Doxycycline Instructions
Dear Pbohus:
Yes, indeed, doxycycline is a safe, effective antibiotic to treat infections in seahorses, and I am very happy to hear that you can obtain it in the UK. Well done!
Thankfully, it easy to determine the proper dosage of your 100 mg tablets of doxycycline. The proper dosage is 1/4 teaspoon per 20 gallons, which is the equivalent of 250 mg of doxycycline per 20 gallons. That means you will need 2-1/2 of the 100 mg tablets to treat 20 gallons of water, Pbohus, or half that amount for a 10-gallon hospital tank. Thoroughly crush the proper amount of the doxycycline tablets into a fine powder, add the resulting powder to a cup of saltwater from the treatment tank, and then pour the resulting mixture into a high flow area of the hospital tank to be better dissolved and dispersed.
Here is some additional information about doxycycline that you may find helpful:
Doxycycline hydrochloride
USE: broad-spectrum antibiotic derived from oxytetracycline. Used for both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial disorders. Fin and tail rot, septicemia, mouth rot. Will not be deactivated by high pH levels in saltwater like ordinary tetracycline. Works in a similar manner to chloramphenicol.
WATER DOSAGE: 1/4 teaspoon (i.e., 250 mg) per 20 gallons, every 24 hours for 10 days. Do a 25% water change before each daily treatment.
FOOD DOSAGE: may be mixed into frozen or pelletized food by using 2 teaspoons (or 2000 mg) per ounce of feed. In your case, you will probably want to use frozen Mysis if you decide to administer the doxycycline orally via medicated food, Pbohus. Thaw out one ounce of the frozen Mysis and, gently but thoroughly, mix in 2 teaspoons of the doxycycline hydrochloride after the Mysis thaws. Then put the medicated food in a Ziploc bag and lay flat in the freezer until frozen. Feed the seahorses their fill of the medicated frozen Mysis as usual once a day for the next 10 days.
As you can see, the powdered form of doxycycline can also be administered orally by mixing it with frozen Mysis that has been thawed properly.
Best of luck resolving this issue, Pbohus.
Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support
Ocean Rider, Inc. is an Organic Hawaiian-Based Seahorse Aqua-Farm & Aquarium that Follows Strict Good Farming Practices in Raising Seahorses and Other Aquatic Life.
