To Treat with meds or not

[dprais1]

Purely for the sake of discussion here...

Lets say you have a nice group of small discus, say under 3.5". They are eating great, growing very well, aren't behaving abnormally. Just generally doing well.

Suppose you suspect they might have have gill flukes or worms. Maybe the breeder contacted you and told you they found some of their fish with said parasites and your fish probably have them as well. Maybe some of your other fish were found to have them. Whatever.

I've read advice on here that once you treat small fish...well that's it, they're 'ruined'. They will never reach full potential. The meds are just to hard on them and they will never fully recover from the treatment itself. They will still grow and be healthy just won't ever be great.

Obviously these fish have plenty of parasites in the wild and grow nicely.

So, what would be the best course....? Medicate now, medicate when they reach adult size, don't bother- why medicate when the parasites aren't doing any noticeable harm?

[discuspaul]

Medicating is seldom, if ever, a 'fix-all' that remedies all ills. Quite the contrary, if often does more harm than good, and is usually to be regarded as a 'last resort'.

To me, even 'preventive' medicating is suspect.

So, your hypothetical situational question is where the discus are healthy, behaving normally, and eating great - BUT, you suspect (for valid reasons or otherwise) that they may have gill flukes or worms..... should you medicate ?

IMO, of course not. If you're confident with your routine for water changing & tank cleansing, and you have good reason to believe your water quality & conditions are as good as they can be, and your fish are healthy, why do anything more, particularly by risking adding potentially harmful medications ?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's my credo, and I'll stick with it.

[sdrexler078]

I have to agree. I wouldn't medicate clean water does a lot more for them than any medication so as long as you keep up water changes and they act normal don't risk it