Antibotic injection for sick synodontis?.

[Maccus]

First off, I am wondering for future reference, I do not have any synodontis with a bacterial infection currently.
I am have reading about sick goldfish getting injections and started wondering if a medium sized synodontis could get an injection too?.
If my synos ever get dropsy, I'd love to try and save them.

[MatsP]

If you can find a fish-friendly vet, I'm sure they can give injections of antibiotics. The trouble is finding a vet that is able to deal with and understand fish illnesses, as most vet's are used to dealing with mammals, burds and the odd lizard/turtle and so on. And of course, you will have to look at the cost of going to the vet - I've taken cats to the vet and it can be quite costly even for simple things like vaccinations and worm-treatments.

Synos are also very hardy fish, so I would suggest that keeping the water quality good is a much better solution, as that will prevent the problem from occurring in the first place.

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Mats

[Birger]

Synos are also very hardy fish, so I would suggest that keeping the water quality good is a much better solution, as that will prevent the problem from occurring in the first place.

Best advice you can give for most synos or most fish for that matter.

I have a few different species of Synodontis and have yet to do such an operation.

Problems to watch out for are overeating...much different than "dropsy", roughhousing and for some such as

Synodontis lucipinnis

and other rift cats is sensitivity to change in water chemistry.

Birger

[Richard B]

I'd be interesated what you call "medium sized" - i'd not risk an injection to any of my synos as there is the physical wound to consider & if there was a problem, isolation in a hospital tank with food impregnated with antibiotic would be my preference

[apistomaster]

I experimented with very sick wild Discus, all adults, extensively in circa the late '60's and early 70's.
I injected them carefully inter-peritoneal sinuse. You must know the internal anatomy very well. I came in from their vent.
You can read more about this in Koi treatment literature.
In a few cases I did save some Discus but not many.
It was more useful as an experiment than as a better method of treatment.
Most very sick wild Discus do not eat so that route is not possible.
Only one antibiotic has a decent chance of helping and that is chloramphenicol.
Good luck acquiring some. It must be the water soluble form.
I have some but I will not reveal my source. It took me decades to get a new connection. Federal laws are very restrictive concerning it's distribution and accepted uses in humans. About 1:35,000 patients receiving chloramphenicol will get irreversible aplastic anemia and dies but in poorer parts of the world only $5 worth will cure bacterial meningitis. It can also cause reversible bone marrow suppresion. It can also trigger Reye's Syndrome and it is not dose dependent. Chloramphenicol is one of the few antibiotics which easily passes through the blood-brain barrier but it is also an antibiotic of last resort in the treatment of humans. It is a very wide spectrum and potent antibiotic. It's very small molecular size allows it to easily saturate a fishes system at therapeutic doses.
250 mg/5 gal of tank water will stop Flexibacter columnaris epidemics in it's tracks. It is not helpful against most of the organisms associated with the cause of "Dropsy" in fishes; Pseudoaereomonas and Areomonas.
Here is more information about it. It instantly dissolves in water and is colorless unlike the now useless tetracycycline. Erythromycin has become about as useless but at least it too is colorless. Very few antibiotics currently available for fish are very effective after 50 years of over abuse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramphenicol
The next best and easily accessible drug for broad spectrum antibiotic use for fish is Oxolinic Acid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxolinic_acid
You can buy this and see how to use it here:
Just scroll down to it.
http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/products3.html

[Maccus]

I'd be interesated what you call "medium sized" - i'd not risk an injection to any of my synos as there is the physical wound to consider & if there was a problem, isolation in a hospital tank with food impregnated with antibiotic would be my preference

I was going by that since they are about the same size as goldfish, maybe it could work out.

[MatsP]

Hmm. Gold-fish usually grow to about 8-10" in length, and some substantial girth.

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Mats