Quarantine and Prophylaxis

[gunpilot]

I have sure learned alot from this forum and my last three months of fish keeping, not having had any fish since the 60's, the dark age of aquariums. I have a 5 gallon eclipse, amongst others, planted ,which did have 4 guppies and 2 cory's. Down to one guppy and think that I have a camallanus problem, (acutally I am pretty sure that is what it is and will treat is ASAP), and I have had all the new tank algae probs that I read about here. Those are resolving as well. After all of that, I must say, that never again will a plant go in my aquarium without a bleach or potassium permanganate treatment, nor will any fish without spending some time in quarantine. Now here is my question that I ask of the more experienced folks here:

Is there value in treating, prophyltcaly, the fish in the QT ??? Obviously during a one month quarantine ich will show up and can be dealt with then. My concern is the slow killers, like the camallanus that have probalby been eating away at my guppies since I got them 3 months ago. These guppies would have passed any health inspection I could have given them in a QT and then moved to the tank to spread this pest?

Any comments or guidance is appreciated.

Thanks

Jack

 

[Harlock]

There is a pretty big debate aongst fishkeepers regarding prophylactic teratment of stock during QT. I have a background in reptile keeping as well as working in a reptile shop for a friend. It is common practive to give a new herp the "shotgun" treatment when you first aquire it. We used Panacur and Flagyl, a warm water and chemical soak to get rid of snake mites and also observed them in a backroom before ever introducing them into either a shop setting or our home snake rooms. Obviously snakes and fish are different and the way these meds interact with them is different. Reptiles can stress, but not as easily as fish it seems.

I am not against a salt soak in a transfer bucket before a 30 day QT. This is not your everyday Ich salt treatment, but a fairly high level of salt for around 30 minutes. I am skittish about shotgunning a fish with antibiotics, however. The way fish deal with stress seems alarming to me. Not eating and lethargy can come quick and after that, it seems an uphill battle. I know some folks will terat with Praziquantel in QT, but I just need to watch the fish before I can commit to that. If I see signs of anything out of the ordinary, then I would use it or metrodonizole if I felt it could help.

Having said that, there is some real concern in the medical community regarding the treatment of animals by hobbyists with antibiotics and antibacterials. There is a fear, and evidence to support it; that this may lead to resistant strains of bacteria and incurable infections among not only hobby pets like herptiles, fish and birds, but also in human beings. This debate is even being waged on antibacterial soaps, hand rubs, household cleaners and even air fresheners. So, I state that, just in the sake of fairness. Anyway, I do and will continue to do mild prophilaxis in quarantine, but I'll leave the heavy duty stuff out until I feel I have a sure sign of some parasites or bacteria.

 

[gunpilot]

Can you explain the salt soak bit and maybe what it can help with.

I am with you 100% in not overdoing antibiotics in the event we develop resistant strains. However, it would seem to me, that if that we do overmedicate "in the home" and not in the breeding community, the chance od passing resistant strains would be minisculle at best.

What concerns me is the diseases and the parasites that we cannot see at time of purchase or after a 4 week quarintine or which have a long life cycle that only manifests itself with the death of the subject. The recommended treatment for camallanus is from a prophylacitc sheep treatment. Having once had cattle, I knew what I "might" be up against and gave them all a dose.

Is it possible that there might be a regimen that all aquarists should use in quarantine? Like 16-18 days of ich treatment. If it doesn't hurt the subject might it be alright. ??

Thoughts anyone?

Jack

 

[Harlock]

Can you explain the salt soak bit and maybe what it can help with.

I am with you 100% in not overdoing antibiotics in the event we develop resistant strains. However, it would seem to me, that if that we do overmedicate "in the home" and not in the breeding community, the chance od passing resistant strains would be minisculle at best.

What concerns me is the diseases and the parasites that we cannot see at time of purchase or after a 4 week quarintine or which have a long life cycle that only manifests itself with the death of the subject. The recommended treatment for camallanus is from a prophylacitc sheep treatment. Having once had cattle, I knew what I "might" be up against and gave them all a dose.

Is it possible that there might be a regimen that all aquarists should use in quarantine? Like 16-18 days of ich treatment. If it doesn't hurt the subject might it be alright. ??

Thoughts anyone?

Jack

This will freak some folks out. Heh. Well, here it is. 5 TABLEspoons of kosher salt per gallon of water. Premix it in a solution, taking the volume of water in the transfer bucket into account, plus whatever you are using to dissolve all the salt. Pour half in and wait ten minutes. If any fish appears distressed, please remove it to the QT tank. After ten minutes, add the other half of the salt bath and then wait an additional 20-30 minutes and again, any distress, remove the fish. You will likely see an increase in respiration after this and I would not treat the fish for anything else and leave them in the darkened QT tnak after this for at least 48 hours so they can recover. This helps with certain ectoparasites.

I also agree that if the fish stay in captivity there is not so much worry, but keep in mind certain fish disease is tranferable to humans, most notably Fish Tuberculosis. The real problem comes in talking about prohylaxis on a public forum like this one. What if John Q Irresonsibility reads something about treating with Prazi or Metro, decides to do it to his fish and then, like many morons before him, releases his cichlids into the wild? I think we as hobbyists have to take responsibilty for the treatments we recommend and discuss. If we do not, no one will and then what happens?

As for Ich treatment without a visible sign, I might go for a salt treatment, but again, I rather like to look at my fish in quarantine very closely and expect to see Ich if it is there. I reiterate and summarize my statement from my first post: Fish deal with stress poorly. Long term treatment for parasites, bacteria, viruses or disease that may not even be present can do as little as irritate your fish, or as much as kill it. If you kill what was an otherwise healthy fish, what have you accomplished by QTing it? Quarantine is to save fishes' lives, not end them.