A good general fish treatment to use with shrimp?

[Tropical Tony]

Hi guys,

I’ve got a planted tank with fish and shrimp. I like keeping medications in incase anything breaks out in the tank but a lot of the treatments that treat common diseases (white spot, fungus etc) all have copper in which is bad for the shrimp.

does anyone know of any good general treatments I can stock what won’t harm the shrimpies?
Thanks

TT

 

[Essjay]

That's trouble with having shrimps (and snails) in the same tank as fish.

For whitespot, use heat, and maybe salt. Raise the temperature to 30 deg C and leave it there for 2 weeks after the spots have disappeared.

eSHa claim that all their fresh water products are shrimp safe, but I'd prefer not to risk it.
From their website

Fresh water:
All eSHa products for fresh water are suitable for use in fresh water aquaria containing fresh water shrimps. In the case of eSHa Protalon 707® it is important to monitor your water quality and to prevent your shrimps from eating too many dead algae (For more information check the Advice section, subject: Treating Algae).

 

[seangee]

IMO there is no point in stocking medication - with the possible exception of salt. Diseases don't just break out and as long as you keep up with regular water changes getting something break out would be extremely rare. Medications have a limited shelf life and need to be stored correctly. Far better to get what you need based on diagnosis when you have a problem. Even if you can't get to a store Amazon and most fish suppliers will do next day delivery anyway - and your first stop should always be a 75-80% water change. If you do need to medicate your fish would be better off waiting 24-48 hours than being treated with something that is no longer effective.

Oh and there really is no general cure. Specific treatments are for specific problems. Anything that claims it is a general cure probably has no medicinal value - or is a specific treatment for ich. Salt is the closest thing there is to a general cure.

 

[Tropical Tony]

Cheers guys. Imma but worried about using salt as I thought it would harm my plants?

 

[seangee]

With any meds you have to balance the good they do against the harm - this goes for human meds too.
If it kills bacteria it also kills the bacteria in your filter - bacteria is bacteria.
If it kills parasites it also kills fish. Parasites are smaller so they die faster and the dosages are calculated not to harm fish (some may weaken fish in the long term but one hopes not.) In fact the same applies to salt which is why they always say do not treat for longer than 2 weeks, and halve the dosage for sensitive fish.
Some meds may harm plants, most don't. Salt won't affect most plants at the dosages used in a tank.

IMO that is a good enough reason to only medicate when you know what you are dealing with and to weigh up the costs. Its not a choice I have ever had to make but if I have to choose between my fish and plants (and can't remove the plants) the fish win. Every single time.

But first and foremost prevention is better than cure.

 

[Byron]

There is no "general" preventative medication/treatment that is safe or needed in any aquarium. None.

Each "problem" be it disease or conditions must be assessed when it occurs, and the correct treatment provided; correct means the most effective and the safest for the specific problem. Significant weekly water changes, good husbandry, proper stocking (not only numbers but species themselves), live plants, not overfeeding...these prevent disease.

It is totally impossible to "vaccinate" a tank of fish against any disease. The medications will stress the fish, and make things worse even when they are probably good to begin with. Prevention is the afore-mentioned good husbandry.

Run a QT for new fish acquisitions. Losing new fish to some internal protozoan that cannot be identified except by a necropsy performed by a trained microbiologist is bad enough, but losing the display tank of fish is preventable.