So I have been using fish antibiotics for years. They make them in capsules with standard mg dosages for humans. They have standard types such as tetracycline and amoxicillin. the deal is you can get them at most feed stores for about 20$ a bottle with no doctors visit. They are not "approved for human consumption".

You can tell most feed stores what the problem is and they can tell you which antibiotic you need, or you can look it up online. IE ear infection or for this crowd acne.

Not sure the point of this post, other than I am drunk, my roommate thinks I am and idiot for using them... Comments questions? Am I retarded or have I just saved you a trip to the doctor?

I don't know if you are an idiot or retarded, but you did not save me a trip to the doctor.

You must have government healthcare... damn socialist! haha

Ok, I have now determined your idiot/retard status ;)

brilliant? DON'T ANSWER THAT!

I guess when I am arguing with a PHD in microbiology I must be an idiot. Then again he is renting a room in my house...

Just think you two could've just yelled down the hall and saved us all the...entertainment. :P

True that... I jsut wanted some feedback to see if everyone things I am crazy to think the FDA is a sham...

Fish antibiotics and alcohol MmmmMmmm.
Yes you are retarded ;)

i thought this thread was sabout aquarium fish :(

+ not together. I am getting drunk tonight to start my regiment tomorrow... Standard antibiotic rules apply...

+10

If you know what you are doing, its probably fine Firefly.

But don't prescribe them to other people.

the thing is that they can have impurities in them that aren't so good for you and that is the risk you take
Although the next question is why are the fish antibiotics 1/10th the price of the human ones.. funny isn't it.

ps in Canada perscription drugs are not normally covered by our healthcare (there are exceptions.. ie you earn less than a certain amount plus tax deductions etc).

I like fish

the concentrations are often different, and the way they are made is often not in a manner safe to humans. But feel free to keep using them ;)

Theres antibiotics for fish? God forbid a fish gets an ear infection.

Enjoy your Wilson's disease from copper poisoning or other heavy metal poisoning

I am a welder,so I am sure the fumes will give me heavy metal poisoning first...

he's probably right about that... :p

I bet they work great. I also bet it is all natural and easily obtainable so the FDA and Big Pharma cant put a decent price tag on them. They probably also make other anti-biotics obsolete. Definitely worth researching. Keep up the informative posts. I wouldnt reccommend NOT going to the doctor with a serious infection but its totally worth inquiring about.

The fish antibiotics are 1/10th the cost of the human ones for many reasons.

If they were cat or dog antibiotics (ones you can only get through either the veterinarian's office or a real pharmacy), then the cost should be closer to human antibiotics, much closer.

Not many people care about fish like other pets, hence the controls in place to manufacture fish antibiotics are definitely not as rigorously maintained/pushed by either the manufacturer or a governing body.

It's not a conspiracy that human drugs cost more than fish drugs. I'm sure in Canada the human drugs are made in the same crappy conditions the fish ones are, that's why they're so cheap. :P

nah. but we get our drugs from the same plants/manufacturing batches that you do in the US yet the costs are magically lower. Even things like asparin is cheaper. Explain that one to me:)

More likely the tolerance of fish to certain impurities is much higher than that of mammals hence the process itself can be done more cheaply

don't think i've used any anti-biotics since before 1995. they get enough arguements just trying to get me hooked on the pain pills.

The comment about the crappy canadian drugs was a joke...

Yeah, that's it. It's only because the fish have higher tolerance to impurities than mammals, so they're cheaper. Nevermind the extreme controls on raw materials, validating, manufacturing, processing, stability, quality, etc, etc, that go into human drugs. I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.

You have no clue about the process of making and assuring the quality of drugs. If you want to talk about the difference in price due to price gouging, that is different, and has nothing to do with the differences in making fish vs human drugs. :\

Btw, I think the OP is severely retarded to be taking fish antibiotics. At least get the dog/cat drugs. But then why not go to the doctor and spend $20 on a copay, and $7 on a real prescription? Queue someone asking 'What if he doesn't have insurance?'

"What if he doesn't have insurance?" why bother asking. how's he know that he needs to take the dang drugs to begin with... probably has the sniffles or something.

a lot of prescription drugs are subsidized in Canada. I'm not sure if the actual price is cheaper, but the consumer price certainly is.

what is this i dont even, lol

lmao, can't believe you all are still talking about this.

"Yeah, that's it. It's only because the fish have higher tolerance to impurities than mammals, so they're cheaper."

No they don't. We just don't really care all THAT much if they die or not. Fill your fish tank with tap water and see how long that lasts (and don't bring up your stupid Siamese Fighting Fish as they have specialized glands that allow them to breath air :P)

just use malachite green!

actually, straight tap water will still kill a fighting fish or goldfish if it's done continously, the chlorine/chloramines in water to make it fit for drinking is bad for fish. that's why water needs to be aged with water ager, or by being left to sit before you put fish in it..

Orkin, read again. Dork.

For some comparison, today I went to the local urgent care. Waited about 45 min. Not too bad.

Talked to the nurse for about 3 minutes, including getting weighed.

Talked to the doctor for about 2 minutes, basically repeating myself.

Doctor looks in my mouth, ears and puts a stethoscope to my chest, taking about 45 seconds, diagnoses me with Bronchitis and writes me a script for 20 Amoxicillin.

Total cost for visit: $120
Prescription cost: $70

All for a sore throat and cough. I wouldn't have gone if I hadn't started coughing up red-tinted mucus. Its a wonder much of the rest of world can survive on dollars a day when a productive member of a first-nation workforce can't get rid of a simple infection for less than $190.

And yes, I DID think about going to the pet store having read this post this morning =)

Note, this thread wasn't meant to be taken serious. Please do not self medicate and sue me.

you obviously aren't spending enough money on health insurance.

Cougar: I did pretty much exactly the same thing as your story here in England (with same end diagnosis).

Total cost for visit to GP: £0
Prescription cost: £7 (for Amoxicillin pills)

I am still absolutely baffled why Americans think national healthcare is an evil. Its just weird. WHY the hell do people want to pay the kind of numbers you have to pay, youre getting totally screwed over!
:-)

how much did the GP get paid? and how many people did it take to pay it?

no

Dibs: I am sure the GP gets paid, and I am sure that some of my taxpayers money went towards it in some way or another. But I am perfectly happy with that considering the cost of my visit and the fact that it is such an easy thing for me to do and get myself fixed up if I need it.

I would absolutely HATE to have to check my wallet to see if I could afford to get medicines or if I juts have to risk my health instead. Its totally nuts that people have those kind of choices and that people end up being so desperate that they eat medicines meant for animals instead of humans.

Then of course if you are stinking rich in America and can buy the best healthcare insurance money buys Im sure youll probably get better care than I got, but then again there are those that cant afford it at all...

yah, i can see that. i hate checking my wallet just to see if i can afford a bottle of booze. don't think that they're doing it because they're desperate. they're probably just crazy.

Snow knows a little too much about fish.

Price gouging + state AGs = winning lawsuit against manufacturers in the US.

Price gouging + state AGs - legetimate excuse (lawsuits for defects that cost way too much) = no lawsuit against manufacturers in the US

Now which one of those applies to pharmaceutical manufacturers?


Oh then there's another equation:

Cost of visit + cost of getting paid = total cost billed to insurer.

This can also be written: 2(Cost of visit) = total cost billed to insurer.


It's not that I'm against government intervention in the healthcare/insurance industries; it's that I'm against just adding another bureaucratic nightmare onto the cost of healthcare/insurance.

President Obama promised healthcare reform when he came into office. I'm still waiting for real healthcare reform!


On the issue of using pet meds to treat humans, I ditto those who have raised safety concerns. This is another legitimate federal intervention in the US to ensure that medications are made safely. On that note, thanks to the people working everyday to ensure a safe medicine supply for Americans.

The cost difference is primarily because fish usually have crappy lawyers - except for sharks, they usually have great lawyers for some reason. If goldfish could afford Johnny Cochran, fish antibiotics would be really expensive.

My favorite part of this posting is the implication that physicians should or would prescribe antibiotics. The reality is that today's physicians are actually trained not to provide you with antibiotics for common infections (ear infection, strep, etc) because that's what they believe is leading to the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Moreover, as with most narcotics, the more you use them the less they have an effect (albeit it's slight in the case of many narcotics).

I'm not as familir with the production of drugs on a non-human level, but prescription drugs produced and sold for humans in the U.S. must meet a very strict FDA approval process. The FDA even inspects facilities abroad making prescription drugs sold in the U.S. These strict standards are actually considered part of the problem with drug shortages with oncology, anesthetics, and other specialized drugs because it sometimes takes months or even years to bring facilities online. But that's another story alltogether.