Still would like to hear from members about ordering antibiotics
Hello, QuadA friends== I want to thank Alex Pourreau for responding to my query of yesterday. While he has given good advice about water changes it still leaves open the question about the use of prescription antibiotics to treat fish infections. It is difficult to diagnose the cause of infections without killing the fish and plating out the lesion on agar medium. Most or all of us lack the facilities for that unless we work in a micro lab. Short of that one has to make an educated guess about cause and treatment. We all have experienced Ich and know its signs, symptoms, and treatment with RidIch+, but if it is not Ich I have a preference to use antibiotics. Concerning antifungals fluconazole is a generic, it's inexpensive and selectively toxic for fungus. So using it for empirical treatment is generally safe bc fish, unlike fungus, lack ergosterol in their cell membranes. So if you have had occasion to use prescription antibiotics or antifungals I would like to know how you obtain them. Thanks. Let's keep up the dialogue on fish diseases!
Sorry for not being present on here for a little while. While yes, a laboratory can be very helpful with diagnosing diseases with verifiable test results, common aquarium fish diseases tend to be easily discernable form one-another for the most part. Ich is a protozoan disease that manifests in a very recognizable manner that is easy enough to distinguish from Epistylis and Velvet with a good eye and knowing what to look for. Aquatic bacterial diseases are almost always Gram-negative bacteria, and for that reason, most bacterial diseases can generally be treated with the same types of antibiotics along side frequent water changes and keeping a lowered water temperature (to slow down the bacterium life cycle). All protozoan and bacterial diseases can be managed to some degree with a UV sterilizer to kill any pathogens in the water that passes through the sterilizer. This will not directly treat the fish, but will help reduce the spread of the disease and limit the harm done by an overgrowth of harmful bacteria. If you would like to, you can PM me pictures of the affected fish through the Member's chat feature (The Member's area is dysfunctional at the moment and this may not be possible), or Email them to me at alexpourreau@atlfishclub.com. It would probably be best to avoid posting them on here as the pictures may be unsettling or disturbing to some.