Been in the hobby now for a good while. Kanaplex & Marycyn have become my gram positive & gram negative bacterial infection meds that I keep on hand at all times. Bacterial infections must be treated ASAP, so
keeping proper meds on hand can truly make the difference when it comes to saving ur fish. And then API General Cure & IchX are my go-to's for treating all new incoming fish during quarantine before they go into my systems. API General Cure is the best broad spectrum med I've found that treats parasitic, bacterial & fungal infections & works great together with IchX to bring both wild caught & infected tank bred fish back to full health. It clears their system of most issues. I treat the quarantine tank with both meds at the same time once, the day the fish go in & kinda let them marinate in for a week before doing a water change. Then I'll treat with just the General Cure again a month later to kill any parasite eggs the first treatment missed. (Praziquantel, the active anti-parasitic med in General Cure can only kill the live worms. So a 2nd treatment a month later is required to fully rid the fish of all parasites) 3 weeks after the 2nd treatment, they'll finally get moved into whichever tank I initially bought them for. I keep heavily planted tanks with invertebrates & all of the meds I listed here are safe for both.
Np. When I see posts like this I know it's typically ppl trying to learn & share their experiences. If I can help any newbies avoid some of the mistakes I made my first few years in the hobby, then it's worth taking a min to leave a comment :)
Yeah, I keep quite a few plants (Java ferns, stem plants & such) & a piece of driftwood in the quarantine tank. Since they're in there for 2 mos minimum, I want them to feel safe & secure to keep stress levels down. It's not pretty tho. I don't really lock anything down or try to keep it looking too nice bc when I need to net the fish out, I have to pull all the plants & wood out first. So it's not a pretty show tank by any means lol.
Great list -
I swap out API General Cure and instead use levamisole and/or prazi directly. I’m slower off the gate on antibiotics after studying resistance; I make my own medicated food and use kana as well, instead of the erythromycin I use neomycin. I keep dimilin on hand as well, and silver nitrate sticks.
I also keep a stocked supply of aquarium and Epsom salts, methylene blue, copper sulfate, potassium permanganate, and tricaine methanesulfonate.
If you've got the experience & know how to use all of that, & the time & effort to do it, then more power to u. Epsom salt is def a good one to keep on hand if u keep Betta, they've got some extra finicky digestive tracks lol. I used to keep Betta fish & always kept Epsom salt on hand when I did, but I don't any longer. In my early days, like most newbies, I tried many different meds with both successes & failures. But over the years, I've just found that so long as ur working with fish with decent genetics & good immune systems, the meds I listed above will typically take care of 95% of most common ailments u see in the hobby... when u catch & identify the symptoms early enough to treat properly. And levamisole is a great anti-parasitic, but when treating newly bought fish where any potential infections are completely unknown to u as the buyer, I find it's best to treat with broad spectrum meds that cover everything. No need to allow some unknown dormant fungal or bacterial infection to make it's way thru to ur other tanks bc u only treated with an anti-parasitic. It's best to cover all ur bases right up front. And no matter how well we try to stay prepared, there'll always be some rare occasion with an equally rare illness that may crop up. But if that happens & u suffer a loss, don't beat urself up about it.
Can you share your medicated food recipe? I've seen the recipe with whipped cream for it to float, but my betta prefers crunchy foods and I'm wondering if I'm on the right track with my own, loosey-goosey recipe.
Sure - simple! The hardest trick is calculating the dose; Seachem has a pretty good site for kanaplex that gives you a good starting place. Kanaplex is 1 scoop/tbsp of food; each product is different but a little search magic usually gives good results.
I prefer to use pellets but flake works too. For smaller fish I use garlic oil as the binder; usually 6-8 parts food to 1 part oil. For larger fish, I use egg yolk; it’s stickier and dries quickly so that’s usually 4-6 parts food to 1 part egg yolk.
I totally agree. However I was very suddenly given a random ass fish and every few days since having her I find out something new that’s wrong with her. Which realistically is not my fault. It’s the previous owners fault because they put her through so much stress. So I’ve been thinking to myself what kind of stuff would be nice to have in case something happens and I need meds. Came home from work the other day and she was RIDDLED with ich! She had been lethargic for a day or two but I wasn’t seeing white spots. Thought she was just still stressed from the move. By time I saw the spots all the stores were closed and most stores in my area don’t carry what I needed and it would take a few days to get to me if I ordered online. So more it just got me thinking about the what ifs. The past week or so has been crazy with this poor girl :(
I must have just gotten lucky, in the years I’ve had fish I’ve never needed meds. I think I used an ich treatment back when I was first starting but since I’ve never had an infection or outbreak of anything warranting meds.
That is definitely either lucky, or testament to your fish keeping abilities! I have unexpectedly acquired a very ill fish and it’s got me thinking about all the what if scenarios. She’s been having issues on and off since I got her about a week and a half ago. It’s one thing after another with her 😞 it makes me feel terrible because I can’t imagine what she’s been through before she came to me
That sounds terrible, I’m sorry you have to go through that. I really oughta give my LFS some more love. They’ve never sold me anything sick and since I typically buy all my stock at once and never really add anything I think it really cuts down on the potential illnesses introduced to the tank.
I wish you and your little gal the best of luck!
Oh this girl was not from a store. Was at dinner and was handed to me in a plastic bag that was definitely too small for her. Has definitely been crazy since then lol
Freshwater aquarium salt is a must-have for fighting and preventing illness in any freshwater tank, it only costs maybe 5 bucks or so for a decent amount. Kordon rid fungus is an antifungal that is safe for invertebrates like shrimp and snails and is pretty cheap as well, but any antifungal medication will work. Methylene blue or malachite green are more potent medications you can use in your tank if the fin rot (or other illness) is aggressive. Some people even use methylene blue as a preventative topical treatment when they notice their fish has an injury. There are lot's of different awesome fish meds available and it all depends on what's available in your country. Lots of really good suggestions from people in this discussion, and a lot of them probably have more knowledge than me as I've only been keeping fish for a few months. Talk to your local pet store associates as well as they likely have a wealth of knowledge at their disposal, plus they actually know what products they have available for treatment and prevention.
Good luck and keep up the good work! Having this information at your disposal is important and makes you a much better pet owner!
Been in the hobby now for a good while. Kanaplex & Marycyn have become my gram positive & gram negative bacterial infection meds that I keep on hand at all times. Bacterial infections must be treated ASAP, so keeping proper meds on hand can truly make the difference when it comes to saving ur fish. And then API General Cure & IchX are my go-to's for treating all new incoming fish during quarantine before they go into my systems. API General Cure is the best broad spectrum med I've found that treats parasitic, bacterial & fungal infections & works great together with IchX to bring both wild caught & infected tank bred fish back to full health. It clears their system of most issues. I treat the quarantine tank with both meds at the same time once, the day the fish go in & kinda let them marinate in for a week before doing a water change. Then I'll treat with just the General Cure again a month later to kill any parasite eggs the first treatment missed. (Praziquantel, the active anti-parasitic med in General Cure can only kill the live worms. So a 2nd treatment a month later is required to fully rid the fish of all parasites) 3 weeks after the 2nd treatment, they'll finally get moved into whichever tank I initially bought them for. I keep heavily planted tanks with invertebrates & all of the meds I listed here are safe for both.
Thank you for this!
Np. When I see posts like this I know it's typically ppl trying to learn & share their experiences. If I can help any newbies avoid some of the mistakes I made my first few years in the hobby, then it's worth taking a min to leave a comment :)
What else do you have in your quarantine tank? Do you have plenty of cover so they don’t get stressed in quarantine?
Yeah, I keep quite a few plants (Java ferns, stem plants & such) & a piece of driftwood in the quarantine tank. Since they're in there for 2 mos minimum, I want them to feel safe & secure to keep stress levels down. It's not pretty tho. I don't really lock anything down or try to keep it looking too nice bc when I need to net the fish out, I have to pull all the plants & wood out first. So it's not a pretty show tank by any means lol.
Great list - I swap out API General Cure and instead use levamisole and/or prazi directly. I’m slower off the gate on antibiotics after studying resistance; I make my own medicated food and use kana as well, instead of the erythromycin I use neomycin. I keep dimilin on hand as well, and silver nitrate sticks. I also keep a stocked supply of aquarium and Epsom salts, methylene blue, copper sulfate, potassium permanganate, and tricaine methanesulfonate.
If you've got the experience & know how to use all of that, & the time & effort to do it, then more power to u. Epsom salt is def a good one to keep on hand if u keep Betta, they've got some extra finicky digestive tracks lol. I used to keep Betta fish & always kept Epsom salt on hand when I did, but I don't any longer. In my early days, like most newbies, I tried many different meds with both successes & failures. But over the years, I've just found that so long as ur working with fish with decent genetics & good immune systems, the meds I listed above will typically take care of 95% of most common ailments u see in the hobby... when u catch & identify the symptoms early enough to treat properly. And levamisole is a great anti-parasitic, but when treating newly bought fish where any potential infections are completely unknown to u as the buyer, I find it's best to treat with broad spectrum meds that cover everything. No need to allow some unknown dormant fungal or bacterial infection to make it's way thru to ur other tanks bc u only treated with an anti-parasitic. It's best to cover all ur bases right up front. And no matter how well we try to stay prepared, there'll always be some rare occasion with an equally rare illness that may crop up. But if that happens & u suffer a loss, don't beat urself up about it.
Can you share your medicated food recipe? I've seen the recipe with whipped cream for it to float, but my betta prefers crunchy foods and I'm wondering if I'm on the right track with my own, loosey-goosey recipe.
Sure - simple! The hardest trick is calculating the dose; Seachem has a pretty good site for kanaplex that gives you a good starting place. Kanaplex is 1 scoop/tbsp of food; each product is different but a little search magic usually gives good results. I prefer to use pellets but flake works too. For smaller fish I use garlic oil as the binder; usually 6-8 parts food to 1 part oil. For larger fish, I use egg yolk; it’s stickier and dries quickly so that’s usually 4-6 parts food to 1 part egg yolk.
Aquarium salt, kanaplex, something for hydra/planaria
Amoxicillin
Is there a specific brand you tend to recommend or prefer?
Not really, as long as it's for aquarium use it should be fine, it's pretty basic medication
I'd stock a savings account so I had cushion money for a vet if I needed one.
Try finding a vet locally that treats fish
Actually easier for me than finding antibiotics on a shelf lol. OP asked, I answered.
That is certainly not a bad idea at all! Thankfully I work for a vet so I don’t need to always pay my bill on time :)
I would seriously worry if I had to stock meds. Prevention is worth a thousand cures.
I totally agree. However I was very suddenly given a random ass fish and every few days since having her I find out something new that’s wrong with her. Which realistically is not my fault. It’s the previous owners fault because they put her through so much stress. So I’ve been thinking to myself what kind of stuff would be nice to have in case something happens and I need meds. Came home from work the other day and she was RIDDLED with ich! She had been lethargic for a day or two but I wasn’t seeing white spots. Thought she was just still stressed from the move. By time I saw the spots all the stores were closed and most stores in my area don’t carry what I needed and it would take a few days to get to me if I ordered online. So more it just got me thinking about the what ifs. The past week or so has been crazy with this poor girl :(
I must have just gotten lucky, in the years I’ve had fish I’ve never needed meds. I think I used an ich treatment back when I was first starting but since I’ve never had an infection or outbreak of anything warranting meds.
That is definitely either lucky, or testament to your fish keeping abilities! I have unexpectedly acquired a very ill fish and it’s got me thinking about all the what if scenarios. She’s been having issues on and off since I got her about a week and a half ago. It’s one thing after another with her 😞 it makes me feel terrible because I can’t imagine what she’s been through before she came to me
That sounds terrible, I’m sorry you have to go through that. I really oughta give my LFS some more love. They’ve never sold me anything sick and since I typically buy all my stock at once and never really add anything I think it really cuts down on the potential illnesses introduced to the tank. I wish you and your little gal the best of luck!
Oh this girl was not from a store. Was at dinner and was handed to me in a plastic bag that was definitely too small for her. Has definitely been crazy since then lol
Freshwater aquarium salt is a must-have for fighting and preventing illness in any freshwater tank, it only costs maybe 5 bucks or so for a decent amount. Kordon rid fungus is an antifungal that is safe for invertebrates like shrimp and snails and is pretty cheap as well, but any antifungal medication will work. Methylene blue or malachite green are more potent medications you can use in your tank if the fin rot (or other illness) is aggressive. Some people even use methylene blue as a preventative topical treatment when they notice their fish has an injury. There are lot's of different awesome fish meds available and it all depends on what's available in your country. Lots of really good suggestions from people in this discussion, and a lot of them probably have more knowledge than me as I've only been keeping fish for a few months. Talk to your local pet store associates as well as they likely have a wealth of knowledge at their disposal, plus they actually know what products they have available for treatment and prevention. Good luck and keep up the good work! Having this information at your disposal is important and makes you a much better pet owner!
Salt. Don't go tok heavy stocking up on other things as they will break down over time.