# Azithromycin to treat BGA



## CraigL83 (Jun 6, 2008)

I recently had a BAD cyano outbreak and began to treat it by doing a 40% water change while sucking out as much of the cyano as possible, blacking out the tank (on day 2 of black out), and using 2.5mg/l of azithromycin. Has anyone used this antibiotic before? I know that erithromycin is the standard antibiotic that is used to treat cyano but i assumed both of these antibiotics are of the same famly. Does anyone have any experience with this in particular medication used for treating cyano?


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Nope, but it should work fine. As a physician, I'd really prefer to see azythromycin used sparingly. Basic e-mycin is already well established in the veterinary trade and should be quite a bit cheaper.


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## CraigL83 (Jun 6, 2008)

thanks for such a quick response. The reason i went with azithromycin is because i had it in the house. I also figured that i dont have any livestock in the tank (other than plants) so i figured how much damage could it do.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

For one particular application, the risk of harm is vanishingly small.

When you add up how much is being tossed around in the environment, resistant strains can be selected for in just a few short years. It's a cumulative effect.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

Listen to the doctor 

The issue of resistance in an aquarium environment isn't just with livestock (i.e. the bacteria that normally colonize livestock). An aquarium environment also houses multitudes of bacteria species that can live outside an organism. These bacteria can develop resistance over repeated exposures. If they become pathogenic (i.e. causing disease in other organisms), including humans, then it becomes a problem.


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## CraigL83 (Jun 6, 2008)

So would you suggest i stop the treatment? finish treating and not use this antibiotic in the future? switch to e-mycin? what would be the best coarse to take?


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

if you still need to use a treatment for BGA I would switch to erythromycin for the time being.


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## CraigL83 (Jun 6, 2008)

i only treated the tank for one day so far... this is the second day and have yet to add the antibiotic. I could run out and grab some e-mycin from the pet store before the snow comes....


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

I think that would be the best course of action....


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