The Fish Vet's Blog

I had a client who lost their entire tank of discus to toxic when they had someone re-do their wooden floors. How could this have been prevented?

You could move your entire tank somewhere else? Re-home them? What if it’s not possible?

What I suggest (but wonder if it’d work) is to do the following:

– stop feeding fishes for 2-3 days prior tithe event to decrease the tanks’ oxygen demand.

– turn off the aerator to prevent the toxic fumes from being pumped into the tank.

– heavily plant the tank and turn the lights on for the duration to ensure oxygen supply by the plants.

– keep the filter running and also run charcoal through the system to adsorb harmful chemicals.

– seal the top of the tank with several layers of glad wrap and tape all the edges to ensure there are no gaps.

– cross your fingers that it’ll all work out well.

Any more precautionary measures you can add would be most appreciated.

Why raise such a question?

I was watching an episode of “Tanked” (Animal Planet Discovery Show) and there was a pop-quiz that I hate to admit it, but I got wrong…. well… according to them anyway.

The question was… which of these fish do not have a stomach?…. The answer they gave was Goldfish. And so it was proposed that goldfish need very much more regular feeding than twice a day.

Whether a goldfish has a stomach has been a subject for debate on may fish forums on the net – just Google “tanked tv show goldfish stomach” and you’ll see.

In animals, the stomach is located between the oesophagus and the duodenum (the most anterior part of the small intestine).

Many texts and scientists (and the producers of “Tanked”) believe that goldfish do not have a stomach. In a reply by Dr Brian Jones, he pulled out this excerpt:

About 15% of teleosts, including cyprinids, have no stomach and no region of low pH or pre-digestion. Anterior portion of intestine has some storage function, intestine in these species is usually very long compared to, say, a trout (Rombout, et al. 2011. Teleost intestinal immunology. Fish and shellfish immunology 31:616-626.).

I looked up Balliere’s Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary for the definition of stomach and this is what I found – the curved, muscular, saclike structure that is an enlargement of the alimentary canal between the oesophagus and the small intestine.

Then I carefully dissected the carcass of a formalin-fixed goldfish I had spare on my shelf (as you do) to see whether the goldfish has a stomach. I found that there was certainly a saclike distension to the anterior part of the alimentary tract, immediately caudal to the oesophagus.

So what would you call the dilated portion of the gut immediately posterior to the oesophagus in the goldfish?

In birds, you have a crop, a proventriculus (the secretory stomach) and a gizzard (the muscular stomach) between the oesophagus and duodenum.

Ruminants are known to have 4 stomachs, they have the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum between the oesophagus and duodenum.

In an alpaca, you have compartments 1, 2 and 3 between the oesophagus and duodenum.

So, if you do not call the structure (arrow) in the diagram a stomach, what would you call it?

“Intestinal bulb” was proposed.

I may have to accept defeat on a technicality….

I open it up to you now for debate…

For those interested in aquatic biosecurity, a great read here.

The potential of waste items in aquatic environments to act as fomites for viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus:

Find the article at this link – http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2761.2011.01323.x/pdf

Cute video:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxPxDw7ajfGE&v=xPxDw7ajfGE&gl=AU

Following on from my previous post regarding “sentinel testing” (https://thefishvet.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/sentinels-in-quarantine/), Singapore has been using it for quite a while.

The excerpt below is taken from Ling & Poh, Quarantine, Surveillance, and Monitoring of Koi Herpesvirus in Singapore. The Israeli Journal of Aquaculture – Bamidgeh 61(3), 2009.

For high value koi, taking samples would be cost prohibitive to the traders. In such cases, the consignment is cohabited with sentinel KHV-free koi for one week, after which the latter are tested for KHV. The high value consignment continues its quarantine for three
weeks. If the sentinel koi test negative for KHV, the consignment is released, but if the sentinel koi test positive, the consignment is destroyed. Strict controls are imposed to ensure that koi exports from Singapore are also free from KHV. These include a compulsory quarantine period of a minimum three weeks prior to the issuance of a KHV-free certificate.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/2012/08/17/what-does-a-whale-sharks-brain-look-like/

After having drowned two Olympus tough cameras (at only 4m depth, both times!), I’m now on my third which is a Panasonic Lumix. But it had a small piece break off whilst I was in the US. I’m starting to think that these things aren’t living up to their name.

One of my friends shared with me a magazine, “Tech living.” It has a section in it that reviews the popular makes of such cameras, namely Olympus, Fuji, Nikon and Panasonic. Of these, it sounds like Nikon comes out the winner.

See the review pictured below:

Are you doing research in the field where you have to catch and release fish? What can you use to sedate the fish and still be able to release it immediately, avoiding any witholding periods?

The USDA has just authorised the use of Aqui-S for such work. Read more by clicking on this link.

This same drug is registered in Australia for use in salmonids, lobsters and abalone with nil withholding period (i.e. the fish can be humanely euthanised with this product and the flesh is safe for human consumption immediately).

I was contacted by the Guru of Fish Pathology (Prof. Ron Roberts is the veterinarian who published "Fish Pathology" which is considered the "bible" on fish diseases) last week to review a scientific paper for the Journal of Fish Diseases. I used to think that writing a paper was difficult, but editing it is not that easy either! I just finished reviewing and lodged it online and I received this thank you message:

Thank you for reviewing manuscript # JFD-2012-*** "*.*" for the Journal of Fish Diseases.

On behalf of the Editors of the Journal of Fish Diseases, we appreciate the voluntary contribution that each reviewer gives to the Journal. We thank you for your participation in the online review process and hope that we may call upon you again to review future manuscripts.

Sincerely,
Prof. Ron Roberts
Editor, Journal of Fish Diseases
heronpisces

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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 Communications Committee Member |
Secretary Aquatic Animal Health Chapter – Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS)

The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia. Mobile Veterinary Service for fish and other aquatic creatures.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383