Ok, you got me. If I may address the soap box. I'm not disputing the fact that indiscriminate use of antibiotics can have harmful effects such as creating resistant strains of bacteria. My feeding of five pounds of Romet feed over a five day period in an isolated sand pit with no inlet or outlet is not likely to cause problems to anyone. There is one day of treatment to go and the fish are showing a marked improvement. I'm being very careful to administer the proper dose. Based on the literature, under dosing and/or prophylactic feeding are the primary cause of creating resistant strains.
Dennis, I've posted three links, which I considered the most directly relevant of the 25 or more journal articles that I've read on the subject. I've also made several phone calls to fisheries biologists. Yes, in a perfect world I should have had the bacterium isolated, however, the ubiquitous nature of aeromonads was pretty convincing that this was indeed the problem. As far as being downstream from me, you don't have to be, you already have all the same bacteria in your pond (standard issue).
Duke's concern should be addressed to the millions of physicians who over prescribe and the food industry who feeds millions of pounds of anitbiotics to cattle, chickens, fish, etc. One of the suppliers that I talked to had just sold their entire inventory (44,000 lbs) to one customer. The Koi people feed medicated foods like it's candy.
Duke, your input is valued. Please share your field of expertise.
I'd like to hear Bill Cody's, Bob Lusk's, or Dave Willis's opinion on this. Haven't seen posts from them in a long time.
