The Fish Vet's Blog

Non-fish related, but it’s fish colleague related.

My friend from across our global pond is doing some fundraising and I thought I’d help him out by posting it here.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Yanong, Roy P.E.
Date: Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Subject: Roy Yanong’s fundraising efforts to support a cure for childhood cancer

Q: How do you discipline a raucous school of flatfish?

 

A: Tell them to stop floundering around.

 

Thanks to BT!

I thought it might be worth re-blogging an old post.

There might be a simple solution. Follow this link.

Those of you who grew up with mum or dad in the garden may have sometimes heard them talk or even sing to their plants. They may have told you that it helps the plants grow and that we should try it. Were they just pulling your leg?

Well, in this research paper, scientists have shown that playing some tunes for the fish actually will improve growth rate and welfare. Check it out!

Aquacultural Engineering
Volume 55, Number 3 (July 2013)
	Effect of musical stimuli and white noise on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) growth and physiology in recirculating water conditions
	Authors:	Sofronios E. Papoutsoglou 1, Nafsika Karakatsouli 1, Christos Skouradakis 1, Eustratios S. Papoutsoglou 1, Alkistis Batzina 1, Georgios Leondaritis 2, Nikolaos Sakellaridis 2
	Author Affiliations:	1: Department of Applied Hydrobiology, Faculty of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece 2: Department of Pharmacology, Medical School, University of Thessaly, Papakiriazi 22, 41222 Larissa, Greece
	Source:	Aquacultural Engineering, Volume 55, Number 3 (July 2013)
	Page Numbers:	16 – 22
	Available Full Text:	Full Text: Subscription Required to view full text Format: PDF Size: Unknown Location: Publisher’s Site Authentication: Publisher’s Site
	Abstract:	Music resulted in significantly higher growth compared to white noise treatment or control in rainbow trout. Music through its implication in fish brain response (e.g. neurotransmitters) resulted to a rather relaxed performance/condition. Brain response includes significant differences mainly among music treatments and white noise populations regarding levels of digestive enzymes. The musical stimuli per se is beneficial for growth and welfare.
	Citation:	Sofronios E. Papoutsoglou, Nafsika Karakatsouli, Christos Skouradakis, Eustratios S. Papoutsoglou, Alkistis Batzina, Georgios Leondaritis, Nikolaos Sakellaridis . Effect of musical stimuli and white noise on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) growth and physiology in recirculating water conditions. Aquacultural Engineering, Volume 55, Number 3 (July 2013), pp. 16-22, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=46BE80BFC334BC1F8CF8&gt;
	URL:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=46BE80BFC334BC1F8CF8

Now you can turn around and tell your gardener parents that fish also love listening to music and that they too should try and sing to them! So, what tunes will you be playing for your fish?

Watch the first episode of the television series ‘Vet School’ commencing today – Friday 26^th July at 8 PM on ABC1 (i.e. in 5 hours’ time for us in Western Australia!).

A new six-part documentary series chronicling the highs and lows of eight Murdoch University Veterinary Science students will run on ABC1 starting Friday, July 26 at 8pm. The shows are repeated on Sundays if you miss them.

To watch the trailer, view screen stills, meet the students and more please click here to visit the website.

Kind regards

Deborah Elliott

Admin Officer, Continuing Veterinary Education

School of Veterinary and Life Sciences | Murdoch University

* 90 South St, Murdoch WA 6150, Australia | ( +61 8 9360 6342 | 6 +61 8 9360 7283
8 cve@murdoch.edu.au Goto.murdoch.edu.au/CVE

I’ve tried anaesthetising an octopus once and boy did that guy jump out of the water! It worked finally, after holding the lid down and shut and reducing the amount of air space above the induction water. There’s really not been much work done on chemotherapeutants in invertebrates. These researchers are pioneering this field. Good on them!

Aquaculture
Volume 371, Number 1 (December 2012)
	The use of different anaesthetics as welfare promoters during short-term human manipulation of European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) juveniles
	Authors:	Rui A. Gonçalves, Cláudia Aragão, Paulo A. Frias, António V. Sykes
	Author Affiliations:	no affiliations available
	Source:	Aquaculture, Volume 371, Number 1 (December 2012)
	Page Numbers:	130 – 135
	Available Full Text:	Full Text: Subscription Required to view full text Format: PDF Size: Unknown Location: Publisher’s Site Authentication: Publisher’s Site
	Abstract:	Anaesthetics are frequently used to prevent injuries, stress and to promote welfare while handling animals. The efficiency of five anaesthetics for short-term handling of the European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) was tested in order to determine the best agent and its concentration. Ethanol (10.0, 20.0 and 30.0mL.L-1), clove oil (0.05, 0.15mL.L-1), hypothermia (8°C), magnesium chloride (hexahydrated; 20.0, 27.0g.L-1) and AQUI-S® (10.9µl.L-1) were the selected anaesthetics. This choice was preceded by a preliminary trial, with additional agents, where 2-phenoxyethanol (10, 15, 20, 30mL.L-1) and MS-222® (30, 40mg.L-1) were used. Due to the lack of reliable results from these two agents, they were discarded. Anaesthetic procedure was performed in 85 cuttlefish juveniles with a mean wet weight of 45.69±12.01g, on a 5L container, under hyper-oxygenated seawater (~200%), plus the dose of a given anaesthetic agent. After achieving induction, cuttlefish were handled for 180s, which consisted in a weighing procedure according to a developed CCMAR protocol. Recovery from anaesthesia was performed in a tank with flow-through hyper-oxygenated water. All these procedures were video recorded and used to, a posteriori, obtain the time frames of induction, handling and recovery, as well as for the behaviour analysis during each stage.
	Citation:	Rui A. Gonçalves, Cláudia Aragão, Paulo A. Frias, António V. Sykes . The use of different anaesthetics as welfare promoters during short-term human manipulation of European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) juveniles. Aquaculture, Volume 371, Number 1 (December 2012), pp. 130-135, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=45BD80F1D33779B72D59&gt;
	URL:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=45BD80F1D33779B72D59

In a previous post about blood flukes and tuna (see link) the researchers produced similar findings, but the dosage rate for oral delivery of praziquantel differed. In that previous article, researchers were dosing fish with 75 – 150 mg/kg BW of praziquantel. However, in this article, researchers found that a level between 3.75 – 7.5 mg/kg BW is sufficient for complete eradication of flukes. The difference is in the magnitude of 10-20x. Why is it that the blood flukes require much higher concentrations of drug than the skin flukes for effect? One thing’s for sure, it certainly shows how safe the drug is for the host fish.

 

Aquaculture
Volume 403, Number 1-4 (July 2013)
	Praziquantel treatment against Cardicola blood flukes: Determination of the minimal effective dose and pharmacokinetics in juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna
	Authors:	Katsuya Ishimaru, Ryoma Mine, Sho Shirakashi, Eri Kaneko, Kazushige Kubono, Tokihiko Okada, Yoshifumi Sawada, Kazuo Ogawa
	Author Affiliations:	no affiliations available
	Source:	Aquaculture, Volume 403, Number 1-4 (July 2013)
	Page Numbers:	24 – 27
	Available Full Text:	Full Text: Subscription Required to view full text Format: PDF Size: Unknown Location: Publisher’s Site Authentication: Publisher’s Site
	Abstract:	Blood flukes of the genus Cardicola cause significant problems in the bluefin tuna farming around the world. In Japan, the mortality of the juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis (PBT) caused by C. orientalis and C. opisthorchis has become a serious issue in the tuna farming industry in recent years. Oral treatment with praziquantel (PZQ) is highly effective against blood flukes and is indispensable for sustainable tuna farming. To develop a proper and safe drug treatment procedure, we investigated the minimum effective dose and pharmacokinetics of PZQ in juvenile PBT. Juvenile tuna were orally administered various doses of PZQ (0, 3.75, 7.5, 15 and 30mg/kg body weight (BW)) once a day for 3 consecutive days, and the occurrence of C. opisthorchis before and after the treatment was compared. A significant decrease in the number of flukes was observed in the 3.75mg/kg group, and complete eradication of flukes was achieved at dosages of 7.5mg/kg and greater. This result indicates that the minimal effective dose of PZQ for treating C. opisthorchis is between 3.75 and 7.5mg/kg, which is less than 1/20 of the treatment dose used for treating the skin fluke Benedenia seriolae in yellowtail culture. We used high-performance liquid chromatography analysis to assess the temporal changes in the concentrations of PZQ in serum, muscle, the liver and the kidney after a single administration of PZQ at 15mg/kg BW. The PZQ concentration in the tissues peaked between 0.5 and 1.5h following administration, and PZQ was undetectable after 24h. The highest serum concentration was 2.0µg/mL, which is likely to be the lethal dose for C. opisthorchis. These results suggest that PZQ treatment is a highly effective and relatively safe method to control blood flukes in the tuna farming industry.
	Citation:	Katsuya Ishimaru, Ryoma Mine, Sho Shirakashi, Eri Kaneko, Kazushige Kubono, Tokihiko Okada, Yoshifumi Sawada, Kazuo Ogawa . Praziquantel treatment against Cardicolablood flukes: Determination of the minimal effective dose and pharmacokinetics in juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna. Aquaculture, Volume 403, Numbers 1-4 (July 2013), pp. 24-27, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44CC8F3A2D9365BBF7E7&gt;
	URL:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44CC8F3A2D9365BBF7E7

I recently asked a fish breeder client of mine what they thought of the fish ImmunoBOOSTER mix.

“the fish on the immunostimulant seem [to be producing] healthier looking poohs and have better appetites overall.”

Read more about it here –
https://thefishvet.com/2013/05/07/prevent-fish-diseases-with-thefishvets-immuno-booster-for-fish/

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology) Murdoch, MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology).
The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia.
Veterinary Medicine for fish.
W: http://www.thefishvet.com.au
E: thefishvet
P: +61 (0)421 822 383

This is an interesting read. In many animals, skeletal muscle degeneration is seen in vitamin E and/or selenium deficiency and the common name for this condition is white muscle disease. It is interesting that in the carp at least, selenium deficiency is not associated with skeletal muscle degeneration. However, ultrastructurally, their heart was compromised. Perhaps carp react to selenium deficiency more similar to pigs’ mulberry heart disease.

Another useful thing to get out of this article is that before fish even show clinical signs of disease, you can gauge their health/disease status by testing their blood biochemistry values. It’s a great way to monitor things before they get bad.

 

Journal of Fish Diseases
Volume 36, Number 7 (July 2013)
	The pathology of selenium deficiency in Cyprinus carpio L
	Authors:	K Y Wang, C Z Peng, J L Huang, Y D Huang, M C Jin, Y Geng
	Author Affiliations:	no affiliations available
	Source:	Journal of Fish Diseases, Volume 36, Number 7 (July 2013)
	Page Numbers:	609 – 615
	Available Full Text:	Full Text: Subscription Required to view full text Format: PDF Size: unknown Location: Publisher’s Site Authentication: EBSCOhost EJS
	Abstract:	Selenium is essential for the normal life processes, and all animals, including fish, need this inorganic element. In order to research the pathology of selenium deficiency in common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., 360 juvenile carp were allocated to three treatments. Each treatment containing 120 fish was randomly divided into four groups, fed with purified diets containing selenium at 0, 0.15, 0.30 and 0.45 mg kg-1. The results indicated that the morbidity and mortality rates of the test groups were negatively correlated with the level of selenium in the diets. The morbidity and mortality rates were, respectively, 46.7%, 33.3%, 13.3%, 0 and 26.7% 16.7%, 6.7%, 0. The affected fish exhibited pathological changes, such as ‘thin back disease’ and lordosis. Histologically, there was no abnormality observed in muscles, liver and pancreas. Ultrastructurally, there was swelling of the mitochondria of the cardiac muscle cells, the liver cells and renal tubular epithelial cells, with disintegration and lysis of the cristae of the mitochondria which vesiculated. Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase levels were increased and the activity of the serum glutathione peroxidase and the serum superoxide dismutase was decreased; in contrast, the serum malonaldehyde concentration was increased.
	Citation:	K Y Wang, C Z Peng, J L Huang, Y D Huang, M C Jin, Y Geng . The pathology of selenium deficiency in Cyprinus carpio L. Journal of Fish Diseases, Volume 36, Number 7 (July 2013), pp. 609-615, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44FC81FBCDBD0CF15BFC&gt;
	URL:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44FC81FBCDBD0CF15BFC

Q: What will Nemo be when he grows up?

A: He will be Nema… Or shall I say ‘she’ will be Nema!

That’s true! The clownfish begin life as males and then, largest fish in the colony will become a female. So, when Nemo’s mum was taken, his dad Marlin, would have become Marlene!

Check out the facts about gender benders in species other than clownfish on this link.