Quite often, if your fish presents with parasites, you can be almost certain, there may be other problems too.
Recently, I had a client losing fish from lice. This is easily enough to diagnose without special equipment. There are a variety of medicines you can use that’s suitable, but if you were to treat for lice alone, then you’re in for a shock.
Using my microscope, I was also able to diagnose two other parasitic diseases: Trichodina and gill fluke infestations. So treating for lice alone would still leave the fish owners with problems that would continue to kill more fish, if left undiagnosed.
Even if it were a simple single lice problem, treatments may fail for a variety of reasons: with drugs not working (e.g. incorrectly administered, wrong dose, poor water circulation, drug resistance, rapid drug degradation, etc), or drugs being harmful (e.g. drug interactions, effect on biofilter, species toxicity, etc.).
This is why I firmly believe that to have an effective cure, a site visit by myself or one of my veterinary colleagues is vital to save your fish. The clients are ever so happy that they had been referred to us, earlier rather than later, because they’d otherwise struggle and become frustrated with their losses.
The big question is, how much does it cost to get a veterinarian out? To put in economic perspective, clients typically lose somewhere between several hundred to thousands of dollars with ineffectual, randomly recommended treatments. Our fees typically range from $200-350, inclusive of treatment.
Don’t hesitate to call on The Fish Vet for any fish health and disease problems. Better still, call us to arrange for preventive health check-ups.
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | SYDNEY | TOWNSVILLE | BRIBIE ISLAND.
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.
Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 421 822 383
