Do Meds Work?

[black angel]

when posting for help in the section people are given a list of what to try and over the years ive been here im wondering if these meds do actually work or not.
personally i think over the counter meds arent that great and most recoveries are by chance rather than by the med itself. External meds i believe to be the most effective but meds for internal problems like bacterial and worms im very cautious about.
Fish in general dont tend to take in much water,or through the skin, only when feeding and the amount is small, so i really wonder if enough of the med actually gets to the problem and eradicate it.
injection or feed seems to me the most practical way of administering an internal drug but how many would take a sick neon to a vet?

for goldfish in america for internal bacteria you can get medigold and metromeds, but no such luck in this country.

so, if youre a user of many years of internal meds then let us know if they did or did not work for you.

I dont waste my money on them now, just let nature take its course or pop em in the head.

 

[WILDER]

Some uk bacterial meds from the lfs only treat mild bacterial infections.

 

[black angel]

depends what you term mild really. once you notice something wrong its often too late by then.

 

[Tolak]

I've been using metronidazole to treat internal protizoans for years, with good success. The biggest thing is catching it soon enough, behavior is your first sign. I think behavior is missed by many aquarists, unless it is something really out of place, like floating upside down. Being slightly slow to eat, hanging back from the group, keep an eye on that fish. If it does it at the next feed, time to med.

The meds do work, the problem is determining which med is going to do the job the first try. The best way to do this is dissection, and microscope work. For the casual aquarist, which most folks are, this means sacrificing the fish that needs treatment. Beyond that it is more of a shotgun approach.