Alternatives to anti-biotics

[twoluvcats]

amanichen, you mentioned in another post that you are getting away from treating fish with anti-biotics. What alternatives are you using? Are there commonly had household things that we could be using instead? This intrigues me...I live in the middle of nowhere and fish meds are hard to comeby, and stocking up to keep the "just-in-case" meds on-hand is expensive!!

I know garlic works for a few things...i just don't have a good handle on what conditions it is indicated for.

Enlighten me please

[Rachel]

Yes, do tell us amanichen.

Are you just not treating with meds or going a more natural route? I'm starting to become not so fond of harsh chemical meds myself and looking for alternatives.

[starlight]

I use garlic in my frozen gruel. It's supposed to be effective against parasites. Hopefully Amanichen can fill us in on other natural cures.

After two years of use, I've given up on Almond Leaves. Anybody want to buy 50 Almond Leaf Teabags imported from Thailand in a nifty box?

Antibacterial: Cures finrot - Not
Antifungal - not really
Lowers PH - how low do you want to go? Best ph for beneficial bacteria 7.0. At 6.0 BB have a hard time establishing themselves.
Colors water like betta's natural habitat - so what
Thai breeders put their fighters in it - but do the fighters like it?
Cannot be used to make iced tea - Darn!

[amanichen]

Geez, way to put me on the spot!

But yeah, it's difficult to totally escape using antibiotics, and since melafix arrived, I've been able to use that for many things which I would have previously used antibiotics for (fin rot, pop eye, infected wounds.)

You'll still need them for things like columnaris, and more aggressive bacterial problems, but melafix has been a very useful med for me.

There's also salt, which can be used in place of antifungal meds, and ich meds. These aren't antibiotics, but they're used with the same idea.

The last antibiotics I actually used on my fish were JFE (nitrofurazone, and furazolidone) and tetracycline, and that was two years ago.

Granted, I haven't had any disease problems since then (one fish had suspected TB, and others had columnaris from tainted frozen food.)

I'm unfamiliar with the use of garlic for fish, but I'd be interested in information on it.

Again, it's difficult to avoid using antibiotics, but I'm now recommending them less, and using them less.

[Rachel]

Really, you haven't had much luck with them starlight? I always seem to hear such great reviews about them. That's good to know that you don't really care for them, I'll keep that in mind.

Ha ha, not even good for tea? ;D

[amanichen]

Rachel said:

Really, you haven't had much luck with them starlight?

They're more of a folk remedy than anything. There are noticeable chemical effects in the water (lower pH, lower hardness) and that's about it. All the other things Starlight mentioned he's right about.

[starlight]

There was so much hype about almond leaves a few years back, especially on one popular board. When the owner of that board said she had started to grow her own trees (but could no longer see her bettas), the race was on. I started using them. I bought some on Aquabid from a great seller. What made me want to buy his was that they were inspected by his country's health dept. They were certified free of bugs etc. A year later I got some from a guy in Fla who must have had trees in his backyard. The price was right but the leaves were disgusting and I didn't put any in my tanks. When the tea-bags came out I switched to them. I suppose if your ph was too high, almond leaves would lower it. The problem is they can really lower ph below what is recommended. Low ph can be just as big a problem as high ph. Previously, I discussed several water issues with Amanichen. After that I made a few changes. I was using it in my water rather than adding a piece. To it's credit, I used it once and it helped Bear a very long time ago. I really used a concentrated mixture. In retrospect it might have brought the ph down so low that the acid killed everything except miraculously Bear. In subsequent use it showed no medicinal properties. Additionally it was gunking up everything. My water is so much nicer w/o it.

Rachel if you want to try the iced tea (they color the water mustard yellow) yum yum.
========================================
I'll probably sell these on eBay when I get the chance.

Let's see, first I have to write an ad...

"Since the beginning of time and possibly even before that, Asian breeders have used almond leaves to create an antibacterial/antifungal environment for their bettas.
Asian breeders put their badly beaten up fighters in concentrated almond leaf water. In a matter of minutes these fighters regrew their fins completely and lovely spirit. They are able to bid on Aquabid auctions that very night; often bidding on attractive female fighters. Each almond leaf tea bag contains one almond leaf that colors your water faster than any leaf possibly can...please don't leaf your house while the tea bag is soaking"

"While I haven't made iced tea myself from these tea bags, it is possible that they produce the most delicious iced tea that you ever had. If you are able to consume this almond leaf iced tea, you will live at least a century beyond your present life expectancy"

"These tea bags were made in Thailand and will ship in their nifty rectangular box. The box has a cool pic of a betta on it. Look closely at the betta...do you see any finrot on it? No. You won't see any fungus either! Use the Buy It Now option and I'll include an original print of Asian breeders using Almond leaves on their bettas in 5,000 BC. Their bettas were happy...Now your bettas can be happy too."

[Rachel]

LOL Starlight, that's hilarious!

I don't know much about the usage of garlic either, except that it's supposed to get fish to eat if they're refusing food.

[starlight]

Garlic is good and bettas seem to like it. Squeeze fresh garlic in a press or mince it. Place a drop of liquid on frozen food while it defrosts and feed as usual. Some think it prevents internal parasites. I've used it for a couple of years. I feed it with my frozen gruel which I feed 2x a week.
Imo..worth a try