Fish Diseases and Management

7.2.1 Introduction

Knowledge of fish pharmacology is essential for undertaking treatment of fishes using any therapeutic chemicals or drugs. Fish medicine practitioner should take into consideration all the factors of water quality, pathogens involved, fish mortality rate, legal issues and even economics of treatment before recommending any medicine to treat the fish diseases. Treatment options varies according to various aquaculture systems and would depend on whether marine or freshwater, temperature of the water, and type of the enclosures such as aquarium, ponds, cages, flow through systems etc.

Selection of therapeutics for treatment of marine and freshwater systems especially by water borne medications has to be considered carefully as the toxicity of chemicals varies widely. Pharmacokinetics (drug metabolism) of many drugs vary considerably between saltwater and freshwater.