Bacterial Resistance

[anon02]

I have been reading up on bacterial diseases and in one particular article written in 2001 it is claimed that because of the way antibacterial/bactericidal drugs are designed to work and because of their overuse, they are ineffective when used as an aquarium treatment. Is this the current situation or have new "designed for purpose", effective drugs become available ?

 

[KittyKat]

It is sometimes the case that when medication is used permanently in an aquarium, even when there is no disease, it might not work against certain diseases after a while. This is incorrect usage of the medication which should normally be used only when there really is an infection.

There are, of course, some medications which are less effective than others and some which are more so.

In short, the situation was always the same and problems were caused by inability to follow instructions.

 

[Bignose]

The rate of bacteria developing resistance is far outpacing the rate of creation of new safe antibacterials. This is a race we will lose unless casual use of antobacterials is stopped. The UK and I believe Australia have outlawed the sale of antibacterials over the counter -- if your fish need antibacterials in those countries, you'll have to get a prescription from a vet.

I think that the US and the rest of the world could learn from this. Diseases that for the last 50 years that were essentially harmless are becoming more dangerous again. Staph is a good one. Used to be a staph infection was no big deal. But, there are strains of staph that are immune to pretty much every antibacterial agent that is safe for human use known today. Scary stuff, really.

 

[VickiandKev]

Over use of antibacterials can lead to resistance. Its called the Arms race and basically means that as we use a particular drug the bacteria evolve to compete and survive against it so we change the drug and they evolve to that as well. Will wont win is the top and bottom of it. Also not using the drug correctly or not finishing the course are also ways resistance can occur. Take home message would be only use antibacterials when 1. you really have to and 2. IF you are confident you know what the infection is ( not always possible I know)

If wont be long before common medications for fish wont work at all.

Cheers