With my recent scare I'm interested in opinions on some general precautionary meds to run through my quarantine fish. Does anybody do this and if so what do you use?
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here's some reference sites
http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/diseases.html
http://thegab.org/Illness-and-Treatment/over-the-counter-fish-medicines.html
it all depends on what you'll think you'll need...
lots of folks keep Acriflavim, Potassium Permanganate, metronidazole, kanamycin sulfate , etc...
I don't keep much on hand. I have some nitrofurazone because I ordered way too much last time I needed it. Mostly I just keep PP, and it's not really a med.
The most important thing is to be sure of who you buy your fish from. Ask the supplier how they were cleaned up. A good supplier will tell you. A good supplier won't want to risk loosing his reputation over a dodgy sale.
Quote from: LizStreithorst on October 27, 2012, 07:09:11 PM
I don't keep much on hand. I have some nitrofurazone because I ordered way too much last time I needed it. Mostly I just keep PP, and it's not really a med.
The most important thing is to be sure of who you buy your fish from. Ask the supplier how they were cleaned up. A good supplier will tell you. A good supplier won't want to risk loosing his reputation over a dodgy sale.
I agree but unfortunately even if you do ask they are all honest. So have recently learned. Plus like with the auction fish
I got today I didn't get the chance to talk to them
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Jusr keep them isolated and change lots of water.....and watch.....you can't treat what you don't know...precautionary drugs like PP can be used tho,,or kanamycin sulfate for bacteria and infections....??
Quote from: Jdmcfast on October 27, 2012, 08:12:11 PM
Quote from: LizStreithorst on October 27, 2012, 07:09:11 PM
I don't keep much on hand. I have some nitrofurazone because I ordered way too much last time I needed it. Mostly I just keep PP, and it's not really a med.
The most important thing is to be sure of who you buy your fish from. Ask the supplier how they were cleaned up. A good supplier will tell you. A good supplier won't want to risk loosing his reputation over a dodgy sale.
I agree but unfortunately even if you do ask they are all honest. So have recently learned. Plus like with the auction fish
I got today I didn't get the chance to talk to them
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The trick is in knowing the good suppliers from the bad ones and in being selective who you buy from. Even then you need to QT and watch the fish. If something is wrong the fish will tell you. My rule of thumb is that a skinny fish that eats with gusto has worms. A fish that picks food up then spits it out, or has white poo has hex. The introduction of a sacrificial lamb is importent because the new fish may carry something and be immune to it that the existing fish have never delt with and get sick from.
While this is an older thread it brings up a couple of questions in my mind.....
How long to you QT? I do 4-6 weeks but wonder if it needs to be that long even if everything looks fine.
Is medicating new fish as a preventative procedure of any value? I've depended on water changes and observation. However I have read plenty of posts where people treat tanks with a variety of different meds "just in case". I'm not comfortable with using meds without seeing some kinds of symtoms but am interested in more opinions.
Quote from: PaulineMi on January 10, 2013, 08:18:10 AM
While this is an older thread it brings up a couple of questions in my mind.....
How long to you QT? I do 4-6 weeks but wonder if it needs to be that long even if everything looks fine.
Is medicating new fish as a preventative procedure of any value? I've depended on water changes and observation. However I have read plenty of posts where people treat tanks with a variety of different meds "just in case". I'm not comfortable with using meds without seeing some kinds of symtoms but am interested in more opinions.
Myself, I'll QT for a week or two, then use the 'sacrificial lamb' approach. I'm not big on med's either and only keep a few. My fish have never had problems and if I see an ill one, I'll generally QT it and if no improvement with temp adhjustment, and lots of fresh water...I'll cull it. period. if it's immune system is that weak, I don't want to keep/breed/sell it. Hence, all the stock is healthy and thriving and I want to keep it that way. I'm a bit anal about that....LOL..choosy and careful.
Most folks that pretreat are dealing with imports...however, some just do it because they can...or are leary of a seller....
I have the war chest. Metro in flake and powder. Levamisole, Fenbendzole, Dylox, HP, Prazinquantel, Kanamycin, Oxytetracycline, Tri Sulfa, Tetracycline, Clove oil, PP, muriatic acid and a bunch of other stuff. I worm and treat for hex 3 times per year.
I also don't use meds unless necessary. But if something looks 'fishy' (lol) with a QT, I just do heat/salt and melafix. Sometimes MG... I don't like really strong antibiotics unless they're actually really sick. To me it's just too expensive to treat new fish when they don't act sick, and if you then stop using antibiotics once you 'think' they are better the bacteria etc is just gonna get resistant and harder to treat again.
But I don't cull non breeding/ unhealthy fish. :( I just separate them from the others.
I mostly do it like Mug.
Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.
Yeah I forgot, I have the mela fix and pima fix too.
Quote from: Frank The Plumber on January 10, 2013, 06:07:06 PM
Yeah I forgot, I have the mela fix and pima fix too.
LOL..a regular medical center....zounds... ;D..I have some Metro, med-flakes,etc...that's about it. If I was getting fish from an importer, or breeder/broker, I'd have PP, de wormers, etc...as a precautionary treatment.
Quote from: Frank The Plumber on January 10, 2013, 03:14:26 PM
I have the war chest. Metro in flake and powder. Levamisole, Fenbendzole, Dylox, HP, Prazinquantel, Kanamycin, Oxytetracycline, Tri Sulfa, Tetracycline, Clove oil, PP, muriatic acid and a bunch of other stuff. I worm and treat for hex 3 times per year.
Frank what do you use for a dewormer?
Quote from: Jdmcfast on February 04, 2013, 08:42:25 PM
Quote from: Frank The Plumber on January 10, 2013, 03:14:26 PM
I have the war chest. Metro in flake and powder. Levamisole, Fenbendzole, Dylox, HP, Prazinquantel, Kanamycin, Oxytetracycline, Tri Sulfa, Tetracycline, Clove oil, PP, muriatic acid and a bunch of other stuff. I worm and treat for hex 3 times per year.
Frank what do you use for a dewormer?
Fenbendzole, I'd bet.....let's see... ;D
Is that the pig dewormer from Farm & Fleet?
Quote from: Rjb3 on February 04, 2013, 09:07:57 PM
Is that the pig dewormer from Farm & Fleet?
Yes that is more like what I was really asking I know fenbendazole is used in bird dewormer too. But I'm interested in what people use and where they get it from
Steve at 'Angelsplus' has the medicated flake too....
I go after the stuff that I can not see. In the past all of my problems were from protozoans nematodes and parasitic worms. For protozoans the QT consists of 90F and metro flake for the prescribed treatment. Just the 90F will chase out the protozoans but I feel that the metro hunts them out of the flesh. A 5 or 6 day purge period in which to flush the metro from the tank, and fish flesh, during this time I feed Tetra min.Very important to do the purge, if you mix this junk you can really mess up your fish, turn them into spinning dying messes. If you can go longer on thepurge...do it. Then a feeding of fenbendazole flake for the required period and the purge period of tetra flake for another 5 or 6 days. Then the Levamisole flake wormer #3, this is for the evil camallanus of which there is now a very resistant variant that is a hard SOB to kill. I do the treatment on the camallanus and then wait and redose. Then you watch your fishes a hole for that stinking little red murder who hooks into the intestinal tract and sucks blood from the fish until a secondary infection results which causes bloating and death, I hate these suckers bad. This requires 6 to 8 weeks. You also want to watch for myco bacteriosis. This wonderful crap if it gets in your room gets you sick as well, it is uncurable on the fish and you get to have some great fun at the Doctors too, and into the toilet all of your stock must go as you will spread it to everything you have by water changing equipment. So 6 to 8 weeks and the war chest. If Sweet baby Jesus appeared before me and crafted a fish in his own glorious hands by an act of a faith based miracle and presented it unto me...I would still QT that sweet little Baby Jesus fish.
Best way to keep your friends....QT anything they ever give you. He who is ever PO'ed at anyone else over ever getting any type of a fish disease in his room can only ever blame himself.
What Frank said about mycobacteriosis is right.
Mycobacteriosis is widespread among zebrafish labs and fish farms. It can often be in an undiagnosed chronic condition and in that way may not cause problems (for zebrafish anyway). It can be become more problematic if the fish get stressed (like most diseases I guess). It is thought to be transmittable to freshly laid eggs from the parents.
People can get it from cuts in the skin in contact with infected water. Takes months of nasty antibiotics to get rid of.