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With all this section's talk about overcoming illness in one's tank I thought I'd create a thread for people to share their success stories treating their little fish friends....

I must say I have never had a fish rally once I started treating with meds. Misdiagnosis or just dastardly diseases? Seems that they are so delicate that once whatever it is takes hold it just carries them off. Am I the only one?

Feel free to share:

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I had a guppy once that got gill flukes so bad I thought for sure it was a goner. I treated him and he was back to normal in a matter of days! An amazing transformation from a thin fish, sitting on the bottom of the tank, with big red inflamed gills! That's my most memorable success.

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I have horrible luck with every single disease except one -- but that one is the most infamous of them all: Ich. Until earlier this year -- when I finally lost two Ich-ridden fish (one of whom had an extremely bad infestation when I first discovered it in the library tank that I maintain) -- I had never lost a single fish to Ich in 18 years, thanks apparently to the effectiveness of Rid-Ich. I recommend that stuff unreservedly.

But as for the other diseases I've tried to treat: well, my God. Neon Disease; Whirling Disease; an endless string of terrible necrotic bacterial infections that no amount of antibiotics could stop (until I finally realized that the fish were picking them up by eating half-decayed food off the bottom because I didn't have enough bottom-feeders in the tank -- since then, a lot of other people have told me that they had the same problem); a mysterious disease that only goes after my Glowlight Tetras (turning their bodies silver and almost always killing them -- nobody else I've talked to has ever heard of it)...at this point I've pretty much reached the conclusion that the only possible use for most fish medicines is that they MAY help kill free-swimming organisms in the water and so help keep an epidemic from spreading further.

Still, every fish medicine I've ever tried has had the dubious distinction of at least being harmless to the fish -- EXCEPT Nalidixic Acid. Ignore anyone who ever tries to persuade you to use that stuff -- even in a dose well-diluted below the package recommendation, you might as well pour cyanide into your tank.

By the time you have lost 1/more fish with a sudden disease/tank problem it is usually to late. Only experience will pick if some thing is wrong. It might sound harsh but I often find that to remove the problem fish/s for good then start treating the tank is usually the best method.

If it is an imported water problem this can happen so fast you can have a tank full of dead fish within 48 hrs or even less. It is usually not worth changing the water as all you are doing is reintroducing the same problem.

Meds I always carry Primafix, Melafix, Sera Nitrivic and a live bacteria (which is kept in the fridg)

The best method is precautions and watch your tank every day at feeding time.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/[/link

Keith

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Pretty much enjoyed a 95% survival rate for medicated fish for the last decade.I reckon most fish die because of misdiagnosis, the misapplication of quarantine, and failure to provide conditions that optimise the meds, and not really catering for secondary infections. In almost every case ive seen failure its been with a disease that is untreatable or has been spotted too late. When it comes to fish diseases, you seriously have to move your butt, and you have to bein tune with their behavior and physical appearance to start with.

Some species though can be too small, or too med allergic to save.Sometimes theres only so much to work with.Depends a lot too on the tank setup, plant specialists may force their fish ito immunosupression, those with low filtration or filtration dependant on high flow rates and small media quantities often find they are forced into cycles. Low oxygenation under medications is a major killer.Then of course you have issues when brand loyalty for some unknown reason takes presidence over choosing an effective med. Also for some reason you absolutely cannot get it into the average fishkeepers head that treatments often need to be systemic, and antibiotic, and that most fish meds are little more than contact fungicides and bactericides. Is it that we cant save the fish, or is it that we self limit on what were willing to do, and how far we will go to save them? I think the answer is almost the latter, its practically become institutionalised in the hobby, and that has to change.If you take how much money the average person is willing to spend to save a fish's life, then you have your answer.

Take the overview and see why you may be failing. The reason can be as basic as the species youre choosing, your supplier, and the tank setup.

I think an average expectation of a 90% survival rate is not out of the question. Most fish die because of the attitude of the average keeper, from not putting in the mental effort to be in tune with their fish, through to not caring enough to front up the cash. Combine that with shops with combined systems and fish from all over the globe in a connected water supply, the commonplace poor selective breeding that goes on, and the ardent objectification as an aquarium as a thing of beauty rather than an environment for the care and protection of fish, and you pretty much have an answer as to why so many fish die of the complications of disease. We immuno supress them, we expose them to disease, and then we throw toxic organic dyes and contact poisons at them when they become ill, not bothering to take in the actual symptoms, and environmental pressures at fault.

It can be overcome , but for a little thought, and a great deal of reading, and perhaps a flexibility to overcome ones own goals to meet a suitable compromise for the fish. Both idealogically and financially.

Besides which, what problems have you been having? Might find if you throw them in the forum a solution might present itself. As long as the disclosure is total and inclusive, rarely is there nothing to be done.

Git I created this as a sharing thread.


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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

lol , thought i was sharing, besides what is sharing for if not to find an answer of sorts? I rather thought that if you felt the way you do you might want to find a way to improve things? lol, its your thread, you can go a to b via z if you like. Im certainly not stopping others from contributing!

Most confused

must say I have never had a fish rally once I started treating with meds. Misdiagnosis or just dastardly diseases? Seems that they are so delicate that once whatever it is takes hold it just carries them off. Am I the only one?

Wouldnt you want to know why? I guess you could ask for a consensus of opinion, and your certainly free to do so, but whats being asked for here, a consensus of win or lose, or did you want to find a solution? Im intrigued.

A barometer of success, or a chance to hear tales, but to what end?

Is not describing the problems you had sharing?

wow git ! nice work!

git, I don't have a sick fish so no specific details to give. Attempting to kick start some interaction so I created a "sharing thread" as opposed to being for trouble shooting.

Seems a fascinating demonstration of gendered communication.
Guys talk to problem solve.
Chicks talk for the sake of it


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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Yup, I understand that. Aren't you the least bit curious as to why meds havent worked for you? You can share a thread and still get all kinds of responses. CSI fishtank, cmon lets open a cold case No thread domination needed, im sure people will interject with pretty much anything they like as usual

Autopsy anyone?

No bristling involved, I was just confused by the logic, besides, tank perams dont really matter in hindsight when it comes to disease diagnosis. That only matters when the event is actually happening. Afterwards you can dissect it at leisure from the events of the time.

If something troubles you, and it clearly does, then find the solution. Im as ready help as any. Bristles grow on my chin, not in the post Im permanently bristly

Lets add something to the thread, and find out why things happen, after all, without it its just "yeah my fish died" or "my fish do ok thanks" end of convo.Which would be well..weird.

I do add Melafix to my water with every weekly water change. Its anti-bacterial effects may be mild, but from what I gather it can't do any harm and may do some good.

I also add Blackwater Tonic at most of my water changes (although you don't want to overdo that, since it does lower the water's pH and may lower it too much if you let it build up). One article I read on Blue Emperor (aka Kerri) Tetras -- which are among my favorite freshwater fish, but are delicate -- said that this greatly reduces their otherwise high vulnerability to internal bacterial infections, which leaves me wondering if it may also do so for a good many other species of fish.