Medications to have on hand

[Kelli]

I am in the process of cycling my 125 gallon. It will house tangs (fronts, comps, Calvus, leleupi, julies etc) and a few catfish and loaches. What are the medications I should have on hand for just in case and for quarantining them? I was told to have Epsom salt. What else should I have?

[mnemenoi]

I keep Melafix on hand, but otherwise I just get whatever I need in that instance. My tangs are usually very healthy compared to many other species/families.

[Kelli]

Thank you for answering! What exactly does melafix treat? Still would like a few more opinions HFBers.

[johnnymisty]

I just get stuff as I need it only thing I have on hand is prime

[crazy42bmx]

Tangs do well when it comes to sickness. Iv been keeping them for years now. As far as meds go +1 on the melafix. It treats internal parasites and diseases. Prime is allways a good thing to keep just n case. A spare tank might be nice if one fish gets picked a lil bit, just so you can nurse him back

[Kelli]

I am an hour away from the nearest pet store so I wanted to keep a few small bottles of what I might need in an emergency on hand. I will have a 20 gallon qt tank just in case. So it looks like everyone agrees on melafix. I have some prime that I used as a dechlorinator but what else it is used for?

[mnemenoi]

It can bind harmful ammonia and Nitrite to less toxic forms in case the tanks biosystem crashes. Ammonia and Nitrite are far more deadly in High Ph systems then in Lower Ph systems. This can be problematic in very high Tanganyikan tanks and why many follow a very stringent water change schedule. Perhaps acquiring some tang/african rift lake salts (baking soda can work in a pinch) could be useful.

The main issue I have with stocking many meds is that they do not have very long shelf lifes, so if it is 2 years and you do have a fungal outbreak from some aggression and dose with your chemical it has expired 2 months previously and is likely not as effective. Certain species can have a problem, but they are generally well known to keepers and they keep things on hand to alleviate those direct issues. For example Trophs can get bloat and it is well known in the hobby, so many keepers have something (clout) on hand all the time in case they notice the symptoms in their stock and keep a sharp eye on their fish for anything out of the ordinary, especially if you have had it previously. Looking over your list I see nothing that stands out as having any particular issues. About the only thing that might be useful is a general medication (Melafix) for treatment in case anything might get rough with another inhabitant. If you have any breeding it can get aggressive very fast and some ripped fins and torn scales are to be expected with some of the more aggressive rock dwellers. Calvus and Comps I have heard are surprisingly tough and I've read they can take some extreme abuse without a second thought. The fronts and secondary julies/Leleupi would be what I might think could be harrassed if a dominant pair began to spawn and terrorize the tank. Chasing or startling the fronts into running into rocks or the glass and stressing any other rock dwellers by harrassing them and those small injuries are best treated with a general treatment. If that fails to work then maybe an antifungal or antibiotic to prevent infection could be warranted, but that would be a week away from initial notice, so you should have ample time to acquire anything you might feel warrants further treatment.