The treatment of fish related to environmental conditions (except for first aid for wounds), non-contagious diseases, as well as many nutritional disorders, comes down to establishing a specific temperature and hydrochemical regime for each species and age, organizing proper feeding, and maintaining an appropriate sanitary condition in the aquariums. Exceptions are cysts, obesity, and scoliosis, which are practically incurable. Medication can be administered to fish in many ways. After purchasing the medication, read the instructions carefully. And only then apply it.
Quarantine aquarium for fish treatment and prevention.
Every aquarist should have a spare aquarium to be used for hospitalization, quarantine, or fish breeding, as well as for isolating aggressive individuals. When this aquarium is used as a hospital tank, it can serve several functions. • Isolating a fish for observation. • Isolating a fish for rest and recovery after aggression, stress, or to relieve fatigue after spawning or birth. • Isolating a single fish or sequentially isolating several fish for short-term chemical treatment when treating the main aquarium is impractical. This measure will avoid unnecessary treatment of healthy fish. • Isolating a fish in case the medication to be used for treatment negatively affects biological filtration or is harmful to plants or other inhabitants, and for this reason is not suitable for the general aquarium. • Isolating one or more fish that would react negatively to treatment in the general aquarium. Isolated fish can be treated with an alternative remedy depending on the circumstances.
Newly acquired fish are subjected to preventive treatment, strictly following the sequence of therapeutic drug application. The quarantine vessel should be weakly aerated and illuminated with diffused light, which degrades medications less. For this purpose, corrugated glass can be placed under the lamp. The required temperature must be maintained. The auxiliary equipment of the isolation aquarium may vary depending on the specific application. For example, it can be used as a container for short-term treatment – without heating, filtration, and decoration (though usually with aeration).
For longer-term treatment, water heating is necessary, and possibly chemical filtration using zeolite (to remove ammonia). In addition, if fish in the hospital aquarium need shelter in one form or another to escape stress, then such shelter must be provided.
For fish to properly rest and regain strength in the isolation aquarium, it should become a true temporary home for them. You should calculate the volume of the hospital aquarium, write down the resulting value, and keep this record in the medicine kit or attach a label directly to the aquarium to avoid having to calculate this volume every time the aquarium is to be used. If you are calculating the volume of an aquarium that contains decor, remember to adjust for the volume of water displaced by the substrate and decorative items.
Other useful equipment: • A pipette or dropper for drop-by-drop administration of liquid medications. Do not use used droppers, as traces of the previous solution may remain on them. • A small graduated cylinder for measuring the volume of liquid medications – for example, with a capacity of 25 or 50 ml. This cylinder should have a scale graduated in 1 ml. An ideal option is a glass rather than plastic cylinder. • Long tweezers for removing large skin parasites and foreign bodies stuck in the fish’s mouth or throat. • A clean cloth for immobilizing fish. It can also be used as an “operating surface” during procedures performed out of water. This cloth must be thoroughly and repeatedly rinsed in fresh water so that no traces of detergents or soap remain on it. • Apothecary scales for weighing fish and medications, with an accuracy of at least 2 grams. • A large glass pitcher or jar for pre-diluting or dissolving medications before adding them to the aquarium. It must not be plastic, as plastic can react with certain chemicals, and their residues can remain in surface scratches. • Rubber gloves to protect hands. They should be used exclusively for working with fish. • A plastic container with a lid (if you have to visit a veterinarian, fish will not experience as much stress in the container as in a plastic bag).
The aquarist’s medicine kit.
When fish fall ill with some “mysterious disease” and a diagnosis cannot be made, the aquarist is tempted to try applying one medicine or another at random – just in case it works! To avoid such a temptation, do not keep a large set of medicines “close at hand”. Many medicines have a limited shelf life. They may not be needed before this expiration date or may never be needed at all.
Some antibiotics and painkillers require special storage conditions. For example, they must be stored at a low temperature, but at the same time, they should not be placed in a home refrigerator accessible to children. It is wise to always have ready certain medicines intended for treating the most common diseases that you will sooner or later encounter. These are the following medicines:
• Food or sea salt, which has numerous uses. • Methylene blue. It can be used to treat external bacterial and fungal infections, ichthyophthiriasis, and also as a prophylactic agent against bacterial and fungal infections affecting eggs. However, this chemical has a drawback – it negatively affects biological filtration, so it is used only in a quarantine aquarium. Its multifaceted action makes it a very valuable reserve medication. • Disinfectants – such as merbromin or crystal violet. They can be applied topically to treat localized bacterial or fungal infections arising from injuries and fin rot, as well as a prophylactic agent against these infections.
Aquarists who do not have simple and quick access to suppliers of medicines and chemicals may wish to keep some additional remedies – for example, against trematodes, excessive skin mucus production, and systemic bacterial infection. It is useful to have special filter media for use in emergencies – for example, zeolite for ammonia removal, as well as activated carbon for removing certain contaminants and chemical drugs.
The medicine kit should also contain test kits for measuring pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate concentrations (as well as other substances if necessary). In addition, it should contain necessary water conditioning agents – for example, those designed to remove chlorine and adjust pH.
Reference:
Considering the fact that the preparation of solutions is often carried out by amateurs with little familiarity with chemistry, I provide some information regarding solution concentrations.
1. Percentage concentration means the ratio of weight to the total weight of the solution. Thus, 100 grams of a 10% solution of a substance contain 10 grams of that substance and 90 grams of water.
2. Molar concentration is the number of gram-molecules (moles) of a substance in 1 liter of solution. A 1-molar (or simply molar) solution contains 1 gram-molecule of the dissolved substance in 1 liter. 1 gram-molecule of a substance is numerically equal to its molecular weight in grams. Thus, table salt (NaCl) has a molecular weight of 58.5, and accordingly, its gram-molecule weighs 58.5 grams; this amount of salt is contained in its molar solution.
3. Normal concentration is expressed by the number of gram-equivalents of a substance in 1 liter of solution. The designations 1N, 0.5N, 0.1N, etc., correspond to normal, 0.5-normal, 0.1-normal, etc., solutions. The gram-equivalent of an acid is equal to its molecular weight divided by its basicity (i.e., the number of hydrogen atoms in the acid molecule capable of being replaced by a metal). For a monobasic acid (e.g., HCl), the normality of the solution is equal to its molarity. For alkalis, the gram-equivalent is found by dividing the weight of the gram-molecule by the valence of the metal, and for salts – by the product of the number of metal atoms and its valence.
How to handle fish.
It is very important to remember that sick fish are already experiencing stress, which negatively affects their ability to resist disease. Therefore, if fish have to be caught for treatment, this must be done in such a way that they experience as little stress as possible. In this regard, the duration of their exposure to air must be kept to a minimum. In addition, fish must be handled carefully – otherwise, physical harm can be caused to them, including damage to the protective mucous layer.
• When catching a fish, do not chase it around the entire aquarium – this causes stress even in healthy fish. Use two nets and apply the “pincer” technique to slowly and carefully guide the fish to the front glass of the aquarium. Sick fish are usually easier to catch than healthy ones. • Even before catching the fish, make all preparations for treatment in a separate aquarium. This is especially important if you are performing procedures out of water. Do not make the “patient” wait, lying on a table, while you look for an antiseptic or the tool you plan to apply it with. • Transfer the fish to the separate aquarium or the site of the necessary procedure as quickly as possible, yet carefully. If the fish falls on the floor, it is hardly going to do it any good!
Methods of medication administration.
The following four methods are generally used to administer medications to fish.
• Administration of medication through water (bath treatment) is the most common method. It is used to treat external, internal, and systemic diseases (including combating endoparasites). Bath treatment can be long-term or short-term. The first type of treatment is usually (though not always) carried out in the general aquarium. The second involves a short stay in a separate aquarium – with the duration measured in minutes or hours rather than days.
• Topical method, i.e., local application of medication to the affected part of the fish’s body. For application, the fish is removed from the water. This method is used only for treating localized external diseases, primarily wounds.
• Oral administration – usually along with food. Oral medication is used mainly for treating systemic diseases and combating endoparasites (especially those affecting the intestines).
• Injections. Some medications for systemic diseases, especially antibiotics, are administered via injection. This method can only be applied to large fish, and it should be performed by a veterinarian or another fish health specialist. The aquarist should not attempt injections themselves.
Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, and not all methods are suitable for fish of all sizes. In some cases, the choice of administration route is determined by the nature of the disease (e.g., whether it is systemic, internal, or external). In addition, some medications can only be administered by one method, or they are more effective with one method than with others. If there is a choice, the advantages and disadvantages of each method should be evaluated, especially from the perspective of minimizing stress.
Latest changes and additions made on August 14, 2012.
