All about Fish Vetting – Dr Richmond Loh
Vertical farming is the solution! What’s unique about this farm is that unlike regular aquaponics and hydroponics setups, it is not the water that is moved, but the plants themselves! They use old water wheel technology in this state of the art system.
The World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association has developed a credentialing program that recognises those veterinarians that have acquired the necessary knowledge, skills and experience through a variety of sources. The Certified Aquatic Veterinarian (CertAqV) Program is one that supports and supplements current and future efforts to ensure an adequate and well-trained global aquatic veterinary workforce.
To be credentialed by the WAVMA as a Certified Aquatic Veterinarian, individuals must be a WAVMA member, have a veterinary degree from a nationally recognised veterinary school, college or university and have demonstrated general knowledge and competency in core subject areas noted below that are currently considered unique to aquatic veterinary medicine and aquatic animals (primarily aquatic mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and finfish, crustacean and molluscs), including:
The Certified Aquatic Veterinarian Program has awarded 11 veterinarians from 6 countries to date.
You will be able to identify those veterinarians with expertise in aquatic veterinary medicine by the post-nominals CertAqV.
More information can be found at: wavma.org
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
+61 (0)421 822 383
The Fellowship Report from my recent fact-finding trip to the USA is now published!
It covers veterinary health aspects on the following topics:
See email below for details on how to access the material.
From: Paul Sumner <fellowships@issinstitute.org.au>
Date: 27 November 2013 11:20:36 AWST
Subject: Fellowship Report – Dr Richmond Loh – Aquatic Veterinary Medicine – Specific to Cultured, Display and Wild Aquatic Life.
On behalf of our Board and CEO, Ms Bella Irlicht AM, please find a copy of Dr Richmond Loh’s Fellowship Report, Aquatic Veterinary Medicine – Specific to Cultured, Display and Wild Aquatic Life, which has recently been published and we believe will be of interest to you and your organisation.
Dr Loh’s ISS Institute Fellowship was sponsored by the George Alexander Foundation.
It is available for download from our website at:
http://www.issinstitute.org.au/wp-content/media/2013/11/Report-Loh-Final-LowRes.pdf
Should you require a copy of the high resolution version of the report, which is suitable for printing, please contact our office and we will arrange to forward that to you on disk or USB drive. Please feel free to circulate the Fellowship report throughout your network.
Thank you for your interest.
Kind regards,
Paul Sumner
International Specialised Skills Institute, Level 1, 189 Faraday Street, Carlton VIC 3053, AUSTRALIA
P 03 9347 4583 | F 03 9348 1474
fellowships | www.issinstitute.org.au | www.twitter.com/ISSInstitute | www.facebook.com/ISSInstitutePassionate people. Great ideas. A better skilled Australia.
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Now that’s what I call a fish’s home renovation !
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology) Murdoch, MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV WAVMA.
The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia.
Veterinary Medicine for fish.
W: http://www.thefishvet.com.au
E: thefishvet
P: +61 (0)421 822 383
The blog at thefishvet.com has a social media impact score of 4/5 stars, according to coolsocial.net. It has 1,300 posts and has attracted more than 47,000 views since its inception in late 2011. In the last 7 months, it has been averaging 3,000 to 4,000 views per month. What attracts visitors to the blog is the personalised, practical and reliable information.
Dr Loh has published two books on aquatic veterinary medicine (“Fish Vetting Essentials” and “Fish Vetting Medicines – Formulary of Fish Treatments”) as a way to capture useful and practical information to pass to fellow veterinarians. However, the information available is growing at an exponential rate and the blog now serves several purposes. Dr Loh has set out to build trust and provide original and informative content in an understandable, summarised format and for the blog to be a repository for such information. It combines information, education and entertainment to raise the profile on fish health and welfare and to advance the special area of aquatic veterinary medicine.
Dr Loh’s approach to spreading the word and having a web presence is to:
Thefishvet’s Facebook page has approximately 750 likes, has 550 followers on Twitter and over 2000 connections on Linkedin. These are linked to the blog and “mirrors” what is shared, and has additional input. These are complemented by a YouTube channel (thefishvetdrloh) which has nearly 20,000 views. With a good reputation and a strong internet presence, Dr Loh has recently been invited to become an Expert for eHow Now Pets on matters relating to fish health. Dr Loh will also serve as the President of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association in 2014.
For more information on Dr Loh as The Fish Vet, visit the main website – thefishvet.com.au
Q: What fish do catfish not get along with?
A: Dogfish.
Interesting article I thought I’d share with you.
Read more here.
http://phys.org/news/2013-10-electric-fish-ac-dc.html
I often receive requests for advice on how veterinarians could go about developing their skills and knowledge as an aquatic veterinarian. Many explain that CPD courses are few and infrequent and that there are a lack of suitably qualified mentors. They often ask me to point them in the direction to acquire further educations, CPDs or readings in which could enrich their knowledge on aquatic medicine.
I always encourage them to join the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA) as this global group of aquatic veterinarians are exactly the types of professionals that would be helpful to one another. There is a particularly active email list-serve where members can ask questions, contribute answers and everyone can learn at the same time.
The majority of requests for advice I receive are from small animal veterinarians. And so I recommend texts like the BSAVA’s Manual of Ornamental Fish, Helen Roberts’ Fundamentals of Ornamental fish, Noga’s Fish Disease – Diagnosis and Treatment and (of course!) my Fish Vetting Essentials. If they’re after drug dose rates, my Fish Vetting Medicines would serve them well. For those heading down the laboratory analysis side of things and are interested in fish pathology, you can’t go past Ferguson’s Pathology of Fishes and Roberts’ Fish Pathology. There is also a comprehensive list of recommended reading in WAVMA’s latest The Aquatic Veterinarian journal (TAV7[3]2013) as outlined in the Certified Aquatic Veterinarian (CertAqV) program.
If they’re after actual physical crash courses, they should check out Aquavet, Marvet and Seavet. These are also detailed in WAVMA’s latest TAV(3)2013. I’ve been invited to form part of the team to present some of a comprehensive series of talks with workshops at the AVMA Conference during July in Denver 2014 and at the joint FAVA/SVA conference in Nov 2014.
If they’re after practical material, I’m at the final stages of putting together a Fish Vetting Practical Tips type DVD.
We’re going to ramp up the webinars for WAVMA in 2014, and I’m also planning to do some of my own private ones for fish owners. So, stay tuned.
Follow me on: Facebook “Fin Page” – YouTube – Blog – Linkedin – Twitter
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology) Murdoch, MANZCVS (Aquatics & Pathobiology), CertAqV.
Aquatic Veterinarian | Adjunct Lecturer Murdoch University | President-elect WAVMA |
Secretary Aquatic Animal Health Chapter – ANZCVS.
The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia, AUSTRALIA.
Mobile Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services for fish and other aquatic creatures.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383
Looking for more books? Check out this site.
Did you know that normally, when you need antibiotics for yourself, or for your pet dog/cat, you can only get it on prescription from your doctor or veterinarian? At the chemist, pharmacists can dispense antibiotics only if they are given a prescription by the doctor or veterinarian to fill. Why is there such a tight control over antibiotics? It’s because they are miracle drugs that help keep us safe from infections. Click here to learn more about antibiotic resistance and the importance of taking antibiotics correctly.
Although it is so tightly regulated in the medical and veterinary realms, did you know that you can easily buy antibiotics like tetracycline and triple sulpha, over the counter from the local fish shops? Why is this still allowed?
We all have a responsibility to fight antibiotic resistance.
This year, we’re asking consumers, policy-makers, and health professionals across the agricultural, veterinary and health sectors to band together to preserve the miracle of antibiotics. Whether you use, prescribe, dispense or provide advice about antibiotics, you can make a difference.
Pledge to join the fight against antibiotic resistance today!
Further info at:
http://www.nps.org.au/about-us/what-we-do/campaigns-events/antibiotic-resistance-fighter
With thanks to my colleague (Ari) who’s a member of the WAVMA, he’s shared this new finding. For a long time, HLLE has been a difficult to diagnose condition because of the multifactorial nature. New evidence suggests the use of activated charcoal is contributory.
And in another article, it found that the loose/powdery lignite carbon is worse than pelleted carbon.
It’s these new gems of relevant and practical information that I’m definitely including for my next edition of Fish Vetting Essentials.
Check out the abstract of one of the mentioned articles below:
Walt Disney World Resort, Epcot, The Seas, 2016 North Avenue of the Stars, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32803, USA. andy.m.stamper@disney.com
Head and lateral line erosion syndrome (HLLES) is a common but very poorly understood disease of marine aquarium fish. One suspected etiology is the use of granulated activated carbon (GAC) to filter the water. Seventy-two ocean surgeons Acanthurus bahianus were distributed among three carbon-negative control systems and three GAC-treated systems such that each tank contained approximately the same total body mass. Each replicate system was made up of two 250-L circular tanks with a common filtration system (6 fish per tank, 12 fish per replicate system). The GAC-treated tanks were exposed to full-stream, extruded coconut shell activated carbon, which produced a mean total organic carbon content of 0.4 mg/L. The results of this study indicate that extruded coconut shell activated carbon filtering at full-stream rates can cause HLLES-type lesions in ocean surgeons. The HLLES developed exponentially over 15 d, beginning in the chin region. This was followed by pitting in the cheek region, which expanded until erosions coalesced. Once the carbon was discontinued, the processes reversed in a mean time of 49 d. As the lesions healed, they reverted from the coalesced to the pitted stage and then darkened before returning to normal.
