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Cure-All med for newb fish?

captmicha

captmicha

Members
I know there's no such thing, but what comes close?

I like to treat every new fish that comes in, when they're in my QT tank. But I forgot what I used to use in the past.

I got tired of new acquisitions dying. Even from better sources of fish (not talking Walmart or Pet/co/mart). Even in good water conditions with good nutrition. Just changing tanks can lower the immune system. I also would rather wipe out anything they may harbor and bring in, in case one of the fish undergo some kind of stress and become vulnerable. The immune system is great, but not foolproof.

In other words, I'm aware of some people's preference to not medicate, or to go all natural, but respectfully, I'm not one of those people.

I'd *prefer* (optional about crustaceans) something crustacean and (not optional) scaleless, sensitive fish safe. And not Primafix or Melafix. I would strongly prefer a med that does NOT need to be mixed into food! As we all know, some sick fish have reduced meds and I'd rather not force feed (did it once for a pygmy cory!). I'd like something that treats internal, as well as external infections.

What do you think about the Seachem line? I'm not married to it, so other brand suggestions are also appreciated. I like Seachem from what I've experienced before, but am unsure whether particular meds treat gram negative AND gram positive bacteria. I'm also unsure how Paraguard would treat viral infections. I know there are viral suppressants now... But in fish meds?

I'm interested in the following, please share your opinions, please! Especially if they treat both internal and external bacterial infections.

Paraguard
Polyguard
Sulfaplex

I'd also be interested in buying a larger quantity if someone wants to split. Especially if a med is from fishpharm as it gets expensive!

Thank you for your help!
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
I've tried several over the years and still haven't settled on any one magic solution yet. I am not convinced we know enough about the viruses in hobby fish to even address those so I don't try to treat them. If I have to choose, I think I'd rather get rid of parasites first, I've had more problems with them than anything else. So my latest experiment is with Proform-C. http://pentairaes.com/proform-c.html
This stuff claims to treat external parasites and fungi with a 3-day course of treatment.

I also got Nitrofuricin Green to try on fish in quarantine as well since it seemed quite broad spectrum. http://store.nationalfishpharm.com/Nitrofuracin-Green-59584.Item.html
This one claims to be anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti-protozoan with a 10-14 day treatment.

Neither is exactly what you are looking for, but it might help in your comparison with other products.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
To get rid of external parasites, even those in the gills, I like to use saturated salt solution. See: http://aquaticlifefarm.com/web_pages/alf_article_salt.html This is really good for large fish but hard on small fish.

I also like using Safe-Guard (fenbendazole). Fenbendazole is a dewormer but also gets external parasites. Treatment takes three days. Treatment must not be repeated for 3 days or fish die. You can treat any size fish with this, If it is ich, treatment needs to be for a week since ich goes through a cyst form that protects it from meds.

As a general treatment for new fish, I like best melafix and pemafix at their recommended dosages for one week. I find it really does the job even for a tank with a visible problem when you cannot identify what the problem is. These need to be used more than one or two days to work, really needs a week in MHO and you can extend their use to another week after a water change.

If it is a virus, you really cannot do much except keep the fish warm and do water changes.

If it is a bacterial infection, there are a ton of antibiotics approved for aquarium use. The problem is a lot of them are not water soluble. If it is not soluble in water it need to be in the feed. If it is water soluble, the fish will adsorb some and it has a chance of working. Just search for water soluble antibiotic to get a variety of these but look to the aquarium literature to determine the dosage.

New fish are always a question, but the answer is to assume they need treated. If you have the fish for a while and no problems, then look at your feeding, you may be overfeeding, or look at your water changing, you may need to do higher percentage water changes or more frequent water changes.
 
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