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I hope I don't come off like a know it all, posting all this info on caring for predatory fish. My usual disclaimer; I am no internet expert, have imaginary letters behind my name, or claim what I am saying is 100%. These are just my observations over 3 decades and dozens if not hundreds of examples.
Using medication is a complicated, risky, and a confusing proposition regardless of the species. I witness so much advice freely given about the usage of medications, you really have to dig into the source to find the ridiculous truth. The success rate of using any med in so minimal, you will wonder if it is even worth it. Prophylactic treatment is mostly a false security blanket. The new(very old) wonder drug CP; the only success I've ever seen has been in prophylactic treatment, because there was likely no issue before the fact.
Treating the predatory fish I keep, is even more of a risk. For some reasons lions, scorps, and eels specifically don't handle meds well. I suspect the same in anglers but their lifespan is so short it's hard to positively place blame. We'll use lions, scorps,and eels as the example, but I suspect there are many more. I have cut open many lions out of curiosity and found internal organs in many states of damage. I have seen hemorrhages and states of liquification. This follows after death shortly after or during the use of meds. Some lions and eels have survived as long as a year or so and I found hemorrhages similar to that of the ones that died during or shortly after treatment.
The only meds I've used and had long term success was Praziquantel and Metronidazole. I have never been able to treat scorps with anything successful, every time I had to pull the meds. If I let them run it's course, they all died shortly afterwards. COPPER is an absolute NO-NO, even if they survive the course of treatment, they will not survive long afterwards. The use of antibiotics I rank right up there with copper. When it comes to treating less than life threatening bacterial infections, well fed with live foods and pristine water conditions are a much better course. After comparing so many examples, I never saw any differences in recovery comparing the healthy regime to the antibiotics.
I am not the expert in meds, and I'm not alone. Proper diagnoses and dosage, understanding displacement and absorption. The average hobbyist has such a low percentage of success. And to all the experts out there, even when claiming success; they never tell you the fish died weeks, months, or at the most a year later. They just will not admit this, even when I have seen it with my own eyes. I've confronted the individuals, and they just change the subject or stand there stupidly in silence. The use of meds in our hobby is really no different than the use of meds on humans; so just think about that.
Just something to think about......
Using medication is a complicated, risky, and a confusing proposition regardless of the species. I witness so much advice freely given about the usage of medications, you really have to dig into the source to find the ridiculous truth. The success rate of using any med in so minimal, you will wonder if it is even worth it. Prophylactic treatment is mostly a false security blanket. The new(very old) wonder drug CP; the only success I've ever seen has been in prophylactic treatment, because there was likely no issue before the fact.
Treating the predatory fish I keep, is even more of a risk. For some reasons lions, scorps, and eels specifically don't handle meds well. I suspect the same in anglers but their lifespan is so short it's hard to positively place blame. We'll use lions, scorps,and eels as the example, but I suspect there are many more. I have cut open many lions out of curiosity and found internal organs in many states of damage. I have seen hemorrhages and states of liquification. This follows after death shortly after or during the use of meds. Some lions and eels have survived as long as a year or so and I found hemorrhages similar to that of the ones that died during or shortly after treatment.
The only meds I've used and had long term success was Praziquantel and Metronidazole. I have never been able to treat scorps with anything successful, every time I had to pull the meds. If I let them run it's course, they all died shortly afterwards. COPPER is an absolute NO-NO, even if they survive the course of treatment, they will not survive long afterwards. The use of antibiotics I rank right up there with copper. When it comes to treating less than life threatening bacterial infections, well fed with live foods and pristine water conditions are a much better course. After comparing so many examples, I never saw any differences in recovery comparing the healthy regime to the antibiotics.
I am not the expert in meds, and I'm not alone. Proper diagnoses and dosage, understanding displacement and absorption. The average hobbyist has such a low percentage of success. And to all the experts out there, even when claiming success; they never tell you the fish died weeks, months, or at the most a year later. They just will not admit this, even when I have seen it with my own eyes. I've confronted the individuals, and they just change the subject or stand there stupidly in silence. The use of meds in our hobby is really no different than the use of meds on humans; so just think about that.
Just something to think about......