New arrivals, medicate or not?

[DirkW]

I did not have good luck when receiving fish from a breeder. This was a reputable breeder, shipped overnight, and arrived in good condition. One died after a few weeks, and another died after a couple months. Neither showed obvious signs of sickness but where not feeding well or very active.

I will be ordering more fish soon. My question is; should I medicate as a precaution for newly arrived fish? If so, what sort of medication? I'm not concerned with Ich, as I can treat that easily enough when it comes.

[Damon]

Never medicate for unknown disease. It will cause more harm than good. Treat as symptoms occur.

[ron v]

Agree with Simpte.

[Georgia Peach]

yeah, I would never medicate unless I had too. If you are majorly worried about disease and such, the best thing to do would be to quarantine then in a separate tank for a while.

[TheOldSalt]

I have a differing opinion, but if these fish are from a good breeder they should theoretically be disease-free.
The big question is "what killed the first batch?"

[ron v]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

"what killed the first batch?"

Hmmmmm, I wonder if the method of acclimation could be responsible? See the thread titled "something to think about" posted about a month ago on this forum.

[DirkW]

I wish I knew the reason for their death. I did an autopsy on them and could see nothing suspicious with the naked eye. I'm guessing it was an internal bacterial infection, but have few clues and little experience with fish diseases.

Four swordtails where initially placed in a 10G quarantine tank and where definitely stressed being placed in such a small environment. The male died when it jumped into the lid and damaged its' swim bladder. The breeder recommended I immediately move the rest to my display tank. One swordtail lacked an appetite and died within a few days. The other two had clamped fins and hung out in the corners. A week or so later, a molly came down with a bad case of columnaris. I treated one of the swordtails at the same time because it had a white tip at one of its' fins. The swordtail came out of four days of treatment feeling much better. I treated the molly for almost two weeks. At the end of the molly treatment, I performed an identical treatment for the second swordtail as the first (treating the molly at the same time). The second swordtail became much more ill on the third day of treatment. I stopped treatment immediately, did a gradual 50% water change, but the swordtail died the next day.

I'm thinking that treating new arrivals with four days of broad-spectrum antibiotics would kill lingering diseases, increase their appetite, and leave their immune system stronger in the long run.

[DirkW]

ron v, that is a good thread: http://www.fishforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7322

My method of acclimation was to empty all four bags into a 1G container (one bag also had several newborn fry which are doing well). The shipping water temp was about 75 degrees, and the display tank is kept about 80. I slowly added water from the display tank for about 45 minutes, until it was about 70% water from the display tank (not drip, but small amounts every 5-10 minutes). I then netted them and placed them into the quarrentine tank which was 80% water from the display tank and 20% fresh, declorinated water. I kept the fry in a nursery net. My water is 7.0 pH from the tap, and the swordtails where rased in water roughly 8.0 pH. My display tank never has measurable ammona or nitrite, and usually between 10-20ppm nitrate. I have about 10ppm nitrate from the tap.

[TheOldSalt]

Well, it sounds to me like that's one breeder you never want to buy fish from ever again. What a bunch of junk he sent you; you could have done better at your local petshop.

Unlike these other guys, I do treat my new fish for everything in the book. It's a pain, and probably not necessary, but I was a professional aquarist for awhile, and old habits die hard, especially when they get results. I wouldn't recommend it to the casual hobbyist, though; as you can do more damage than you hoped to prevent if you don't have a good mastery of the subject.

[ron v]

Dirk, your method of acclimation is the hobby standard. I have done it that way for years. If the theory ( as presented in the thread ) is correct, ammonia poisoning would be the result. The first and possibly most serious damage would be to the gills, so I suspect labored respiration would be a symptom. I don't know if there is anyway to prove or disprove this theory, but it is, at the very least, interesting.