Medicated Food for Bacterial Infections: Curing Bacterial Infections
Medicated Antibiotic Food For Koi Bacterial Infections
Dr Erik Johnson
If your fish have body sores and ulcers, finrot and other signs of infection, you have a chore….FIND OUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE POND first, and then fix the sores…The fish may be cold, underfed, overfed, overcrowded, abused, handled, shown, stressed. Fix it. (See PondCrisis.com)
Then warm the fish slowly to the mid seventies in well aerated facilities, bathe or spray them in Tricide Neo and feed them medicated food. If they’re VERY valuable, injections would be good. As soon as the fish start eating and rejoin a school of fish, STOP abusing them!
Medicated food for Koi – by Doc Johnson
Medicated food is indicated when the fish are too small for injection, or they are too numerous for injection. In some cases, the fish are also receiving injections, and an additional source of antimicrobial activity is desired. These are some reasons medicated foods are chosen.
Not to mention that giving medicated foods is simple as can be. Many people prefer medicated foods because they find it effective and simple. The only problem has been that the sickest fish will not usually eat, so we see that medicated foods are helpful only in fish which can be tempted to try it.
Medicated foods made with top dressing technology are the least effective. The reasons include that the antibiotics are on the surface of the food in an oil mix. Oil and water do not mix so you’ll see the oil with the antibiotics coming off and floating across the water’s surface away from the fish. What a bummer.
Medicated foods with the antibiotics milled INTO THEM are ideal. They can float or sink, and the antimicrobial activity remains in the food until it is eaten.
When your fish are sick with a bacterial infection, or weak and stressed from their long winter fast, it is very important that an antibiotic be administered. Antibiotics can be given by injection, baths or medicated foods.
The best treatment for serious cases of bacterial infections is an injection (see other areas of web site for more detail) given along with feeding good high quality medicated food for two weeks.
Weak or stressed fish that have fasted all winter will be benefited by just feeding a good medicated food for 10 to 14 days. This is true even if they do not have sores or red areas on their bodies. You have to rememeber that they are under stress and because of the winter time, they are more susceptible to infection.
Giving an antibiotic in the food is harmless to the fish and may stave off unexpected problems.
What makes a good, high quality medicated food?
Of course a good combination of antibiotics is very important. Combinations of antibiotics are benficial because you can’t be sure that one antibiotic is tailor-made for the particular bacterial invader which might be working opn the fish. More choices increases your chances of using one which will eliminate the pathogen.
But, in order for those antibiotics to work, your sick and stressed fish must EAT them. As we all know, most sick fish lay on the bottom, and will not surface to eat. That’s why the ingredients that make up a good medicated food is so important. The food should slowly sink to the bottom and as much as possible, it must be very attractive to your sick fish.
This is where the contemporary fish food custom manufacturers have made great strides.
Note 2018: FDA / EPA has made obtaining an antibiotic enriched feed very, very difficult to do. IF there is a medicated food available it will be identified at www.koivet.com/resources