A few base rules first , an understanding
of the concentrations Of injectable Antibiotics is needed.
There is always a % percent sign on the bottle
Of an injectable antibiotic, this pertains to the percentage of
active ingredient To every 1ml injected, I.E. baytril 2.5% will have 25 milligrams
of active Ingredient for every
1ml administered.
All injectable antibiotics will have a limited shelf life, which is quoted
On the bottle a kind of " best by date",
but remember once the seal On the bottle is breached this time span will be
drastically reduced to a Round
a month in most cases,maybe a bit longer, again this time period is usually
quoted on the Bottle
" once the seal is breached use within??"
There are no real safe antibiotics all antibiotics can kill if not used in
an appropriate Manner, Baytril is
considered one of the most forgiving and safest injectables? Baytril has a
ph of around 10.5 a large injection in one spotwill cause a Reaction that
can lead to further complications.
Mixing antibiotics is not desirable, as many antibiotics do not Mix well,
this is a general rule of thumb,
however on the odd occasion you May want to reconsider this option, if the
patient is not responding,
The Odd few that will mix. Baytril and gentamycin work quite well together,
and So does amikacyn and aztreonam("azactam"). but I a general sense This
practice should be discouraged, for the reasons clinical complication Can
arise
Some injectable antibiotics are very toxic, Antibiotics which fall into the
Classification of Aminoglycocides,
e.g. Gentamycin, amakacyn, tobramycin, etc, If dosed incorrectly can and will
cause kidney failure or/ and
dropsy this Is a very real and definite possibility? All Aminoglycocides are
capable of This reaction
Dose Rates
before we begin, as already stated most antibiotics
come with A concentration on the bottle expressed as a percentage, and many
dose rates given for koi are given in milligrams per 1 ml of injectable solution.
and
some in ml's per kilo
The following is a table
of percentages of any given active ingredient to 1 ml of injectable solution
when the
dose is expressed as a percentage in milligrams
|
PERCENTAGE % I.E. BAYTRIL 2.5% |
= |
MILLIGRAMS ( MG)OF ACTIVE INGREDIENT TO ONE MILL OF INJECTION |
| 0.1 % |
= |
1
MG |
| 0.2% |
= |
2MG |
| 0.3% |
= |
3MG |
| 0.4% |
= |
4MG |
| 0.5% |
= |
5MG |
| 0.6% |
= |
6MG |
| 0.7% |
= |
7MG |
| 0.8% |
= |
8MG |
| 0.9% |
= |
9
MG |
| 1.0% |
= |
10MG |
| 5.0% |
= |
50MG |
| 10% |
= |
100MG |
Baytril ( Enrofloxacin)
Available in 2.5% solution dose rate 14 mg per kg of fish weight
Below a rough guide in inches either IM or IP route of injection every other day for a maximum of five injections
|
Fish length in inches |
ml's of injection Baytril 2.5% |
| 6" | 0.1 ml |
| 10" | 0.3 ml |
| 14" | 0.6 ml |
| 18" | 0.9 ml |
| 22" | 1.0 ml |
| 26" | 1.25 ml |
| 30" | 1.75 ml |
| 34" | 2.0 ml |
Gentamycin
Available in many concentrations , dose at 5/6 mg per kg of fish weight
A common concentration is Pangram 5% however this is way to strong for accurate
usage in koi, equalling
50 mg per mil administered. if this is all you can obtain, I recommend diluting
it to 0.5% with injectable water
or saline. to achieve this buy 100 ml bottle of injectable sterile water to
this add10 ml of the 5% pangram/ gentamycin, this will give you a total of
500 mg of active gentamycin in the 100 mil bottle which equalls 5 mg
per mil of injection solution, dose accordingly. *IM route only* very other
day for an absolute maximum of three injections
*Because of the toxicity of Gentamycin i do not intend to put a rough guide up in inches*
Amakacin
available in 5 and 10% solution, dose
at 20 mg per kg of fish body weight
OR
General Guide Line IM or IP route of injection every other day for a maximum of three injections
| inches of fish | volume of amakacin 5% |
| 6 | 0.1 ml |
| 12 | 0.5ml |
| 18 | 0.7ml |
| 22 | 1.0ml |
| 26 | 1.5 ml |
| 30 | 2.0 ml |
Chloramphenicol
I am reliable informed that this antibiotic is out of
favour in vetinary circles because of its human health implications, it can
cause a disease in humans called grays syndrome which gives a blood dissorder
which
has both no cure and is terminal, i am lead to believe the use of this drug
is being discouraged and the use of Nuflor a sister drug is being encouraged
now, for this reason i will not be including chloramphenicol ,however
this drug is used as an eye ointment in human eye care, and can be obtained
as a 0.5% ointment and i have
had success treating ulcers topically with this product. enough said.
Nuflor
Available as 30% equalling 300 mg per ml as opposed to chloramphenicol 10% equalling 100 mg per ml
Nuflor Dosage at 300 mg per kg of fish
as mentioned, nuflor is a sister drug to the above but is oil based and is very hard to draw up into a syringe, therefore a wide gauge hypodermic is needed, also drug delivery takes a long time, making Nuflor not an easy drug to deliver to the patient
Although Nuflor is a much stronger solution than chloramphenicol
it can be used at the same dose rate,
because of its slow release rate, bought about from being oil based, it also
has a further advantage, if the fish is stressed and not to much messing around
with the koi is desirable,
one dose at the same dose as chloramphenicol but at the higher concentration,
is usually all that is required, as this will release slowly over quite a
few days
( thats if it is to work at all with a given pathogen) if no improvment is
noticed with this one dose i would recommend changing antibiotic.
General guide to dose, IM or IP route of injection for one injection repeat after 5 days if needed
If by some chance you can get chloramphenicol dose as
below, do not increase the volume of the injection
because it is of less strength than Nuflor
| inches of fish | dose in ml's of Nuflor or chloramphenicol |
| 6" | 0.3 ml |
| 12" | 0.9 ml |
| 14" | 1.0 ml |
| 18" | 1.5 ml |
| 22" | 2.0 ml |
| 26" | 2.75 ml |
| 30" | 3.5 ml |
Azactam( aztreonam)
Azactam is available in bottles in powder form that must
be reconstituted with sterile water, once reconstituted
can be stored upto a month in the fridge then it will lose its effectiveness
Take 500 mg of azactam powder inject into the vial through the seal 5 ml of sterile water or saline this will give a concentration of 10% = to 100 mg per ml, inject IP or IM route every other day for a maximum of five injections
dose 40mg/kg
rough guide as follows
| inches of fish | ml's of Azactam 10% |
| 6" | 0.1 ml |
| 10" | 0.2 ml |
| 14" | 0.4 ml |
| 18" | 0.6 ml |
| 22" | 0.8 ml |
| 26" | 1.0 ml |
| over 26" | maximum of 1. 5 ml |
The some of the above dose tables are referenced from Doctor Eric Johnson, who is without a doubt one of the leading experts in the field and with out who's time, dedication and research, non of the above data would be available, my thanks to Eric for all his efforts
All the above data works for me and others , but is intended
as a* rough* but safe guide line, on occasion you
may have to push the limits of safe practice.
Please be aware that the use of antibiotics can have far reaching concequences
in both koi health, animal
and human health. and should be regarded as a last resort. Never underestimate
the power of a koi to cure
itself without the above, if the conditions are made near perfect a cure is
possible with just topical dressings.
The use of anitobotics will set back a valuble abundance of different flora
of bacteria in the gut of the koi that
the fish needs to aid digestion,but more importantly multi drug resistant
bacteria have become the plague of
the medical profession by avoiding the use of these type of medicines where
possible we can help extend the
useful life span of an antibiotic.
There are a lot more things to be taken into consideration
when useing an injectable, I.E. is the koi strong
enough to withstand the injection, only experience will give you such answers
my advice is either seek expert advice before hand or use a little common
sense and proceed cautiously at the start.
Duncan