First aid kit for fish

[sharkweek178]

What are good medicines and treatments to have on hand, just in case? I'm not looking to dump chemicals in as a preventative. I mean something to have on hand so that I don't have to waste time ordering it if I ever need it.

 

[Rocky998]

Salt. I always have it on hand.

 

[Slaphppy7]

PraziPro

 

[GaryE]

We all fight about this constantly.

I keep:
Malachite green with formalin (velvet is a problem is my very soft water, and ich shows up every few years);
methelyne blue;
salt
betadine, as a topical wound/fin treatment option.

When I can get it, I like to have prazi-pro at hand. This is especially true if I am getting wild caught fish, who sometimes have nuisance gutworms;
fenbendazole if I am buying farmed fish, as Camallanus nematodes are pretty common these days.

At the moment, I have neither on my med shelf.

 

[kiko]

salt, garlic and green peas

 

[Playsander]

You have started something here. It always gets into agro .

I keep eSHa2000 and eSHaEXIT also a good amount of carbon to put into my filter to help get rid of the meds.

 

[sharkweek178]

You have started something here. It always gets into agro .

 

[Uberhoust]

I have an old bottle of something for Ich from years ago. I also have salt but its really for raising brine shrimp. I haven't introduced any new fish for a year or more now, other than fry I raise from time to time, so I don't have a lot to contend with. I do wonder if I might accidently introduce parasites from using captured mosquito larva, I wouldn't know what to use in that case and would be talking with all of you should something arise.

 

[Back in the fold]

Rogaine , Viagra and Geritol. That should cover all the bases. Oh , we’re talking about fish. Sorry.

 

[GaryE]

I have been adding fish because of my move, and the fishroom starting to work well. In the past 6 months, I have added more fish from outside sources than I had in the previous decade. I am also in a region where I don't have the luxury of getting all wild caught fish, and I have had to deal with farmed fish and all their problems once again. So my little med shelf has been restocked.

But I am very fatalistic. 90% of the illnesses we face, we can do nothing to help beyond providing a good environment foe the fish, and avoiding creating a good one for the bacteria, virus or parasite. Some of my new purchases have suffered losses in QT, and not one was treatable. The losses weren't many.
Ich is easy, and in winter with new fish, I stay prepared. bacterial diseases? Luck is what we have (or not). My very soft water means I have to keep tanks clean to avoid Oodinium sp. but if it flares up, I keep meds for that. In the past 20 years, I have needed to treat for tapeworm types half a dozen times only. Camallaunus? 3 times ever, in 56 years.

I've collected live food for 15 years. No diseases.

A forum can make you think we live in a fishpocalypse, but that's because people with fish problems come here. The sample for disease is high. If you learn to shop carefully, both for fish and the people who sell them, it's not as bad as the appeals for help here would suggest.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have had 20=30 tanks for years. i breed some fish, i get in fush imported, wholesale, from breeders and once in a blue moon from stores or retails sellers. I learned a long time ago that it was better for me to ave things on hand I would nver use than to need those things and not have them. There is no fish med store and I get my meds from various sources. Here iw what I try to keep ideally but it has gotten more difficult and I need fewer meds as well these days.

Here is my list in no particular order;
Salt- for multiple things
Erythromycin and Mardel Maracyn 2 (minocycline), I have a bit of leftover Doxycycline Hyclate (API Fin & Body Cure)
Metrodinazole, Flubendazole, Levamisole HCL, Praziquantel (PraziPro),
Mardel Maracyn Oxy, Methylene Blue
Epsom salt (used way more for non med purposes than as a med)

edited to add the following

While I keep a lot of meds on hand, most of the time I wind up having to throw them out and replace them unused. What I have found is it is better for me to have meds I do not use on hand than to need such meds and not have them. This has become more important in the recent past as lines of supply are not as reliable as a number of years ago.

 

[gwand]

I’m a retired physician. Some of you have quite the medicine chest. Where did you learn fish diagnostics and treatment? Is there a reputable fish medical primer?

 

[seangee]

You have started something here. It always gets into agro .

I keep eSHa2000 and eSHaEXIT also a good amount of carbon to put into my filter to help get rid of the meds.

No aggro here. I keep fresh water. As a prophylactic I replace 70-80% of it every week. Never had any form of disease since I have been doing that

 

[Essjay]

Is there a reputable fish medical primer?

The three stickies by Colin_T in this section are useful guides to fish illness and treatments.

Tropical Fish Emergencies

Need help right away? Then post up here!

www.fishforums.net

 

[GaryE]

I’m a retired physician. Some of you have quite the medicine chest. Where did you learn fish diagnostics and treatment? Is there a reputable fish medical primer?

Imagine diagnosing everything by looking at the patient, just by eye, with no tests. There are some books, and we can look at pictures.

It's why I 100% support the ban on over the counter antibiotics for fish. When the provincial ban came in here, I was worried, but no more fish died then when we had the meds. Now the ban is national, and the same result is playing out. Except with a few parasites, we're lost. somewhere in the early medieval peasant zone.

For a long time, we got by on prevention, but the shift in the hobby to mega fish farms makes for perfect disease incubators, and constant super spreader set ups. Add buying sight unseen online, and the health of the fish we buy is pretty fragile.

You'll see endless postings here where healthy fish are treated for fin rot using meds for whatever the poster has on hand. The misuse of the remedies we have around, some of which actually work, is rampant. The business has begun to sell what seem to be homeopathic remedies on the apparent principle people will use them blindly and while they don't help, they don't harm. I guess it's better to see someone treat cancer with Melafix than with Erythromycin...