Doxycycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic. It’s widely used for treating infections of the eyes, fin or tail rot, skin ulcerations, Pop-Eye Syndrome, Columnaris Disease, and gill disease in many fish species.
Antibiotics can be helpful tools in combatting bacterial diseases that affect fish, such as mouth rot, fin and tail rot, skin ulcerations, and septicemia; however, they do not treat fish directly. Before using an antibiotic against bacteria, it must be confirmed via culture and sensitivity tests to ensure its efficacy.
Tetracyclines
Tetracyclines are broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds derived directly from Streptomyces bacteria or semisynthetically from these isolated compounds. Each combination shares an identical basic structure and interferes with vital protein production in bacteria; as a result, they act more as growth inhibitors rather than killing off infectious agents such as cholera, trachoma, psittacosis, brucellosis, and some other diseases. They’re even popularly used as acne treatments in humans!
Bacteria’s resistance to them limits tetracyclines’ use; to minimize resistance risks, veterinarians and pet owners should only prescribe these antibiotics against infections caused by organisms susceptible to their effects.
Tetracyclines differ from other antibiotics in that they do not get excreted into the environment and, thus, they are less effective when applied using water-based treatments such as baths. Furthermore, due to their long half-lives in the body, they become less efficient when taken orally or intravenously.
Though tetracycline antibiotics are generally safe and well tolerated, they should not be taken by anyone with liver or kidney disease. This will decrease their ability to remove tetracycline from their bloodstream, reducing effectiveness effectively. Furthermore, pregnant women or nursing mothers should not use them, as they could pass on to infants through breast milk.
Tetracyclines possess an extreme affinity for calcium binding, leading to the rare but severe side effect known as photosensitivity. Symptoms of photosensitivity may include itching and an exaggerated sunburn within hours after taking the medication; further aggravation is possible from drinking alcohol, taking aspirin, or taking drugs that affect the stomach lining.
Tetracycline antibiotics are effective against most gram-positive and harmful bacteria, including some strains resistant to penicillin. Furthermore, they’re helpful against chlamydia, rickettsia, mycoplasma, and protozoans; however, they’re ineffective against Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains such as those that cause columnaris disease among marine fish such as groupers, cod and salmonids. Oxytetracycline is one of the most frequently prescribed tetracyclines to treat flavobacterium columnare infection caused by Columnaris diseases in marine fish such as groupers, cod, and salmonid species; however, it should also help treat flavobacterium columnare infections caused by flavobacterium columnare infections caused by Columnaris disease caused by flavobacterium column are bacteria found within marine fish such as cod and salmonids. Oxytetracycline is often prescribed to treat flavobacterium columnare infection which affects marine fish such as groupers cods or salmonids when treating flavobacterium columnare infections within marine fish such as groupers, cods and salmonid species such as groupers, cods or salmonids resistant meningococci resistant meningococci that meningococci that resistant meningococcis bacteria resistant penicillin resistant meningococci that resistant penicillin resistant meningococci resistant meningococci meningococci resistant meningococci that meningococci resistant meningococci meningococci or meningococcis resistance is resistant penicillin resistant meningococci resistant meningococci which resistant meningococci resistant penicillin susceptible meningococci which meningococci. Oxy gonorrhococci resistant penicillin resistant as well as meningococci. Oxyte. Oxyte gonococci resistant pen. Oxya gonococci can in patients. Oxyte goni cocci. Oxyn that meningococci that gonicom. Oxyli gon goniei which causes meningococci. Oxy gon gonococci that resist treatment, such as Neisseri gonococci, can treat flavor columnare infection caused by Columnaris disease (Columnaris disease), which requires pen antibiotic treatment for Salmonid fish such as groupers cod salmonid resistant to penicillin is most often used treatment is resistant gonococci susceptible gon gonococci.
Quinolones
Quinolones are broad-spectrum antibiotics used to treat infections located in hard-to-penetrate tissues. They are practical against gram-negative aerobes like E coli, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and P. aeruginosa but less effective against anaerobes like Brucella and Chlamydia. Like tetracyclines, quinolones have poor intestinal absorption, so they must be administered orally for maximum effectiveness.
Fluoroquinolones (the second generation of agents based on the bicyclic structure of quinolones) were developed as a supplement to improve effectiveness against specific strains of bacteria, with better pharmacokinetics and toxicity profiles as well as enhanced tissue penetration into lung and kidney tissue. They penetrate cells easily while inhibiting DNA synthesis by binding DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV binding sites to halt water-metal ion bridge formation, leading to replication.
Like tetracyclines, resistance to quinolones is often present among humans. Resistance mechanisms include mutations to target sites for gyrase and topoisomerase enzymes and drug binding site mutations or modifications that alter uptake or efflux transport proteins or drug binding affinity with their targets.
Quinolones are typically excreted in urine and breast milk of lactating mothers at high concentrations for 24 hours after being administered and through glomerular filtration and tubular secretion. Renal clearance inversely correlates to plasma protein binding capacity; consequently, their pharmacokinetics may change depending on renal and liver diseases and severe kidney failure.
Several CYP enzymes metabolize quinolones, such as CYP3A4, CYP1A2, CYP2D6, and CYP1C9. When taken orally in vivo, their degradation products are mostly inactive; however, small peptides and N-demethylated derivatives may form. Quinolones have also been reported as highly teratogenic for mammals, leading to severe neurologic, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular events in developing babies.
The FDA has authorized quinolones as effective treatments for anthrax, plague, and bacterial pneumonia infections in humans and to avoid complications during surgery from sepsis infections. Unfortunately, quinolones can lead to disabling side effects that affect tendons, muscles, joints, and nerves, which in some cases can become permanent.
Erythromycin
Erythromycin belongs to a class of medications called macrolide antibiotics and works by stopping bacteria from producing proteins they need for survival, slowing their growth, or killing them outright. Erythromycin may also be used against infections caused by bacteria resistant to other antibiotics but does not work against colds, flu, or other viral illnesses.
Erythromycin may increase your risk of long QT syndrome if your potassium or magnesium levels in the blood drop below optimal. Therefore, this medicine should not be prescribed to people who already suffer from such conditions, while side effects could potentially include serious ones requiring medical management advice. Speak to your physician about the possible risks.
Erythromycin can be rapidly and efficiently absorbed orally, binding primarily to plasma proteins before diffusing into most body fluids. Concentrations tend to be relatively low in brain and spinal fluids; however, when given intravenously or orally in cases of meningitis, it may cross over into these areas as well.
Human milk excretes this drug at low concentrations; nursing mothers should only give it when necessary, and the estolate salt form of this medication should never be given to patients under six months as its use could result in rare but potentially lethal hepatotoxicity.
This antibiotic works best against gram-positive bacteria that cause fin and tail rot or other forms of pop eye, such as those associated with fin and tail rot in fish, while being less effective against some gram-negative strains and some diseases that appear like fungus (not commonly referred to as false neo tetra disease/FTD or black moly).
This antibiotic may cause stomach upset and diarrhea in some individuals. If this happens to you, drink plenty of liquids while taking antacids or other remedies to soothe them. For liquid medicines such as oral suspensions or suspensions of liquid medication, shake well before dosing; use an appropriate dosing syringe or medicine dose-measuring device rather than a household spoon for dosage measurements; for delayed-release tablets, take the total dose without breaking or chewing before swallowing whole.
Other Antibiotics
Antibiotics such as oxytetracycline and doxycycline are widely prescribed to humans to treat bacterial infections but can also be sold as fish antibiotics online, potentially leading to unintended severe side effects for consumers who buy and take these treatments themselves. According to recent research conducted at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy, people purchasing fish antibiotics online and taking them directly themselves may face unintended risks that have severe repercussions for themselves and the fish they consume.
Antibiotic resistance and gastrointestinal distress can both result in severe consequences. According to The New England Journal of Medicine, one Army Special Forces soldier treated himself for sinusitis with fish antibiotics purchased from a pet store before ending up at an emergency department with severe gastroenteritis and dehydration.
Antibiotics marketed for ornamental fish do not fall under the same regulatory processes as antibiotics sold to food-producing animals and humans, creating an easy access point. People can purchase these medications both offline and online at pet stores, as well as YouTube videos, blogs, and websites dedicated to human use of fish antibiotics marketed for ornamental fish – even beyond Doomsday preppers–who stockpile supplies to be prepared in case society, collapses due to natural disaster. This trend may have begun among Doomsday preppers–but it has quickly spread beyond this particular group’s purview.
However, some aquarium fish antibiotics marketed for humans are unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration and are often sold illegally. However, the Tennessee Poison Center has received reports from people who have accidentally consumed aquarium fish antibiotics to treat various illnesses in themselves; typically, an aerobic gram-negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas or Aeromonas that often causes fin rot in these species was responsible.
Other fish antibiotics marketed for human consumption include amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, and cephalexin. While these drugs can be absorbed from water sources directly, only a tiny portion enters the body; instead, most is excreted back into it as waste, potentially increasing exposure of more water-borne bacteria to its effects and potentially leading to resistance development.
Neomycin, another fish antibiotic, does not absorb water and has low toxicity, making it an effective treatment against opportunistic infections of the gills. Malachite green can also help prevent its oxidization.
