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Post by Carl on Sept 29, 2016 9:24:11 GMT -5
Aquarium/Pond Answers has a NEW article! www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2016/09/how-to-treat-sick-fish.htmlHere is an excerpt: "The purpose of this article is not to provide any specific treatment regimen for the readers fish, rather to provide an outline that will provide a better chance for success over the typical "my fish are sick and what medications & how much should I dump into my aquarium" question. Obviously the starting place is aquarium disease prevention, but many readers will be too late to this aspect of fish husbandry, which is the point of this particular article."Carl
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Post by Carl on Mar 16, 2017 8:48:22 GMT -5
I have updated this article: " Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish" Here is an excerpt: "Next, here are causes for failure of any fish illness treatment regimen:
*Poor care such as over crowding with resulting high ammonia exposure at some time in the life of the fish resulting in permanent organ damage that makes a fish susceptible to disease and treatment difficult later in life. This is common with carnival goldfish, but again common with Bettas in how they are shipped and kept right up to their purchase.
As noted in the first section, as to following ALL optimal husbandry practices, when this is not done this can make a treatment less effective or not effective at all. Often the result is that a more mild treatment regimen that WOULD WORK IN OPTIMAL CONDITIONS will not work, while a strong, sometimes harsh treatment, still will work. Then anecdotal observations that treatment A does not work while treatment B does, when in reality using more scientific method, we find this observation is not true by virtue that that treatment A was not given a fair chance to succeed via better fish husbandry standards. I have seen this incorrect observation in social media as per ParaGuard versus Quick Cure for Ich treatment or General Cure versus Levamisol for worm treatments (the first in each example representing the more mild treatment). "Carl
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Post by Carl on Apr 2, 2017 10:32:11 GMT -5
I have further updated our "Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish" article. Here is an excerpt: "Next, here are causes for failure of any fish illness treatment regimen:
*Failure to follow medication treatment regimen or substitutions for what ever reason.
This is very common cause of failure. Examples include using just Kanamycin when the synergistic blend of Kanamycin and Nitrofurazone are called for to treat infections such as Columnaris. Either one or the other will generally result in failure! Or another example is if a Medicated Wonder shell is needed in addition to the above noted combination example to lower oxidative stress for a serious multi-pathogen or unknown issue, the chance of success on a likely difficult situation will be lower."Reference: www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2016/09/how-to-treat-sick-fish.htmlCarl
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Post by Carl on Jul 6, 2017 12:03:08 GMT -5
I have updated the Aquarium/Pond Answers article; "How to Treat Sick Fish" Here is an excerpt (not a complete section) " Here first are basic procedures to check off before treating any fish sickness issue:
Make sure ALL water parameters are as they should be. This includes well known and obvious parameters as well as less obvious parameters. This is part of the "background issues I mentioned earlier.
INCLUDING: Ammonia; under .5 ppm (best .25 or less)
Ph; stable within the generally accepted target range of the fish to be kept (if the target range is 6.5 to 7.5, stable at any number there-in)
KH; this too can vary depending upon fish kept, but generally anywhere from 50 ppm to 150 ppm
Flow and oxygen levels; most persons do not have an oxygen test kit, so having a water flow turnover rate of 5 times for an average non-planted freshwater aquarium usually will indicate adequate oxygen levels
Bio Load & Decomposition & DOC; a high bio load, often compounded by decomposition of organic and high dissolved organic compounds will often be a breeding ground got Aeromonas and Saprolegnia. Fixing this is as important as any treatment regimen. Further Reading; Bio Load in Aquarium or Pond
Redox and Mineral Cations; this is an aspect of fish care that continued research both in and out of the hobby/industry is proving to be key. In diseases such as Columnaris, having a less than optimum Redox whether it be the electromagnetism of the water, missing mineral Cations, low water rH, or simply too many free radicals (oxidizers) making for an unbalanced Redox; this is a major aspect in whether you will be successful in treating or just as importantly not have this disease present in the first place (since it is an opportunistic infection).
Other diseases such as HLLE have a direct relation to Redox (or a Redox quality/balance measurement called Relative Hydrogen aka rH). In freshwater, rH should be 23 to 26, otherwise your aquarium may not be as conducive to good health as it could be.
Further Reading; Aquarium RedoxReference: www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2016/09/how-to-treat-sick-fish.htmlCarl
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Post by Carl on Sept 28, 2017 8:34:55 GMT -5
I have updated updated this article "Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish". Here are a couple of Excerpts: *Follow ALL professional based treatment regimens when you treat for a disease. This includes full dose of medications for the recommended days, any baths, swabs or similar if required, increased or decreased water temperatures if required, and use of sodium chloride salt if required (as an example, the last two are required for Columnaris treatment). This also includes synergistic combinations such as Kanamycin WITH Nitrofurazone for Columnaris and other infections. Using just one or the other as per many professional recommendations is a recipe for failure. Another common medication mistake is using "first aid" treatments such as Melafix for full blown infections, this is analogous to using Neosporin for a staff infection in a human.
*Consider an online fish care forum that is based on honest researched information, healthy interaction/discussion; and with members that are NOT about popularity and insulting others. Here are our suggestions (for sick fish care & prevention): The ORIGINAL Everything Aquatic Forum Board Facebook Group; FRESHWATER FISHUES·Sick Fish Place Facebook Group; The Aquatic University
Reference: www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2016/09/how-to-treat-sick-fish.htmlCarl
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Post by Carl on Oct 25, 2017 9:15:08 GMT -5
I have further updated this important article from Aquarium/Pond Answers "Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish" Here is an excerpt: "I cannot emphasize more that many if not most fish diseases, especially bacterial or fungal in nature (including secondary infections to parasitic infestations) have a background issue. Failure to eliminate this background issue will often result in failure of treatment. Often the "background issue" is more than half the problem, so a good part of the treatment plan is REMOVING this background issue!! A good analogy I like to use as to why it is so important to eliminate these issues is this: "Not correcting causes or background issues is akin to standing in a burning building asking for a treatment for burns, while not leaving the burning building"
Unfortunately in my dealing with questions of what one should treat for a given set of symptoms, I have found that for the majority of these questions, the person asking the question either only addresses underlying issues in part or not at all. Often this is not because the person does not want to, but they simply do not have the means or the availability for whatever reason to do so. I would also point out, and while this may seem a bit harsh, it is still the reality, and that is this is still not a valid excuse to continue to ask for alternative treatments or complain to persons such as myself that the treatment failed when proper procedures have not been completely followed."Carl
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Post by Carl on Nov 30, 2017 9:44:05 GMT -5
I have further updated this important but unfortunately lessor read article from "Aquarium/Pond Answers" Here is an excerpt: Here is an excerpt: "Here first are basic procedures to check off before treating any fish sickness issue: * Follow ALL professional based treatment regimens when you treat for a disease. This includes full dose of medications for the recommended days, any baths, swabs or similar if required, increased or decreased water temperatures if required, and use of sodium chloride salt if required (as an example, the last two are required for Columnaris treatment). This also includes synergistic combinations such as Kanamycin WITH Nitrofurazone for Columnaris and other infections. Using just one or the other as per many professional recommendations is a recipe for failure. In other words, if a fish bath, dip, or bare isolation/hospital tank is called for in the treatment regimen, this should be used, otherwise do not expect optimum results. A common medication mistake is using "first aid" treatments such as Melafix for full blown infections, this is analogous to using Neosporin for a staff infection in a human. Another common mistake is using medications that likely not effective for the issue at hand. A common medication here is Metronidazole. This is an excellent medication when used for what it is called for, but for some reason of late it is commonly used (sometimes in combination products such as General Cure) for fish diseases that are likely deterioration most likely caused by common aerobic gram negative bacteria commonly found in the aquarium and/or "bio filter". Problem is, Metronidazole is most effective with anaerobic gram positive & some anaerobic gram negative bacteria. "www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2016/09/how-to-treat-sick-fish.htmlCarl
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Post by Carl on Jan 22, 2018 14:44:19 GMT -5
Here is more from the Aquarium/Pond Answers " Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish" "I cannot emphasize more that many if not most fish diseases, especially bacterial or fungal in nature (including secondary infections to parasitic infestations) have a background issue. Failure to eliminate this background issue will often result in failure of treatment. Often the "background issue" is more than half the problem, so a good part of the treatment plan is REMOVING this background issue!! A good analogy I like to use as to why it is so important to eliminate these issues is this: "Not correcting causes or background issues is akin to standing in a burning building asking for a treatment for burns, while not leaving the burning building"
Gill, How to treat sick fish, 3 Unfortunately in my dealing with questions of what one should treat for a given set of symptoms, I have found that for the majority of these questions, the person asking the question either only addresses underlying issues in part or not at all. Often this is not because the person does not want to, but they simply do not have the means or the availability for whatever reason to do so. I would also point out, and while this may seem a bit harsh, it is still the reality, and that is this is still not a valid excuse to continue to ask for alternative treatments or complain to persons such as myself that the treatment failed when proper procedures have not been completely followed. "Carl
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