The Planted Tank Forum banner

Is it OK to use expired fish meds??

9900 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Solcielo lawrencia
My tetras did not look right. They were doing great for 1.5 years now their eyes are poking out slightly & look weird . They just do not look right. They have been hiding a lot as well. I tried stepping up the water changes & keeping the filters cleaner, but they were also starting to reject the food & one has been missing now for 7 days. So I decided to medicate with Maracyn 2. Some have said it is a good first choice since most fish disease is gram negative. Not sure if this is true or not? So I dosed the Maracyn 2 but it has expired by one month. Now the fish seemed a little better today 24 hours latter but I am out but I tried to buy fresh Maracyn but Pets mart is out. I will be trying another store in the moring but I do have Maracyn 1 but that is expired by about 4 months now. I mixed some up & it smells really strong, should I does Maracyn 1 even though it is expired?? Especially if I cannot find a store soon that carries Maracyn 2??? Opinions please.
1 - 6 of 6 Posts
1 month I would go ahead and use, a lot of products have expiration just because legally they have to, if properly stored it should be fine.
1 month I would go ahead and use, a lot of products have expiration just because legally they have to, if properly stored it should be fine.
+1 That's exactly what my pharmacist said.
It depends on the meds but if it is antibiotics, I would buy new ones. They do lose effectiveness over time which cause resistant bugs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Thanks all, I would agree with the antibiotics not being as powerful & making stronger bacteria. Just wanted to make sure if the opposite would happen like them going bad & having a negative effect on the fish. I did mix up a batch of Maracyn 1 & let me tell you in the mixing glass that stuff smells really, really strong. I did not re dose or use #1. I dumped it in the garbage. I am still seeking med #2 . The one that works on gram negative. It could just be that my fish are getting old but I am not really sure what happens when fish get really old & start dying from normal end of life cause verse an actual bacterial infection? Could there eyes get distorted a little before they die of old age?? Sounds stupid but really old people do not look to good when they are very old, so maybe the same thing happens to fish, maybe someone can give advice on this. Do fish look good until their last few days or do they gradually begin to break down an not look so good before they die?

I am going to feed them some baby brine shrimp to see if it helps their vitality. They have been getting pretty thin for a while now. They still eat well with flake food but I have always felt they needed more verity. I cannot get back to regular water changes until I am done with the meds.
See less See more
Antibiotics last years after expiration. They do not degrade unless it's been exposed to oxygen and/or heat.

I am careful not to use antibiotics when they are healthy because antibiotics also kill essential microbes necessary for health.
1 - 6 of 6 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top