I’ll be doing a spot of training for the final year veterinary students during their elective, Wildlife Conservation & Zoo Medicine, in a couple of weeks.
After attending the recent Aquavet course (with many thanks to FRDC’s people development program), I’ve been inspired with new ideas on how to teach more effectively.
For these series of practical sessions, I’ll be using freshly thawed frozen fishes (pictured) to coach the students on non-lethal diagnostic techniques, learn the external and internal anatomy of fish, administer medication and performing a full necropsy. No fish practical is complete without discussing water quality. So, I’ll be preparing water samples spiked with ammonium chloride and sodium nitrite to simulate the conditions in ‘new tank syndrome’. These chemicals are also ideal for fish-less biofilter cycling.
