Re: [RML] UV sterilizers

Craig Bingman (cbingman at netcom.com)
Sun, 31 Aug 1997 14:55:09 -0700 (PDT)

On Sun, 31 Aug 1997, Bjorn Straube wrote:

> Hi all,
> I was just about to ask about use of quarentine tanks when Bruce
> brought up the subcect. I'm not concerned about infecting other fish in
> a quarentine tank, but what about keeping the pathogens down in a
> quarentine tank down before and when we quarentine fish. Let's face it
> puting a fish in a bag and transporting it for who know how long has got
> to stress a fish. If we can keep bacteria etc. down to a mild roar to
> begin with won't that help facilitate the survival of the new fish until
> it can fight of disease better on it's own? On a related topic, how
> will UV affect medication? I would imagine that antibiotics in
> particular would be affected? Any thoughts?

I think that quaranteen or in stores is about the only place where UV
has significant utility. Yes, fish are tremendously stressed when
transported, and the cross section for a shop to get a seriously sick
fish is large. (Translation... if you get in thousands of new fish a
week, you are going to run a higher risk of introducing a pathogen into
the system than a home aquarist. For example, it has been... I guess
over a year since I've added a fish to my aquarium.)

UV will tend to degrade antibiotics, although the rates vary.

Craig