Post-operative Care of Mussels in Freshwater Pearl Farming

[pearlyneck]

I plan to keep the Implanted mussels in post-operative care units for 9 to 12 days with antibiotic treatment
what antibiotic treatment should I be using? and the dosage, any usage instructions would be appreciated. taking in consideration that I'm a newbie

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

As a rule of thumb (even with broad spectrum antibiotics), you can't indicate what you can't stain. In fact, treatment may not be necessary at all.

Cross that bridge if or when you get there.

 

[CortezPearls]

I agree with Dave @Lagoon Island Pearls
Unless your lab is heavily contaminated and the water reservoir you use is also contaminated...you can skip antibiotic treatments when you start. I ended up using bio-coated nuclei only after 20 years of not using any kind of antibiotic.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I ended up using bio-coated nuclei only after 20 years of not using any kind of antibiotic.

A prudent measure. Topical applications of antibiotics are infinitely better than systemic indications, especially for prophylaxis. Aside from being more economical it also reduces the likelihood of increased resistance in other species.

Even then, the efficacy of antibiotics applies mainly to bacteria, not viruses. Retro-viral indications are exceeding complex, expensive to trace and even more difficult to apply.

Water quality is everything. In most aquaculture settings, all known pathogens are generally presumed to be present however not in great enough concentrations to cause disease or mortality. Wholesale slaughter of bugs en-mass leaves dead bodies which decay, giving rise to accelerated levels of ammonia and other nasty compounds.

For example, whirling disease in salmonids is caused by the parasite Myxobolus cerebralis, but pointless to treat so long as it continuously proliferates in annelids. Namely the aquatic worm Tubifex tubifex. Unless these are eliminated entirely from the ecosystem there is little chance for habitat rehabilitation, but even then a major food source has been removed thus a double edged sword for the fish.

In nature you can fight the water, but the water always wins. As they say, it's always best to let sleeping bears lay.

 

[pearlescence]

Might you buy in ready grafted shells, at least to begin with?
When starting something from scratch good planning is to master one stage at a time (so, for example, with a new airplane you put old and tried engines into a new airframe and the new design engines into an old tried and tested airframe)