The Fish Vet's Blog

Last week, I was lucky enough to meet with Dr Roy Yanong (pictured with me below), a veterinarian working on the extension aspect of fish health through the University of Florida. We discussed veterinary issues facing the tropical freshwater and marine fish ornamental industries and also the need for protecting and where damaged, rehabilitating the aquatic environment. We also visited the largest freshwater ornamental fish farm in the US (5D) and a couple of others.

They concluded that: “Caring for health and welfare of fish is a critical success factor for aquaculture”

Read more below.

Begin forwarded message:

From: “Dr. David Scarfe”
Date: 31 May 2013 7:05:38 EDT
Subject: AquaVetMed e-News: Outcomes of FVE Fish Health & Welfare Conference

May 31, 2013
FVE Seminar Conclusions: “Caring for health and welfare of fish: A critical success factor for aquaculture”

Brussels – Emphasized at this 16-17 May 2013 conference: “Fish, as other food producing animals, get sick, their welfare can be compromised and the food they produce has to be healthy. Veterinarians, through education and experience, have a holistic view on how health, welfare and the environment interlinks and therefore have a key role to play within aquaculture“ suggested FVE President Dr. Christophe Buhot at the conference the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe organized on aquaculture. “Vets care for people and animals, including fish. It is essential to ensure that sufficient veterinary expertise is available to the aquaculture sector.”

The event attracted more than 150 people from European Institutions, National Authorities, veterinarians, fish producers, scientists and many other stakeholders as well. This large number of participants underlined the enormous interest our society takes in aquaculture, which is a fast growing sector. The EU is not self-sufficient in fish products and requires imports from third countries. There is a significant potential in EU for increasing production in aquaculture, both in terms of capacity and exploitation of new species. This growth should be encouraged and supported at national and EU levels.

The large diversity of fish species being kept, each with their own specific needs, should be taken into consideration when regulating the sector. Close collaboration between the aquaculture industry and the veterinary profession should be ensured, in order to guarantee optimal health management of fish farms at all stages of production and to put in place sustainable and viable solutions for the future. Lack of availability of veterinary medicines specific to fish is a problem in the EU. The medicines legislation review should try to ensure incentives to encourage the development of these medicines.

FVE organized this conference in association with the Irish Presidency of the Council and the support of European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Consumers and Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) is an umbrella organisation of 44 veterinary organisations from 38 European countries, representing a total of around 200 000 veterinarians.
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[Conference presentation, and FVE conclusions and recommendation for future action are accessible at http://www.fve.org/news/presentations.php. ADS-Mod.]
___________________________
AquaVetMed e-News provides information to veterinary and veterinary-allied subscribers concerning aquatic animal medicine, health, welfare, public health and seafood safety, obtained from a variety of sources (largely AquaVetMed subscribers). While provided by the American Veterinary Medical Association’s, Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Committee and are for public distribution, they do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the AVMA or the veterinary profession. See the AVMA Terms of Use (http://tinyurl.com/29h2rf) for further information.

If e-News information is used elsewhere please acknowledge AquaVetMed as the source. Encourage individuals to subscribe rather than distribute through list serves.

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Subscription and Contributions: Interested veterinarians and veterinary-allied professionals can subscribe, unsubscribe, or contribute pertinent news or information, by sending a message with “For AquaVetMed -” and the topic in the subject line, to dscarfe@avma.org.

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Visit our website: http://www.avma.org

________________________________

There is this saying among the aquaponics fraternity,”No soil, no toil.” Find out for yourself whether this is true.

The conference website with the presentations from the recent conference on Aquaponics in Hawaii is now available to download from this site – http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/workshop/Aquaponics-May2013.html

Can you spot The Fish Vet in the crowd?

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

—
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.