Treating Sick Fish -Aquarium ,Marine and Pond

Before adding any treatment to your pond / aquarium or treatment bath:

1. Make sure you have a correct diagnosis of the problem and that poor water conditions are not the cause of symptoms

observed

2. Remove adsorbent filter material - carbon, zeolite etc.

3. Switch off UV + Protein Skimmers

4. Increase Aeration - remember that oxygen levels may be lower in the morning.

5. Allow plenty of time to observe fish.

6. Do not mix medications.

7. Leave 10 days between treatments if no improvement is seen.

8. Be careful of water temperature.

9. Feeding.

10. Follow the instructions on the bottle label.

 

1. Make sure you have a correct diagnosis of the problem

Before you can successfully treat any disease it is important to know what it is you are treating. Until you have a correct diagnosis, you will not be able to choose the most appropriate remedy for the problem. Many parasite problems occur because of changes in the water quality. If a disease is suspected, test the water for pH, nitrite and ammonia to make sure there is nothing you need to do before applying the treatment. A partial water change will sometimes help general improvement before treating.

See our online diagnosis for diseases.

It is true that many different parasite (or bacterial) infections require the same treatment and it is tempting to put a treatment in the pond just to see if it “does the trick”. While this may work many times, it is not “best practice”.

2. Remove adsorbent filter material - carbon, zeolite etc.

Nearly all the disease treatments available to fishkeepers have organic active ingredients (even those which claim to contain no chemicals). These organic chemicals are removed by filter materials such as carbon, zeolite etc. So it makes sense to remove them before adding a treatment so that the treatment level is not reduced below the effective concentration.

 

3. Switch off UV& Protein Skimmers

As in 2 above, ultraviolet light destroys organic chemicals and, if left on during a treatment, will destroy the treatment. Some treatments may even be made toxic by the action of UV light. Switching off the UV during treatment is a sensible precaution. Leave the UV off for at least a week and 10 days if possible to give the treatment the best chance of doing its job.

Protein Skimmers may remove the active ingredient of the treatment so stop skimming when under medicinal treatment - remember in a marine aquarium that if skimming is turned off this may affect oxygen levels so increase aeration whilst skimmer is off.

4. Increase Aeration

Many disease treaments can reduce oxygen levels but none of them will be harmed by extra aeration so it is best practice to increase aeration if possible especially if treating during warm weather in a pond. Also, remember that oxygen levels in ponds may be lower in the morning because the submerged oxygenating plants actually consume oxygen during the night when there is no light. For this reason, always leave fountains running continuously (24hr) during treatment.

Aquariums will suffer less variation in oxygen levels than ponds- unless a heavily natural planted aquarium, but it is still best to increase air when treating.

If the water turns cloudy after a medicine has been added, this may be a bacterial bloom and the bacteria which make the water cloudy will also consume a lot of oxygen so it is best to provide as much aeration as possible right from the start.

5. Allow plenty of time to observe fish

It is important to treat sick fish as soon as possible after a diagnosis has been made. However, bear in mind the time of day, as mentioned in 4 above, as well as the time you have to watch the fish after adding the treatment. Never add the treatment in the pond or aquarium and then go straight off to work or to bed. Even if you have used the treatment many times before, there is always a possibility that the fish may react badly this time and you need to be there to change water or increase air or do whatever is needed if there is an unexpected reaction. Water conditions in aquaria can deteriorate over time so adding treatments may affect water chemistry one time but not another simply because conditions are different - higher nitrate / lower GH / KH buffer capacity / lower pH etc .

In all cases if you are uncertain of the condition of the water or why a disease has occurred requiring treatment, a partial water change before adding any Medicine is a good idea and refreshes / improves the fishes' environment, just be careful not to cause a temperature shock to indoor aquaria fish. 

6. Do not mix medications

NT Labs’ Koi Care Malachite Green and Koi Care Formaldehyde can be used together according to the instructions supplied.

We do not recommend mixing any other treatments especially those from different manufacturers because you can have no idea what the effect might be. There are, however, one or two myths about treatments which seem to be widely held as true.

One of these is never to use Formaldehyde when there is salt in the water. The only unsubstantiated theory we have heard about why this should be is that the presence of salt will make the formaldehyde come out of the water as a gas? This seems unlikely to us since formaldehyde is used in marine aquariums where the salt level is very much higher without any problems. We can find no scientific reason not to use formaldehyde when there is salt in the water.

 7. Leave 10 days between treatments if no improvement is seen

Allow time for the treatment to have an effect and to break down naturally before adding another treatment which may react with the first. If no improvement is seen after the first treatment, check the diagnosis and make sure that the treatment is appropriate.

Malachite Green and Formaldehyde, for example, are not appropriate treatments for skin and gill flukes, fish lice or fin-rot. Although they may help by removing any skin parasites which could be aggravating the problem, the main symptoms will remain.

Examining a skin scrape under the microscope may reveal skin parasites and flukes together. Then you need to decide which is the most important problem to treat. If you see loads of different parasites in a skin scrape, the best treatment may be a simple water change because such a mixture of diseases indicates poor water quality unless, of course, the fish have just been bought and put in the pond/aquarium without quarantine.

8. Be careful of water temperature

Adding a treatment to a pond where the water is very cold will probably not do any harm, nor will it do any good.

We recommend not treating a pond if the water temperature is below 10 C (50 F). Of course, if it is an emergency and the fish look likely to die without treatment, you must treat when the water is colder under a duty of care to do something to help the fish.The point is that, if the water is cold, the metabolism of any parasite, bacteria (and the fish itself) is greatly reduced. As the temperature falls, the fish become dormant and stop feeding. This is because the chemical reactions going on in the fish’s body are much slower and not enough to digest food properly. Also, the fish is not using much energy when it is dormant and doesn’t need to create more by digesting food.

Treatment chemicals will also react more slowly in cold water, or not work at all. So it is unlikely that the fish will benefit from treatment when the water is very cold.

If the water is very warm, it has a reduced oxygen holding capacity and adding a treatment may reduce this further thus causing oxygen stress which could make the fish worse. So we recommend avoiding treatments when the water temperature is above 25 C (77 F) in ponds. Obviously, if the situation is very urgent and nothing can be done to reduce the water temperature, the treatment will have to be used and even more care taken to watch how the fish react.

Aquarium treatments are designed for use at a higher temperature and at tolerance levels of active ingredients we know are acceptable - do not use pond or koi treatments in aquaria. Because High temperature means lower oxygen. You need to be cautious and observe fish during the first 12 hours of treatment in case of overdose, poor water quality or further oxygen depletion even if for a short spell.

9. Feeding

 Always follow any specific instructions regarding feeding given on the label of the treatment. If the fish are sick and not eating much anyway it will be better not to feed for a few days at the start of the treatment until the fish recover and are actively looking for food again. In general, NT Labs’ food products neither react with treatments nor affect filters and fish can safely be fed whilst there is treatment in the pond or aquarium - be aware that uneaten food may pollute water so if fish are un-interested - do not feed.

If, however, the biological filtration system should be damaged by the addition of a treatment used incorrectly or a medicine that affects filter bacteria (none at working strength in NT range), feeding the fish could cause raised nitrite and ammonia levels which could stress the fish further. Check water during treatment. Regular, routine testing of the water will show if this is happening and allow you to decide what action, if any, is needed.

10. Follow the Instructions on the bottle label.

All medicines must have dosage instructions printed on the bottle label. Always follow these instructions. Measure the dosage carefully and do not be tempted to put a bit extra in. The dosage calculator on this website will help you to work out how much treatment you need to buy to complete the course for your volume of water but it does not take account of gravel, rocks or ornaments which will reduce the volume.

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N T Laboratories Ltd, Manor Farm, Wateringbury, Kent, ME18 5PP

www.ntlabs.co.uk