The Fish Vet's Blog

Dear SeaVet & AquaVet buddies,
Going through post-graduate courses like you’ve been undertaking, you may have gathered that there is still a lot of unknowns, but at the same time, there are a lot of things that are known that have yet to be published.

Going forward, those who work in this newish field of aquatic veterinary medicine may be interested in being in the know; and may wish to create a wider network with other veterinarians and students with similar interests globally.

Some of the strengths of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA) include the active mailing list where no question is too simple, and no question is too complex. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with all the practical advice given by members through their responses. You’ll have access to the "hall of fame" or the "gurus" of fish health. You’ll also receive quarterly publications right to your email inbox with important news, events and information. For examples of some of the publications, follow this link – http://www.wavma.org/Publications

Those of you who are about the graduate over the next few days/weeks, might even be lucky enough to sneak in and join at the student rates!

Don’t delay any longer and join now by following this link – http://www.wavma.org/Become-a-member

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).
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

Not to be missed, these are an excellent way to learn about fish diseases from exactly where you are!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: <Joanne.Slater@csiro.au>
Date: Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 7:13 AM
Subject: Neptune webinar invitation
To: Joanne.Slater@csiro.au

Today I just took a dip at Fanning Springs in Florida, USA. It’s the most amazing place and is exactly like my dreams. Beautiful crystal clear freshwater with loads of aquatic life!

Check out the pictures on my Facebook Fanpage by following this link – http://tinyurl.com/o3myzgc

Follow me on: Facebook "Fin Page" – YouTube – Blog – Linkedin – Twitter

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology) Murdoch, MANZCVS (Aquatics & Pathobiology).
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.

Got this via Facebook.

There’ll be more than 30 hours of aquatic veterinary Continuing Education & Professional Development.

Check out the schedule/content by downloading this flyer – 2013_Aquatic_Vet_Program(AVMA-Convention)Flyer2

For more information on this wonderful event, to register, book accommodation, and to subscribe to Convention updates – visit http://www.avmaconvention.org

This “Aquatic Stream” (pun intended) is organised by members of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA).

Recently, I’ve had a spate of questions regarding this disease through email and social media. So I thought I should tackle it here. Clinical signs of white spot disease in freshwater fishes (caused by Ichthyophthirius) and in marine fishes (caused by Cryptocaryon) is almost unmistakeable. What is it? How do you recognise the signs? What does it do to the fish? How do you confirm this is the case and not anything else? Where did it come from? What’s the parasite’s life cycle? All these questions need to be answered before you can start treating the fish.

I’ve included a section below from my book “Fish Vetting Essentials”, for your information.

Click on the link to download this section.

Dr Loh’s take on WSD

NB: Consult your local veterinarian for advice on treatment options tailored to your specific aquatic system.

This Fish Diseases Workshop will be held before the World Parasitology Conference in Perth at our Murdoch University veterinary school and will be presented by Drs Supranee Chinabut and Susan Gibson-Kueh. It will be a prequel or satellite workshop to an International Parasitology Workshop that follows right after. 

We are now into Day 3 of the Seavet program and I’m learning heaps of interesting stuff. One common question the students ask of their teachers is,”How do I get to work in the field of aquatic veterinary medicine?” and a related question,”How do you get experience, without experience?”

One of my co-students this week expressed that when he was applying at several places to work as their aquatic veterinarian, the various establishments often asked him whether he had the AquaVet or SeaVet certificate. This is one way of getting your foot in the door. You’ll learn heaps and create a great network of colleagues.

These questions were also asked of the teachers. Many have side-stepped their way into the aquatic field. Dr Tom Waltzek got into it by being into virology (study of viruses), Dr Don Samuelson got into it by being into ophthalmology (study of eyes), myself and Dr Ruth Francis-Floyd got into it by being into pathology (study of diseases)… and the list goes on. Some volunteered heavily earlier in their careers and gained a lot of experience and earned trust such as Dr Mike Walsh and some had shown such commitment and perseverance that he earned a recommendation for a job by his colleague/mentor (Dr Gregory Lewbart), and this is how Dr Roy Yanong got his gig at the University of Florida! I’m sure that there’ll be many more such stories from the other teachers who have yet to present at this year’s SeaVet.

The veterinary degree really opens up many possibilities beyond the more common small animal (dog and cat) work often portrayed on TV like Dr Harry Cooper, Dr Chris Brown and Dr Katrina Warren.

For those veterinarians or veterinary students who can’t get to such courses, I strongly recommend you get into the two critical networks to find out more – register in the on-line Directory and subscribe to e-News at www.AquaVetMed.info, and consider joining the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA) at http://www.wavma.org/Become-a-member.

For those of you who are not veterinarians, no need to fear. There are many, many ways of getting in on the action too. I’d like to draw your attention to the information that can be found at the following link –
http://www.iaaam.org/getting-into-aquatic-animal-medicine/

Good luck to you and I hope to meet with you in this field in the future, and to exchange notes.

—
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

I’ve just completed Day 1 of the SeaVet intensive training course. We covered water quality for marine mammals as compared to fishes presented by Dr Ruth Francis-Floyd (pictured with me below). There were in-depth presentations on the effect of air quality on the health of Cetaceans, and on their anatomy, behaviour and medicine. This was delivered by Dr Mike Walsh who is kind enough to help fast track the attendees with what took him over 20 years to gather.

There was a lot to take in because tomorrow, we will be taking a field trip to Marineland to observe and interact with the dolphins.

This fact-finding trip has been made possible by the George Alexander International Fellowship, awarded to me by the International Specialised Skills Institute.

In just a little over 1.5 hours, I’ll be starting my Seavet training. I’m so excited that I woke up before my alarm clock!

See more about what the program delivers at this link – http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/ame/seavet/

—
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