Health management is more effective than trying to cure disease.
You already know the prerequisites for keeping
captive fishes disease-free over the long
term. They are all based on protecting fishes
from the effects of stress. It's well established
now that the pre-conditions for viral infections,
bacterial disease, and even for successful
infestations of some parasites, are all associated
with long-term sub-clinical stress, which
can be produced by crowded conditions (all
aquaria present unnaturally close contact
with aggressive or diseased fish), or by
contaminated water (all aquaria are eutrophic
compared to uncontaminated natural waters)
and tend to result in compromised immune
systems. Think of the parallels to human
populations, where balanced nutrition, proper
housing, water and sewage treatment and epidemic
controls have extended more fruitful lives
than any advanced medical intervention.
General links. These sites offer some of the widest overview.
You'll find some more specific
links with
the various parasites.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA04100.pdfUniversity of Florida Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences (I.F.A.S.)
has many
documents covering parasites
of fish and
other issues that concern
Florida's fish
farmers and aquaculturists.
In this one RuthEllen
Klinger and Ruth Francis-Floyd
offer an "Introduction
to freshwater fish parasites."
But look
through the other fish-related
topics at
EDIS, the Electronic Data
Information Source,
of which this document
is just a part: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu
www.fishdoc.co.uk/ FishDoc is a wide-ranging site covering
diseases diagnosis and treatment, even a
section "Using your Microscope."
www.koivet.com Dr Erik Johnson, DVM, emphasizes articles
on diseases and medications at his established
website, with wider applications than just
to koi.
Noah's Pets offers some general guidance and charts
of parasites and of fungal/bacterial diseases.This
is followed by an even more useful list of
medications with their ingredients, maker
by maker.
You'll find excellent details on medications,
symptoms, quarantine in Dionigi Maladorno's
thorough articles, "Symptom-based treatment of common
Discus diseases" which were originally posted at AquaWorld e-magazine.
Veterinarian Kenneth Reeves has an article
about quarantine measures that include routine
prophylactic treatment for worms and other
internal parasites, "Isolation and treatment
of newly-acquired Discus," posted among
the articles at The Discus Resource Page It's food for thought, even if your concerns
don't include Discus.
