Great Fish Disease Paper

[Jayba]

One of the best parasite articles I have read in a while about fish disease.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/exotic_and_laboratory_animals/fish/parasitic_diseases_of_fish.html

Edited November 24, 2013 by Jayba

[RD.]

Some good solid info from Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd from the U of FL, basically a compilation of her papers from over the years. I would challenge a few statements in that article, such as "The only treatment available for hexamitiasis is metronidazole", which certainly is no longer the case. http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=29679

While what is stated with regards to Flavobacterium columnarae (Flexibacter columnaris) is true, the most recent work in this area has shown that chloramphenicol, erythromycin, furazolidone, kanamycin, lincomycin, nalidixic acid, oxytetracycline and streptomycin are all confirmed as being effective at treating this disease.

The problem with Flavobacterium columnare is that there are several different strains of this bacteria, so while one form or method of treatment may work for one person, for the next it may already be too late to even begin treatment. Age of the fish, overall immune function, overall environmental conditions, stage of the infection, etc-etc, also all play a role in how a sick fish will react to medication & potential recovery.

The biggest problem with any fish disease is that sans a proper diagnosis from a qualified vet, a lot of this becomes total guess work. I'm not big at using meds in a shotgun approach, but sometimes you can only do the best with what little info you have available.

Any type of bacterial infection that is an "unknown" is always best treated with meds that will cover both gram pos & gram negative as often times what actually kills the fish is when a secondary infection sets in from the stress caused from the primary infection. Hence the reason why one should never focus on just the primary infection, as in Columnaris being a gram negative bacteria. The reality is that no one can just eye ball a few pics on a fish forum & be absolute in their diagnosis, including me.

Most of Dr. Ruth's work is in dealing with large commercial fish farms, so the treatments aren't always in laymens terms, or using products that the average hobbyist can easily access. Some of it is also a little outdated.

For anyone looking for what is IMO the best reference with regards disease and treatments for ornamental aquarium species of fish I would strongly recommend - Fish Disease: diagnosis and treatment, by Dr. Edward J. Noga. You can access a lot of the info in his book via google, or you can pony up the $100+ for a copy of the revised edition.

Either way a good link Jay, thanks for posting it.

[flyfisher]

Jayba RD keep it coming always a interesting read. :thumbs:

Edited November 26, 2013 by flyfisher