|
I didn't mean to step on any toes, and if I did I'm sorry. I have strong opinions when it comes to fish health. I never use antibiotics on the farm for several reasons. First, in my experience, they aren't necessary if you do your job properly. Secondly, I don't want my fish leaving with strains of bacteria that won't respond to an antibiotic regimen if one were needed in the future.
The natural reaction when one's pet falls ill is to do everything possible to cure it. It's emotionally satisfying to know you have done all that is possible. However, the whole process of injecting fish can cause more problems than it solves. True that your personal doctor will prescribe an antibiotic with out culturing a sample first unless there were attenuating circumstances. But, Doctors have the luxury of generally seeing the same thing day in day out and probably could diagnose you without ever visiting the office based off what is circulating around town that month. Bacteria on fish colonize open wounds, and on weak fish, in poor environments, can rapidly reproduce and widen the infection. When the infection worsens to the point that it crosses into the bloodstream you'll have to resort to antibiotics to cure the fish. Just hope you guess correctly. It's better initially to strengthen the fish and attack the bacteria while they remain on the surface. To strengthen the fish maximize the environment- raise water temperatures if possible, aerate the water, deal with the usual water quality parameters and add salt to the system. I have a simple approach to fish health. All fish are infected. What keeps fish healthy is a healthy environment.
|