Preemptive med for new fish?

[Gregg]

I'm not a fish expert, many times it's difficult for me to diagnose what the disease is.
I try to be careful and buy from sellers with good feedback but that doesn't always help. I lost almost an entire batch of expensive rainbow fish by following the advice of not treating unless I can diagnose EXACTLY what's wrong. Looking dull colored and not having an appetite really doesn't help me narrow it down.

I understand, this is why I think the key is prevention, which the medicated mineral block I noted can help with too.

As many steps as you can take to prevent a disease/infestation is very important.
Buying from sellers with good feedback/reputation is certainly a good start

Not to keep pushing information from this same website, but they have an excellent article that provides a good outline for aquarium fish disease prevention
Please give this a read:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Disease.html

 

[Captain Jim]

I like to feed metro flake, and depending on species, prazi treatment if any question of strength, problems acclimating, and I know that you can buy fish that seem healthy, and a couple days later they are not.Whether its another trip/change, or stress,..I don't know,..but I really think many fish are on the verge of being sick, from being bounced around. That is why I prefer local breeders for fish.

 

[jpappy789]

No one wants to lose fish, especially after putting the time/effort/money into trying to make things work...but you sometimes have to be resigned to the fact that there was nothing you could do. I think at some point everyone loses a fish for no apparent reason. Living organisms are complicated and unpredictable and when you throw a bunch into a glass box you're bound to run into problems at some point...

You can only really do your best to prevent the problems from happening in the first place...buy good stock, QT, closely monitor...and then treat when necessary. It's easier said than done and in many instances it's just out of your hands.

I too am far from an expert on diagnosing fish diseases, which I attribute to my fortunate luck in not having to deal with any major outbreaks thus far (*knock on wood*). And sometimes it just is luck, because at the end of the day all you're doing is lowering your chances of running into problems in the future. There's never a 100% cure or fix or prevention. Sometimes, even after all of it, "crap just happens"...

Just from reading your other thread about the rainbows there were a few things that maybe you could have done differently, but honestly who knows if those would have made any difference at all. The only way to know for sure is to try again...no problem asking questions along the way either. No one out there is a wizard when it comes to aquariums though and sometimes the best advice at the time may not work. We're only here to offer suggestions...YMMV.

 

[OrionGirl]

Reading up on the species will help a great deal as well. Wild caught fish in general--and rainbows in specific--are far more prone to having internal parasites than captive bred fish.

'My new wild caught rainbows are not eating and don't show good color, poor water can be ruled out, should I treat for internal parasites?' is different than 'I bought new fish, I want a cure-all to use even if I don't see something wrong'.

Mixing meds is risky. Just as with humans, meds can interact and be more detrimental than beneficial.

 

[Star_Rider]

no 1 medication as a cure all.

I keep certain medications on hand and I tend to treat fish as a preventative..much has to do with who is the source of the stock.

Parasites can and do spread (sometimes at epidemic levels) on captive fish. remember if one fish is infected there is a good chance that all fish can be infected ina a captive environment.

generally, wild fish tend to have parasites. luckily they tend to respond well to Prazi/metro combination.. this can take care of several parasites including flagellated varieties(think Hex here) metro has antibacteria.antibiotic characteristics
I also tend to keep furan II for bacterial or another broad spectrum anti biotic(maracyn for example)

there are also meds that will target certain parasites , levamisol Hcl for instance which target capilaria and camallanus.

 

[Turbosaurus]

I only suggest treating all fish for intestinal parasites by feeding with ONLY medicated food for the first month because if they do have them, generally the first sign is the fish stop eating and then your effed- its VERY hard to find anthelmintics that don't require injestion and are effective at treating the whole tank.

The only contagion I've ever seen take hold of a healthy tank and wipe it out- FOREVER is camallanus- Most other naturally occurring diseases and parasites are like staph- its everywhere and only a threat to a fish with a compromised immune system or open wound. Intestinal parasites can infect even the healthiest fish.

 

[Turbosaurus]

Levimisole is FANTASTIC- it also hasn't been in production in the US for 5+ years as far as I know- you gotta have a contact and Im unsure how effective the old stock is. No one makes it anymore... I Hoard the small portion I have and I paid a fortune for it- who knows if its still good. It was produced as a livestock dewormer- now there are better brands available- because they can force cattle to drink it- try forcefeeding a fish.