I discoverd TWO new cost effective cures for Zoapox and Zoa fungus !

[The Propagator]

While browsing around the internet ( as usual LOL! ) last week I began looking up the ingredients in Furan 2 and as well as Red slimer remover.

 

One of them (which is the most potent) in Fruan2 is Furazolidone.

I believe Red slime remover is pure Furazolidone.

 

You can get 10grams from most pets stores locally for around $9.99.

Red slime remover costs almost twice that.

Furan2 costs $34.95 most places online ( when you can find it ) for 850grams

and $9.99 for 10 grams you can never find it any where but online.

 

Furazolidone is an antibacterial medication that treats both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Red slime = bacteria. Fungus and zoo pox = bacteria.

Furazolidone = death to bacteria.

And its aquarium safe for both SW and FW.

 

I used it last week on a colony of pink zoanthus I got from a less than reputable LFS here locally. It cured the fungus in one weeks time using the same dosage used for Furan2 dips.

one capsule per cup of Fresh SW 3 days in a row 30 minute dips.

I used 1 level measuring spoon that comes with it per three ( 3) cups of freshly made SW.

 

This is a stronger dose of Fruazolidone then found in a capsule of Fura2 of course but it works! When used as red slime remover directs the usage of their product it also removes red slime algae

 

Forgot to add:

Have a second container of SW ready so you can rinse the specimens off before you place them back in the tank. I forgot to do that today and I turned my water green

If you do the same its no big deal. Just add fresh carbon.

If that doesn't work with in 8-12 hours then do a 15-20% water change.

I didn't even realize I did it.

I looked over at the tank and was like "DAMN IT MAN ! I JUST BOUGHT THOSE BULBS 3 MONTHS AGO !"

Plugged them into another receptacle thinking it might be over loaded some how and running the ballasts low. Then I turned on the actinics only and Holy Mother of God it looked like a 60's concert in there !

The little bit of green glowed like a neon sign LOL! I signed a BIG ole' sigh of relief knowing it wasn't my ballasts or bulbs though let me tell ya !

I have NO IDEA whats been wrong with me lately. Normally I would even suspect the bulbs and ballast.

I would have just looked down the tank.

Who knows whats wrong with me but I hope is passes soon

 

Now on to the second cure..............

 

This one is a little more drastic but easier to find on the shelf.....

ALKALINITY !

I put a frag of the same pink zoanthids in a 30 mil plastic cup. filled it 3/4 the way full and started dripping alkalinity buffer in it until I saw the fungus flaking off and a little sliming start.

Then i just dumped it back and forth from one cup to another adding one drop at a time until it was all flaked off and floating.

No fungus ! It took all visible off and killed what remained on the spot in ONE treatment.

This was by far a risky move but it worked!

 

 

Use this at your own risk.

Don't cry to me if it doesn't work for you.

I just figured I would share my findings with you so you could try it out and see if you want to.

But it did work for me using both cures.

 

 

OH ALSO ... Using the Alk drip method you can kill off flat worms and zoanthid eating nudis.

Got some of those from the same less than reputable LFS. THANK YOU FOR SHARING !!!!

I should have known better but they were pretty ya know.

 

None of my other stock has them though. These are in a separate system all together.

[nanoty]

You have way too much time on your hands.

[The Propagator]

Hey it whats I do for a living now... give me a break here !!

 

 

[er1c_the_reefer]

which alk buffer are you using prop? you think standard baking soda will work?

 

oh yea, keep in mind bacteria and fungus aren't the same thing and its hard to find an antibiotic that'll kill fungi

[Phixion]

Nice write-up, Prop!

[The Propagator]

which alk buffer are you using prop? you think standard baking soda will work?

 

oh yea, keep in mind bacteria and fungus aren't the same thing and its hard to find an antibiotic that'll kill fungi

 

Yet it still kills the fungus too........

[er1c_the_reefer]

just sayin'... a lot of bacterial infections are confused with fungal infections, especially in the aquarium hobby.

 

i try to view things objectively and not treat things with antibiotics unless i'm sure i need too. i guess its my med background and prevention of bacterial resistance. that and remember that article about finding drugs in the water supply a while back? its not just big pharmaceutical doing it... its us reefers too every time we dump some chemicals in our tank and then do water changes.

 

anyways, ANSWER THE ALK QUESTION! oh yea, how high did you bring up the alk to? do you think it'll work in like a 5g and slow alk drip into it so that i can treat multiple frags at once?

[Phixion]

+1 from Eric As long as there's drugs, they will exist in the water.

[The Propagator]

Drugs in the water should be a none issue.

All thats needed is carbon filtration. The areas that drugs were found in the water supply had no carbon filtration. For example where I live ( Norwood Ohio ) has -0- drugs in the water supply but all the surrounding areas do. This is because Norwood uses carbon filtration where as the outer regions do not.

 

Bring up the alk?

I am not talking about raising your alkalinity in your aquarium sillies !

I said

"I put a frag of the same pink zoanthids in a 30 mil plastic cup. filled it 3/4 the way full and started dripping alkalinity buffer in it until I saw the fungus flaking off and a little sliming start."

I did leave out one thing though... I had a little pipette on hand and I was squirting the solution all over it with force to help knock all the crap off it as it sloughed off. I guess it took around 7-8 minutes ?

But this time period will obviously vary due to severity and polyp type.

Just experiment and keep a close eye on them.

 

You guys better pay attention or your gonna seriously fook up your tanks !

 

But now that you bring up parameters.......

Elevated magnesium levels will kill off hair and bryopsis algae, and Alkalinity levels above 9 DKH ( I keep mine from 11-12 dkh ) will yield more healthy coral and also help stave off infections like fungus and pox.

High temperatures bring it on, dirty heaters, power heads, skimmers and filtration systems will also hold the bad bacter. If you have treated your stock and you still keep getting it its more than likely because one or all of the above needs taken care of.

 

Also........since you brought up antibodies...

Its well worth noting that you shouldn't use any antibacterial medicines in your aquariums on a regular basis because they is a distinct possibility the bacter will become immune to it over time. Space out treatments, run carbon afterwards, and do a water change after the treatment period has completed if your introducing something to your main tank.

 

 

 

As for which Alk I used or should be used... doesn't matter a bit.

From what I witnessed its simply the alkaline in water thats doing the work, killing it off, and essentially stripping it away like an acid dip would do to some thing you were cleaning up to paint.

 

I used B-ionic alkalinity to do mine but any Alk buffer should work.

I would assume that baking soda would work to as long as you dissolve it well before hand.

( as with any powder form additive )

[scottyreef]

great info thanks for doing the investagating. i will use your info to my advantage when doing zoa dips. also do you still use freshwater when using furan 2 like you do with iodine?

[The Propagator]

I never did use fresh water with furan2 dips. Only with fresh salt water. The treatment when using Furan2 calls for fresh salt water. IE freshly mixed. Not fresh water

 

The only reason I used it wiht Iodine was to get rid of zoanthid eating nudis.

I only left them in there a few seconds whil ei swished them around real good too.

If you leave them in to long the fresh water combined with the iodine will blister the polyps badly.

[reefman23]

Edited to avoid confusion...

 

Jesse

[The Propagator]

RO or non RO makes no difference what so ever.

Those directions are based on the old capsules which they do not make any more.

They went to powder packets now but they are still the same. 1 packet now treats 10gal.

1 capsule then treated 10gal.

 

You use FRESH SALT WATER. Thats why its says " Make sure you match the temp, pH, and salinity level"

 

Come one guys.

This isn't rocket science. Just read whats in front of you.

 

I hope some one some where doesn't read this thread and get confused out of there mind and kill off their stock because they read the wrong thing.

I think after we get this all cleared up the posts that may be confusing to newbies reading them should be deleted.

[reefman23]

You're right. I didnt read that correctly. I ended up using saltwater for the dip anyways after reading other threads that said the same as yours.

 

Thanks,

 

Jesse

 

BTW, I just wanted to share that I had read that some of the pox and be picked off and indeed I was able to manually remove 4 or so of them quite easily with a toothpick before I put them into the dip.

[The Propagator]

Thats treating the symptoms not the source.

You can pick them all day and squeeze the white stuff out like a zit but it wont cure the problem

[BibleSue]

Great info, Prop! Thanks for sharing! As always, you are a great resource.

[becact]

One of my zoa frags has pox. Do you suggest treating all the frags I have? Luckily I have no large colonies, so dipping all my frags wouldn't be too hard.

 

So I need to get Furazolidone from a LFS, use one scoop per 3 cups of freshly mixed saltwater, and dip the frags in this solution for 30 minutes three days in a row?

[amnestia]

wish I saw this a bit sooner, a frag I got from another reefer got zoa pox and passed away last week = (

[Mr. Fosi]

Furazolidone is listed as an antibacterial, not and antibiotic and it will work on fungi and protozoans as well. It is believed to work by crosslinking DNA (a very bad thing). IMO, furazolidone would be better called an "antimicrobial" like triclosan or benzalkonium chloride because it is a generalist chemical.

 

Antibiotics are generally very specific in their biochemical mode of action, usually targeting cellular machinery that is specific to bacteria. This is why it is sometimes a "see if it works" thing with bad infections in humans and animals.

 

An example of this specificity would be Benzylpenicillin which stops bacterial cells from dividing by inhibiting the formation of peptidoglycan crosslinks (these hold the cell membrane together). Benzylpenicillin also affects cyanobacteria and the division of choloroplasts in some plants.

 

Another example would be Neomycin, which inhibits protein synthesis by interfering with the function of the 30S ribosomal subunit.

 

Furazolidone will affect more than just the taxa of interest, which is why I would say you should never dose your entire system with it. Better to take frags or colonies out and dip them.

 

EDIT: 30S not 20S.

[evanski]

Furazolidone is listed as an antibacterial, not and antibiotic and it will work on fungi and protozoans as well. It is believed to work by crosslinking DNA (a very bad thing). IMO, furazolidone would be better called an "antimicrobial" like triclosan or benzalkonium chloride because it is a generalist chemical.

 

Antibiotics are generally very specific in their biochemical mode of action, usually targeting cellular machinery that is specific to bacteria. This is why it is sometimes a "see if it works" thing with bad infections in humans and animals.

 

An example of this specificity would be Benzylpenicillin which stops bacterial cells from dividing by inhibiting the formation of peptidoglycan crosslinks (these hold the cell membrane together). Benzylpenicillin also affects cyanobacteria and the division of choloroplasts in some plants.

 

Another example would be Neomycin, which inhibits protein synthesis by interfering with the function of the 30S ribosomal subunit.

 

Furazolidone will affect more than just the taxa of interest, which is why I would say you should never dose your entire system with it. Better to take frags or colonies out and dip them.

 

EDIT: 30S not 20S.

 

Dang, Fosi be gettin' his science schwerve on!

[becact]

Can you get this chemical at petsmart? I asked two LFS and they didn't know what I was talking about. One recognized the name "Furan 2." That's what I'm looking for, right?

[Buzby]

Anybody give me a link to a supplier of Furazolidone as having a hard job getting hold of it here in the UK

 

Shelton.

[Urchinhead]

Right. Not sure if this was an elaborate April Fools Gag based on the date of posting but...

 

I am interested in the Alk solution to the problem as well as if it will work on other things (like red bugs and monti nudi's) dripping solution in is fine but at some point you hit levels that are going to burn the snot out of stuff... Any chance you measured the levels at the point where stuff was sloughing off?

[dtfleming]

coral revive will kill red bugs.

[The Propagator]

Right. Not sure if this was an elaborate April Fools Gag based on the date of posting but...

 

I am interested in the Alk solution to the problem as well as if it will work on other things (like red bugs and monti nudi's) dripping solution in is fine but at some point you hit levels that are going to burn the snot out of stuff... Any chance you measured the levels at the point where stuff was sloughing off?

 

It was no gag post.

It worked on fungus I had on pink paly's. It was a small frag in about an ounce of tank water with about 2-3 mil of straight alkalinity buffer. I watched it soak for about 30 seconds or so and the fungus sluffed off.