by Tammy L Mahan

Created on: November 19, 2009   Last Updated: November 20, 2009

Aquarium Fish Vibriosis Symptoms and Treatments

Marine fish are affected with many infections that do not affect freshwater fish. The majority of the medicines used to treat freshwater fish do not work on marine fish and problems like Vibriosis need different medications. This article will elaborate on a certain medicine that can eliminate bacterial infections like Vibriosis.

Vibriosis is a disease caused in fish due to bacteria strains like Vibrio anguillarum. This disease occurs mainly in marine fish like salmons, trout and shrimp. Vibriosis has been known to affect cultured and wild marine fish but these bacteria can also affect brackish fish. Recent studies indicate that pathogens like Vibrio anguillarum are present in cultured food but these pathogens affect healthy fish only due to factors like stress caused by sudden temperature changes. Bad quality water along with overcrowding of fish can also cause Vibriosis.

Symptoms of fish Vibriosis include red spots on the ventral areas of the fish and swollen dark lesions that can ulcerate and bleed. The red spots and lesions can also be found on the lateral areas of the fish. Fish that are affected with Vibriosis also display corneal lesions that are opaque in color.

Treatment of salmons and trout consists of using medicated food that has florfenicol. The company Aquaflor manufactures medicated food that contains this broad spectrum antibiotic. If you cannot find this particular brand of food in your area then you can buy the medicine from a drug store. You will then need to soak the food in a bowl of water containing this medicine and feed it to your fish three times a day. The left over soaked food should be thrown away at the end of every day and fresh medicated food should be given to the affected fish.

Other treatments for Vibriosis include maintaining the water quality and regulating the temperature of the water. During treatment of Vibriosis the fish should not be exposed to any kind of stress and the affected fish should be treated in their own tank since this disease can spread to other fish with a suppressed immune system.

Since this bacterial infection progresses very fast, it is important to treat this problem as soon as the first symptom has been noticed. Delay in treatment of Vibriosis can cause death within a span of five days.
It is also helpful to remove the infected fish and place them in a separate tank while you treat the disease and completely clean the original tank. Once all the signs are gone you can place the fish back in their clean tank.

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