Medicine cabinet

[organ builder]

The other night we discovered the Royal Gramma we have in quarantine had a gray blotch on one side of his body, and seemed to be swimming in such a way that he was favoring that side. We discovered this at about 9:30 PM. There seemed to be nothing we could do just then, and since he was eating we didn't worry too much.

The next day, however, I took the photo of the fish to a sponsor's store and was told the fish had a bacterial infection. I bought a treatment and we had him in the hospital tank that night. Happily, he seems to be swimming a little more normally. I'm not going to declare him healed yet, but the prognosis seems a lot better. I can't help but think, though, that it would have been better if I could have given him treatment as soon as we observed the infection.

We are still rather new to the hobby, but are trying to do it as responsibly as possible. On that night, I realized we should probably have a fish "medicine kit". We were lucky that the fish lived long enough that we had time to procure treatment, but I also know next time might be different.

SO--to those who are more experienced I will pose the following question: what do you keep in your fish medicine cabinet? What do you think it is most important to have on hand? A comment about why it is important will help us, too--I'm not sure we'll be able to stock the whole thing at once.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[franciscosalazar]

I dose Vitamin C in my ATO.

 

[hiimsean]

I would have prazipro on hand. It's an excellent med to fight parasites. I just picked up metronidazole and focus for infections.

 

[jennm]

Metronidazole, Focus, an antibiotic like Kanaplex or Neoplex, Ich-X (contains Formalin - good for many things), PraziPro.

You might want some Cupramine and a copper test kit - but be advised that some species don't tolerate copper very well, so do your homework on that.

Do NOT mix medications or use more than one medication at the same time as another, with the exception of Focus - it is meant to be used in conjunction with Seachem's other powdered medications (Neoplex, Metronidazole, Kanaplex, etc.) Mixing medications can cause dangerous interactions and do more harm than good. Identify what you are treating and treat it specifically.

You can get small quantities of all of these and they are a small investment relative to the cost of dead fishes.

You should also have Seachem Prime - helps detoxify ammonia and nitrite in an emergency. Promotes slime coat on the fish also. Also handy after bleaching filter media, equipment... Prime has MANY uses.

Seachem Stability - helps establish or re-establish beneficial bacteria (ie rapid setup of a QT or after a water emergency).

Polyfilter - a MUST-HAVE. Removes toxins, medicines, heavy metals, phosphates. Helpful tool in solving a water emergency and after medicating in a QT.

Always have enough RO/DI water and salt on hand to do a substantial water change. In a real emergency, Prime can treat tap water for use in a water change (with salt added, of course) but it's not ideal - still, Prime is your emergency backup in that event.

Battery operated air pump, or another power source 'off the grid' to use in event of extended power failure. Small battery pumps can keep a small tank going for days. Larger tanks need something a bit more beefy. If you have a huge tank, consider a generator. Having been through very long outages when I had my shop - the generator was truly a life-saver.

Jenn

 

[jennm]

Here's an article I wrote a while back on quarantine and specimen selection.

Jenn
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[containerman1]

Great info

 

[wannabeeareefkeeper]

containerman1;1010245 wrote: Great info

^^^^^ + 1 on what he said.


Wannabee

 

[russ]

Bumping along. Great Write up.

I set up my first QT Tank (30gal Cube) and added a couple fish to it. Someone say Ich, yep there are spots on one of them. BOO!!!! I do not have anything to treat them and Im gone a couple days so I guess my poor guy will have to fight it out. :-( Im going to get Meds ASAP for future residents.

As much as they try it is impossible for LFS to have pest free systems. I would like to get a few fish that I will move to my display after 4 weeks of QT. After a few days, if my fish appear healthy, is there any reason I could not get a few more next week Tuesday or Wednesday? When you put a fish in QT s it good practice to treat them or only add something if issues are seen?

I want to get Diamond Goby. Are they fine in sand free tanks for a month of so?