The Fish Vet's Blog

Found in Vietnam.
Read more here –
http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0318-hance-crocodilenewt-new.html?80b4j0Pb3R2USVHX.99

Q. Which aquatic creature can you say is a nobody?

A. An octopus, or any member of the cephalopod group. Cephal = head. Pod = foot. It has ‘no body’!

By yours truly.

The Status of key Australian fish stocks reports provides the first national assessments of our wild capture fish stocks, incorporating information from all eight fisheries management jurisdictions into a single set of reports.

The productivity and sustainability of wild-capture fisheries depends heavily on the state of wild fish stocks. A fundamental aim of fisheries management is to ensure that fish stocks are maintained at sustainable levels.

Learn more here :
http://fish.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Related to the hole in the ozone layer?

Learn more here – http://scienceillustrated.com.au/blog/nature/australian-fish-have-high-incidence-of-skin-cancer-too/

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

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Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh
BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Vet Path), MANZCVS (Aquatics), MANZCVS (Pathobiology), DipPM.
Veterinarian | Adjunct Senior Lecturer Murdoch University | WAVMA President-Elect |
Secretary Aquatic Animal Health Chapter – Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS)
The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia, AUSTRALIA.

Now we are well and truly past the warm summer months and apart from maybe a few more warms days, the weather in the Southern Hemisphere is getting a little chilly. If you have any tropical fish outside, consider bringing them inside and/or installing some water heaters for the fish. Those who’ve barramundi in their Aquaponics setup may consider harvesting them.

The cooler temperatures will have immunosuppressive effects on the fish and succumb to fungal or protozoal, skin or gill diseases. It is best to avoid this.

Can you help me by telling me what your water temperature is right now? Have your barramundi shown any signs of disease yet? I’m keeping a log of this.

Click here for the water temperature requirements of barramundi.

My colleague, Dr Matt Landos, shared this with me:

“Interesting piece of work from US, looking at distribution of pyrethroids in urban creek sediments. Origin is presumably household use. Household uses in Australia are climbing with do-it-yourself spider control, lawn ant control, etc…

The paper shows movement off the application site, into waterways, at levels capable of causing toxicity to sensitive invertebrates. Notably the registration of these product did not predict this would happen, or that once bound to sediment they could remain bioavailable and toxic.

The same impacted invertebrates are the essential food resource for fish larvae amongst other critters. Reduction of density will impact recruitment of wild fishes.”

Learn more by clicking on the link below –

Pyrethroid article.

If you’re a fish vet and have not heard of, or joined up with, the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association, you’re missing out BIG time! I might of course be a bit biased as I’m the president-elect for the group, but let me tell you a little more about this WAVMA.

The mission of the WAVMA is to serve the discipline of aquatic veterinary medicine through enhancing aquatic animal health and welfare, public health and seafood safety, to support aquatic veterinarians, aquatic animal owners and industries, and other stakeholders. Our global organisation consists of more than 300 members from over 37 countries.

For many, a career in aquatic veterinary medicine was but a dream. Few opportunities existed for them to expand in their chosen discipline as an aquatic veterinarian. With such challenges, our passionate predecessors (past and present), have forged amazing pathways for the up and coming aquatic veterinarians.

Now, the number of potential clients and industries needing aquatic veterinarians are increasing rapidly. Commercial aquaculture has become a dominant industry for producing seafood. Public aquaria are demanding veterinarians to oversee their animal health programs. Government legislation and regulations, and international standards and requirements aimed at preventing, controlling and eradicating disease in all aquatic species are seeking veterinary input.

The WAVMA is a beacon of innovation and it is made up of professional veterinarians, ranging from students through to internationally renowned experts in the world. Their work our members do is multifaceted and it canvasses an incredibly diverse range of areas. They include:

• Private practice (aquaculture & ornamental)
• Academics (research, teaching, extension)
• Commercial companies (drug development, commercial aquaculture)
• Government regulatory agencies
• Public aquaria,

covering a diverse range of species including marine mammals, ornamental fish, food fish, mollusc, crustacean and amphibia.

With a high level of member engagement, the WAVMA is an authoritative source of information and as such, it acts as an ambassador for all veterinarians involved with aquatic animal health. WAVMA is in the optimal position to advance the discipline of aquatic veterinary medicine, and supports the practice of aquatic veterinary medicine in all countries.

There are many tangible and intangible benefits and rewards for being a part of WAVMA. Gain the communities’ confidence and be sure that you don’t miss out on this great opportunity. It’s the one place that you can ‘hook-up’ with leading aquatic experts from around the world. Get answers to questions, difficult cases and more!

Delay no more. Join NOWat http://www.wavma.org/

From: “Dr. David Scarfe”
Date: 26 March 2013 0:20:18 AWST
Subject: AquaVetMed: Aquatic Veterinarians & US Navy Marine Mammal Program

March 25, 2013
Top-notch care for elite fleets

JAVMA News – The greatest concentration of marine mammal veterinarians isn’t found in the theme parks of Orlando or on the colorful beaches of Hawaii. That designation goes to the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program at Point Loma in San Diego. For decades, the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program in San Diego has provided cutting-edge veterinary care to bottle-nosed dolphins and California sea lions.

The Navy uses these animals to find and mark the location of underwater objects. Both of these marine mammal species can be trained to perform a variety of tasks for the Navy. They are fast and agile swimmers, can dive up to 1,000 feet underwater, and can do repetitive dives without suffering from the bends.

The program’s animal care team comprises members of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, civilians, National Marine Mammal Foundation veterinarians, and other animal health care experts. Together, the marine mammal veterinarians who care for the program’s 80 dolphins and 40 sea lions constitute the largest group of marine mammal veterinarians in the country. Dr. Cynthia R. Smith, executive director of the NMMF, explained that marine mammal veterinarians from the program originally created the nonprofit foundation under Dr. Sam Ridgway’s guidance. The NMMF currently provides medical care for the Navy animals and clinical research support that helps the Navy continuously advance the health and welfare of its marine mammal population.

Three Army veterinarians and five Army veterinary technicians represent the Army Veterinary Corps in the program. Because this is a unique assignment, the Army staff members undergo a lot of on-the-job training as part of the veterinary care team.
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Capt. Lara S. Cotte, officer in charge of clinical veterinary services, concedes there is a steep learning curve for new Army personnel who rotate in. “We’re in a new era where there are more vets and techs than the program had 10 years ago. We’re constantly working on consistency of personnel,” Dr. Cotte said. “Training on all levels is paramount to ensuring quality animal care.”

An ounce of prevention
Veterinarians with the program place a heavy emphasis on preventive medicine and routine diagnostic testing, but also stress maintaining social and environmental conditions that keep their animals healthy. The Navy’s marine mammals go through an annual wellness examination, which includes a history and physical examination, auscultation, and collection of fecal and blood samples. Animals are dewormed every six months, and sea lions receive monthly heartworm preventive.

Sonographic and endoscopic examinations are a routine part of the preventive medicine program, and on occasion, the veterinary staff perform CT or MRI scans at the nearby Naval Medical Center in San Diego to better characterize the animals’ health. Trainers are taught the signs to look for when performing medical checks every day and whom to notify when something isn’t right, whether it’s a low appetite or change in behavior, Dr. Cotte said. “One of the biggest problems working with marine mammals is they are incredibly sophisticated at masking disease,” which requires looking for subtle cues, she said.

While the Navy marine mammal population has consistently had low mortality and high survival rates over the past 20 years, illnesses are inevitable in any animal population. The most common health issue for the sea lions is mild gastrointestinal disease, which is likely also the case for their counterparts in the wild. In the dolphins, Dr. Cotte said, respiratory conditions such as bronchopneumonia are the most common illnesses … … .

See the source (https://www.avma.org/news/javmanews/pages/130401a.aspx) for the full story.
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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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In this technical field of fish medicine, you really ought to get things very spot on. One of the students queried my labelled diagram of “fork length” and its correct use.  Rightly so because they were right!

There are 3 different measurements used for fish. The ‘standard length’ is from the tip of the snout to the end of the last vertebrae. The ‘fork length’ is from the tip of the snout to the distal end of the middle, caudal fin ray. The ‘total length’ is from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. ‘Standard length’ tends to be used with most bony fishes, ‘total length’ for eel-type fishes and ‘fork length’ for species where it is difficult to tell where the vertebral column ends. The reason why we do not use ‘total length’ at all times is because the ‘tail length’ can vary dramatically within the same species. Take for example the following species – Siamese fighting fish, guppy and swordtails. Moreover, fin damage can also reduce the apparent ‘total length’ giving the researcher an inconsistent result.

Thus, I’ve uploaded an updated page for my book, Fish Vetting Essentials –

Page 19: Fish Anatomy – FVetEssn_Anatomy.pdf

(This can be added to my being wrong about goldfish having a stomach!)

For the full list of updated pages, see https://thefishvet.com/2013/02/05/fish-vetting-series-updates/