

What?! Can you point me to where you saw that please?

 

If in doubt, Always follow the directions on the bottle.

[beanbag]

14 April 2015 -  Update based on experiences of one of our SKF members.

Unfortunately for this shrimpkeeper it was too late to save these shrimps, but hopefully this experience will help someone else.

250+ shrimp were lost before the bacterial infection was halted.

 

A vet was consulted and he eventually ended up contacting a senior lecturer of aquatic animal health at University of Adelaide school of veterinary science.

He stated that bacterial infections being internal or external are almost always gram negative in aquatics and recommended using oxytetracycline at a dose rate of 1000-2000mg per 40ltr of water.

 

Dosing method:

Oxytetracycline is available in 2 forms. Powder and injectable. The injectable form was used as it is a stronger form. This meant that we could use less to obtain the required dosage.

 

Dosed straight into the water column at 1000mg per 40ltr of water.

[jayc]

Ah yes. That was the injectable form of oxytetracycline. Each mL of the injectable form contains: 100 mg oxytetracycline HCl, 5.75% w/v magnesium chloride , 6 H2O, 17% v/v water for injection, 1.3% w/v sodium formaldehyde Sulfoxylate as a preservative and q.s. with propylene glycol. Basically, it has additional compositions in it.

1000mg might have been the dose recommended for the injectable oxytetracycline, but if you have the powder form then follow the dosing rates as recommended on your bottle.

Hope that clears it up a bit.

 

 

As for doxycycline and it's use to treat short antenna ... I cannot comment on whether it will be more effective than oxytetracycline or not. But if you do use it, only try one at a time. Is bacteria even been proven to be the cause of "short antenna disease"?

Edited May 19, 2022 by jayc

[beanbag]

I don't know if bacteria is the cause.  It seems to be an uncommonly diagnosed problem because most shrimp articles only talk about bacteria infection as "a few shrimp die every day / week"  What can I say, a standard dose of minocycline and erythromycin didn't work to stop it, so not sure if oxytetracycline will work.

[sdlTBfanUK]

Are you getting and unusual shrimp deaths, or is it just the shorter antenna?

[beanbag]

the short antenna ones eventually die

[sdlTBfanUK]

Sorry to hear that!

I hope you are getting enough baby shrimps to keep the colony going at a reasonable size?

 

[beanbag]

no, what it does is kill off all the shadow panda and rwp, leaving only blue bolts.

I haven't been able to achieve that nice mixed bee tank like you had.

[sdlTBfanUK]

I have been through your posts and have a couple of queries (sorry if you have already said and I missed it).

What water source are you using?

Did all the shrimps come from the same supplier?

It is certainly odd that one variety of shrimp does well but others don't?? I feel your frustration though as I gave up with the shrimps in my TB tank after the heater disaster, as you know! I may be moving at some point and would then try again with the TB as I would have to shut down the tank anyway at that point, and I have the new substrate.....

[beanbag]

My water is from a RO unit and then remineralized.

Yes, all the shrimp came from one person in two batches a year apart.

In both cases, some RWP died off a few months in, some lived a full life.

Of their babies (RWP, blue bolt, Shadow panda), there's the same problem where RWP and Shadow panda are affected, but blue bolt are not.

Edit: Sorry to hear about your situation.  Hope you can get the tank going again eventually and post more pictures.  They were very inspirational for me, and many others I'm sure.

Edited May 24, 2022 by beanbag

[beanbag]

Oh, so regarding the oxytetracycline dosing...

My bottle of powder only mentions a first dose, but doesn't mention what to do on subsequent days, except where it mentions mixing into food and "feeding for 14-21 days".  (That seems really long)

These are the instructions from the SKF sticky:

"Dose the required amount on first day. Then 50% water change on 2nd day and dose again. Then 30-40% water changes for the next 2 days and then did another full dose and left it. Waited 2 days and another 30% water change."

This doesn't look like a standard prescription, where usually they will have you dosing every day???

Edited May 24, 2022 by beanbag

[sdlTBfanUK]

It seems a bit unlikely that it would be a bacteria infection if one group are unaffected in the same tank. Was the supplier a reliable 'shrimp' source? It may be worth getting some new shrimp from somewhere else, even if they are low quality cheapies as a trial, that would give you a bit more to go on??? I would have expected even the blue bolts to get sick if it were a bacterial infection???

I can't advize on the treatment dosage, but hopefully someone else can!

I still have 10 chilli rasbora doing well in that old TB tank so it is still being used, the killie died after about 1.5 years, but that was to be expected and nothing unusual.

[jayc]

On 5/24/2022 at 8:38 PM, beanbag said:

This doesn't look like a standard prescription, where usually they will have you dosing every day???

That was the user's experience. 

I would suggest dosing everyday for 7 days straight. Perform water changes in between at 30-40% each day before adding the new dose.

[beanbag]

Do you think shrimp can tolerate 40% water change every day?

[sdlTBfanUK]

They should be fine as long as you drip/slowly add the new water in over several hours!

[Crabby]

3 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

They should be fine as long as you drip/slowly add the new water in over several hours!

As well as attempting to match parameters.

[jayc]

13 hours ago, beanbag said:

Do you think shrimp can tolerate 40% water change every day?

I wouldn't recommend a 40% water change normally. But this is not a 'normal' situation. 

You are adding chemical medication daily for 7 days.