reeffirstaid
Active Member
Fish get sick, this is a reality. Fish arrive or are purchased, and they get sick, another reality. How we handle this is another matter. Several years ago, I had wonderful success keeping an Achilles tang. My specimen was a prize, large, healthy and plump. He had attitude to boot, displaying the natural aggression for his species. One evening during feeding, he took a dive into the rock, scraping up his eye and some of his flesh. The flesh wound healed quickly enough, though the eye became infected, within a matter of several weeks.
I had a sick fish. My theory is that proper nutrition can cure many fish related maladies. It wasn’t working for the Achilles’ tangs’ eye. Even with garlic fortified seaweed, new life spectrum thera A, and vitamin and selcon enriched frozen foods – the infection was worse. Bacteria was actually eating a hole into the fish’s eyelid, something needed done.
I spent a Saturday removing rock and coral from the tank the Achilles called home. Then I removed ½ of the water. All this to simply net the poor guy. I placed him in a hospital tank, just a 30 gallon long aquarium with water that was taken out of the reef. I don’t like the idea of placing fish under the constant stress of antibiotics. In all animals, including humans, antibiotics have side effects and they are often gastrointestinal based. One thing I had on my side, the fish was still eating. While an antibiotic would kill the bacteria, the side effects may end his feeding response.
I went through a mental rolodex in my mind. What could treat this fish? What isn’t an antibiotic? I’ve used Mela Fix and Pima Fix in the past, they proved unsuccessful clearing infections. As I scanned my fish cabinet, something popped out, a bottle of Brightwell Aquatics coral soak. We use these high iodine soaks to kill bacteria that infests coral tissue, or to kill unwanted pests eating the coral. Alright, well is it fish safe. We know that corals are far more sensitive to medications such as copper, or antibiotics, than fish are, (depending on species).
Watching the tang swim, once the prize of the aquarium, I realized it was worth a shot. Each day I would dip the Achilles in one gallon of water, treated under the same dosing guidelines as coral. It took time, but after several days, I was seeing improvement. In four (4) weeks the cloudiness within the eye was gone. In (2) months, the small hole that had developed had healed, without even a scar.
The lesson. When fish get sick, it is often one, of a handful of problems. Diagnosed correctly, it can be treated and you don’t have to use a chemical soup. I often read on forums about people hammering new acquisitions with a recipe of chemicals, just to treat the possibility of infection. I also read about a recipe of antibiotics and chemicals to treat infection, usually with the result of losing the fish. Was it the disease that killed them, or the treatment? We forget the antibiotics, copper and all the others have side effects. We also forget, each time we use antibiotics, we are running the risk of creating aquatic strains of bacteria, which are antibiotic resistant. Here is a list of common fish ailments, and a way to diagnose and treat them, with something as benign as iodine. Just remember, if something is strong enough to kill bacteria, in a strong enough dose, it can probably kill anything, so be conservative.
1. Internal Parasites. Symptom: Thin, sunken belly, appearance of rib bones and intestines, white stringy fecal waste, from over shedding of intestinal lining.
Treatment: Medical foods. Likely Result: Depending on level of infection, death, especially if fish is not eating.
2. Nutrition: The cause of many fish deaths, with symptoms similar to above, without the appearance of white, stringy fecal waste.
Treatment: Reef Frenzy fish formula soaked in selcon, New Life Spectrum Thera A, garlic enriched seaweed for herbivores. If the fish has been starving so long that they have lost their feeding response, death is likely.
3. Bacterial Infection: Listless behavior, protruding scales, bloated appearance, cloudy eyes. Treatment: Iodine soak as described above. Likely Result: If caught quickly, the fish may recover.
4. Parasitic infection: White spots, yellow spots – all resembling sugar or sand. Treatment: hyposalinity (1.010 SG) Likely outcome: Under hyposalinity many marine parasites will perish, leaving the fish unaffected. Often entire tank treatment is needed.
The good news, most of these maladies can be prevented entirely by carefully selecting new specimens, managing aggression and feeding your fish a mixture of appropriate foods. Leave the chemical soup to the companies that make fracking chemicals – and use a little common sense, and something less invasive to treat your fish. Iodine and hyposalinity should always be your first, and most sought after, weapon of choice.
I had a sick fish. My theory is that proper nutrition can cure many fish related maladies. It wasn’t working for the Achilles’ tangs’ eye. Even with garlic fortified seaweed, new life spectrum thera A, and vitamin and selcon enriched frozen foods – the infection was worse. Bacteria was actually eating a hole into the fish’s eyelid, something needed done.
I spent a Saturday removing rock and coral from the tank the Achilles called home. Then I removed ½ of the water. All this to simply net the poor guy. I placed him in a hospital tank, just a 30 gallon long aquarium with water that was taken out of the reef. I don’t like the idea of placing fish under the constant stress of antibiotics. In all animals, including humans, antibiotics have side effects and they are often gastrointestinal based. One thing I had on my side, the fish was still eating. While an antibiotic would kill the bacteria, the side effects may end his feeding response.
I went through a mental rolodex in my mind. What could treat this fish? What isn’t an antibiotic? I’ve used Mela Fix and Pima Fix in the past, they proved unsuccessful clearing infections. As I scanned my fish cabinet, something popped out, a bottle of Brightwell Aquatics coral soak. We use these high iodine soaks to kill bacteria that infests coral tissue, or to kill unwanted pests eating the coral. Alright, well is it fish safe. We know that corals are far more sensitive to medications such as copper, or antibiotics, than fish are, (depending on species).
Watching the tang swim, once the prize of the aquarium, I realized it was worth a shot. Each day I would dip the Achilles in one gallon of water, treated under the same dosing guidelines as coral. It took time, but after several days, I was seeing improvement. In four (4) weeks the cloudiness within the eye was gone. In (2) months, the small hole that had developed had healed, without even a scar.
The lesson. When fish get sick, it is often one, of a handful of problems. Diagnosed correctly, it can be treated and you don’t have to use a chemical soup. I often read on forums about people hammering new acquisitions with a recipe of chemicals, just to treat the possibility of infection. I also read about a recipe of antibiotics and chemicals to treat infection, usually with the result of losing the fish. Was it the disease that killed them, or the treatment? We forget the antibiotics, copper and all the others have side effects. We also forget, each time we use antibiotics, we are running the risk of creating aquatic strains of bacteria, which are antibiotic resistant. Here is a list of common fish ailments, and a way to diagnose and treat them, with something as benign as iodine. Just remember, if something is strong enough to kill bacteria, in a strong enough dose, it can probably kill anything, so be conservative.
1. Internal Parasites. Symptom: Thin, sunken belly, appearance of rib bones and intestines, white stringy fecal waste, from over shedding of intestinal lining.
Treatment: Medical foods. Likely Result: Depending on level of infection, death, especially if fish is not eating.
2. Nutrition: The cause of many fish deaths, with symptoms similar to above, without the appearance of white, stringy fecal waste.
Treatment: Reef Frenzy fish formula soaked in selcon, New Life Spectrum Thera A, garlic enriched seaweed for herbivores. If the fish has been starving so long that they have lost their feeding response, death is likely.
3. Bacterial Infection: Listless behavior, protruding scales, bloated appearance, cloudy eyes. Treatment: Iodine soak as described above. Likely Result: If caught quickly, the fish may recover.
4. Parasitic infection: White spots, yellow spots – all resembling sugar or sand. Treatment: hyposalinity (1.010 SG) Likely outcome: Under hyposalinity many marine parasites will perish, leaving the fish unaffected. Often entire tank treatment is needed.
The good news, most of these maladies can be prevented entirely by carefully selecting new specimens, managing aggression and feeding your fish a mixture of appropriate foods. Leave the chemical soup to the companies that make fracking chemicals – and use a little common sense, and something less invasive to treat your fish. Iodine and hyposalinity should always be your first, and most sought after, weapon of choice.
