Types of Fish Diseases

Introduction to types of fish diseases:

Yes, its true. Fishes catch diseases too, just like us. And just like us, they are infected by bacteria, fungi, protozoa and infections from physical wounds. Fishes provide us a lot of things: meat for food, recreation and peace as pets and most importantly they are integral to maintaining the ecological balance of Earth (they consume harmful worms and other bacteria from the water making it safe for us). We must be able to identify the symptoms for these diseases, diagnose them and treat accordingly.

Different Types of Fish Diseases

Fish diseases are basically of the following types:

Bacterial
Viral
Fungal
Parasitic
Protozoan
Physical Illnesses

Depending upon the agent that has caused the disease there is the above classification.

Names of some Fish Diseases

Some of the diseases that fishes suffer are:

Mouth Fungus
Red Pest
Dropsy
Scale Protrusion
Tail Rot & Fin Rot
Tuberculosis
Constipation
Rust
Marine Ich
10. Congenital Abnormalities
11. Swim Bladder Disease

Steps to Prevent Fish Diseases

As always, prevention is better than cure and in this cases, prevention is way better than cure! The precautions to take are simple and easy to remember. Here are some preventive measures:

Be a good buyer, judge the fish for the symptoms of common diseases before buying
Keep the new fish isolated from the others as some diseases take some time to manifest themselves and God forbid should your new fish be fishy your perfectly healthy aquarium will get diseased
Keep a regular feeding schedule and do not overfeed them. Fishes eat whenever you throw in their food, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are hungry
Quarantine the sick fish
Keep your net clean at all times
Keep the aquarium tank and aquarium's water clean
Keep metal away from the aquarium's water
If any medication involves antibiotics or copper then be careful in its use, as they can destroy the plants in the aquarium