Zoa Pox using Amoxicillin

[Dartolution]

Hello all Zoa lovers...

I have read many articles using Furan-2 as a treatment for this disease that invades our zoa colonies about its effectiveness when used as a dip over a number of days.

I was lucky enough to run into a small (4/5 polyp) colony at one of my LFS that was infected with this disease and have been watching its health my home aquarium over the past week. It has not been dieing off, however it is not growing either and so far seems to be having good days and bad days.

In an effort to try something new to attempt to cure this ailing coral I reached for my medicine cabinet where I found a half used bottle of Amoxicillin. Albeit from a prior incident of strep throat. We all are guilty of NOT finishing our prescriptions and since this antibiotic is often prescribed I would bet that it is in most of our medicine cabinets as well.

After looking at the ingredients of Furan-2 (Nitrofural and Furazolidone) from: http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecf...no/v31je07.htm
http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecf...no/v31je06.htm

and comparing them to that of Amoxicillin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoxicillin

I decided to experiment and use this antibiotic as a possible treatment for this disease.

The coral is a 4 polyp frag of some MISC named zoanthid.

Using 1 cup of parent tank water to 500mg of Amoxicillin (probably WAY too much). I took one capsule of Amoxicillin opened it, added a small amount of aquarium water in a separate container to form a paste, then more water to form a cloudy liquid.
The coral was placed in a Small tupperware container used for aquarium purposes and 1 cup of aquarium water.

Using a pipette I blasted, and slowly dripped the antibiotic solution on the affected polyps until the solution was completely used in the treatment container.

The coral was allowed to dip for 25 minutes in a low light area.

Post dip rinses (1 cup untreated aquarium water for 10mins x 2), and light exposure ensured minimal antibiotic was returned to the parent tank.


I plan to drip once daily for 4-5 days an monitor the coral for signs of stress and hopefully recession of the disease.

so far, only 1 dip has been completed.

Any suggestions are welcome.
If anyone has already tried this I would like to hear about your method/outcome as well.

I am NOT a chemist, and have minimal knowledge of the comparative effects of these drugs. This experiment is purely to see amoxicillins effect on this infection.


Day 1:

[Dartolution]

Dip today same as before.

Not much change, possible necrosis beginning on left side.

[madadi]

im no expert but sounds like its way too much antibiotic at once. if I was doing this I would split it up and do it every 12 hours. 250mg every 12 hours. I treated yumas with antibiotic and it was more like 250mg for a gallon.

[650-IS350]

I've tried other meds that was for Gram Negative and Gram Positive.. not much worked. Always went back to Furan2 for pox treatment.

[Dartolution]

im no expert but sounds like its way too much antibiotic at once. if I was doing this I would split it up and do it every 12 hours. 250mg every 12 hours. I treated yumas with antibiotic and it was more like 250mg for a gallon.

I agree, this was simply to see its effects on the coral, so far day three, not much of an effect at all.

I've tried other meds that was for Gram Negative and Gram Positive.. not much worked. Always went back to Furan2 for pox treatment.

Looks like I might switch over, because the Amoxicillin isn't doing much so far.

Day 3:

[mitra49]

Fyi - I attempted to use cephalexin to treat a zoa pox infection with no success. Switched to furan 2 and had almost immediate results. I would consider cephalexin to have a broader spectrum of activity than amoxi.

[Dartolution]

agreed, lost the colony, Amoxi did nothing