Re: NANFA-L-- captive fish disease and cures?

Bonnie McNeely (bnmcneely-in-sbcglobal.net)
Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:18:19 -0700 (PDT)

Actually, fish veterinary medicine is a complex subject. Obviously, the best approach is excellent husbandry which obviates the need for medicines. Many diseases are extremely difficult to treat in home aquaria.

Many of the medicines offered by fish stores are more harmful than helpful, especially if the user doesn't know what disease (s)he is treating, and doesn't have adequate isolation facilities and so on. Certainly, fish stores push antibiotics, which have many problematic outcomes when used under uncontrolled conditions.

That said, some things can be done. External parasites can usually be handled by salt or formalin dips, and instruction for these is available in many fish books. Ichthyopthirius is readily treated by getting rid of stressful conditions, treating with a malachite green medication in isolation, and then making sure to keep the fish in unstressed conditions to avoid future infections.

Get involved with other local aquarists. Consult with a LOCALLY OWNED fish store. Visit your local zoo or public aquarium and get acquainted with the personnel there, who will be more than willing to provide information, especially if you volunteer as a docent or whatever they need.

guidebooks exist. I am hesitant to recommend one, because each one I have consulted has some glaring error, but some of the information in most is useful if taken with a grain of salt (one of the recommended treatments, lol). So, consult someone local to you whom you trust as to a guidebook to get. And, if you are affiliated with a university laborabory or graduate program, find out who at your place has research colonies of fish. Maybe you'd want to work with that person for your degree!

"Edward W. Bihary, Jr." <ebihary-in-verizon.net> wrote:
Not only captive fish, but wild fish. It would be nice if there were a
definitive site to help identify parasites and diseases of wild-caught fish
(with nice, easy to compare with, photographs), and available treatment
methods.

Ed Bihary
Pitcairn, Pennsylvania
Turtle Creek Valley

> Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:59:07 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Becky Kendell
> Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- captive fish disease and cures?
>
> Is there anywhere on the NANFA site that has
> diseases/parasites/fungus that fish in captive care might
> have and how to treat them? I didn't see anything like that.
> Can anyone suggest a site with good info? There's lots of
> different kinds of fish medications at pet stores, but I'm
> not sure which are good...if any?
>
> Becky
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