recommended medications

[congo]

With so many different types and brands of medication available for all kinds of diseases, I wonder if there are any recommended and proven ones that u guys swear by.

I wud appreciate if you guys can share with me the types of medication u use for gill flukes, white spots and the other common illness.

:) :)

[Isna]

It's all about making money bro..no kidding!:D

[kenneth]

Best medicine for your aro:

1) clean water, zero nitrites and nitrates
2) 0.1% salt in your water
3) do not overfeed, remove all uneaten food within 5 minutes
4) when sick, increase salt to 0.5% over a few days

If the above don't help after 1 week, you might consider:
5) melafix - it is not a cure, it is a preventive medicine. It does not harm your biological filter.
6) myxazin, protozin, sterazin, parazin - from Waterlife (http://www.waterlife.co.uk) , safe for biological filters.

I personally wouldn't use Befuran, yellow power, etc on an aro because of risk of overdosing and these strong medicines destroy the bacteria in biological filters.


Originally posted by congo
With so many different types and brands of medication available for all kinds of diseases, I wonder if there are any recommended and proven ones that u guys swear by.

I wud appreciate if you guys can share with me the types of medication u use for gill flukes, white spots and the other common illness.

:) :)

[Isna]

sorry guys, but i'm not a big fan of such medications...
They have nice colourful labels, fancy names for specific diseases, contain a cocktail of unknown drugs, n worse of all, don't give any indications of the active ingredient and the concentration......
u also can't believe their dose rates.....
they often dont work n do more harm.

i'm not saying that drugs r not good. they r!!
but u should get drugs with ONE active ingredient, and u should knowwhat it is, and it's concentration.

why? because going back to your question congo, yes, there is such a thing called pharmacopoedia. it is basically an encyclopoedia about drugs, with their dose rates, how long to use, side-effects, what it does etc etc....and there is one for fishes! most of the info is from anecdoctal evidence from fish vets, and a few drugs have been properly investigated by pharmocologists.....

so, if u know say XXX brand contains 20% formalin, u can refer to the pharmacopoedia n follow the dose rates etc......these r more appropriate than those suggested by the drug manufactuerers....why?? don't ask me..:D :D but it is true. the dose suggested is often too low or too much.......

u'll b surprised that in the end, there r lots of different colourful fancy names n images( anti-ich, aro-cure etc etc), but they all use the same few drugs, just mix it in different proportions etc....a money-making adventure if u ask me:D :D

[shermie]

agreed :)

[Hobbit6003]

Yeah, totally in agreement with ISNA.

Like human medication, for example, metronidazole is the generic name for the drug. With different manufacturer, it is called different names, like Flagyl or Trinazole. Paracetamol is the generic name, while Panadol and Biogesic are the brand names.

However, unlike human medication, the manufacturer of the fish medication do not have the obligation to declare the type of drugs that they use, and thus they're not listed on the bottle or instrcution sheet that comes with it.

That is also where the danger lies, as many of the anti-bacterial medication, I suspect, contains anitbiotics, which when abused, may start to produce many resistant strains of bacteria.

That is why it is impt to prevent your fish from getting sick, and if they are sick, make sure that you correctly diganose the disease and use the relevant medication, of correct dosage.

Cheers,

Kenny

[Isna]

yeah...sounds pretty tricky....lots of pitfalls...

anyway, i've always wanted to say this:

pick your average supermart dog or cat food.
the biscuits r often of a pleasant colour, n have nice interesting shapes of say a bone, ball etc...the bloody dog doesn't give a damn!! haha.....it's more for the owners:D :D

same thing for fish medications....just stroll down to your LFS.....man! what a colourful display! often more attractive than the actual fishes....:D perhaps that plain unattractive bottle of formalin is actually worth purchasing than a self-proclaimed 'cure-all' nice-to-see product:D

[blackwater]

Originally posted by Isna
yes, there is such a thing called pharmacopoedia. it is basically an encyclopoedia about drugs, with their dose rates, how long to use, side-effects, what it does etc etc....and there is one for fishes! most of the info is from anecdoctal evidence from fish vets, and a few drugs have been properly investigated by pharmocologists.....



Isna, any reccomendations of fisg related pharmacopoedia?

[Isna]

what's the situation like in Singapore guys?
any good products with clearly labelled conc?
recommendations pls?

there isn't much in NZ. less commercialised with respect to aquariums, but we have good 'pure' stuff.....u can easily buy a bottle of formalin, or malachite, or acriflavine, or MB..all clearly labelled, no fancy designs....locally manufactured. of course, there r a few cure-all products from overseas, n i guess these will become more popular with time.

I know Sera's Baktopur direct---available in some LFS in singapore. It doesn;t say much on the outside, but if u open n read the instruction sheet, it does state the active ingredient and the amount of mg per tablet....n guess what, it's probably the best antibiotic availabe for water treatment---nifurpirinol. I reckon it's a good idea to stock some of these in case your aro gets a septicaemia.

any more suggestions with regards to antibiotics?
Furan 2 is another useful one in NZ....it has a clear label----nitrofurazone, MB, furazolidone. unfortunately they've included MB in the combination....but not too bad as an external antibiotic for superficial wounds etc......

anyone tried sera's baktopur direct? it's good stuff:D

[Isna]

hi blackwater..
yes, i've seen a page or 2 about dose rates somewhere before...will try to find it. it's actually quite accurate too.

if u have any quries about any drug, feel free to post it here. i'm sure we can find some info about it..active ingredient pls, not product name:D

[blackwater]

Hi Isna,

I was thinking that if there was such a book, I would like to purchase it for future reference.

Please help. Thanks.

[Isna]

well, there is an exotic species pharmacopoedia manual at the library....most standard fish veterinary textbooks will have a section dedicated to drugs.

'Fish Medicine" is a good text. a bit outdated though, but it has an extensive list of fish drugs, mostly based on experience.
http://www.thekrib.com/Diseases/books.html

and my favourite: fish disease and diagnosis by E. Noga.....detailed information about everything u want to knw about fish diseases.
http://www.opengroup.com/tabooks/081/081382558X.shtml
http://www.isupress.edu/authors/noga.html

if i can't find that webpage, will post a short list about commonly used drugs n their recommended dose rates.

[blackwater]

Thanks Isna. You have been a great help.

Cheers.

[Isna]

no worries bro!:D