Ever filled your pond or aquarium up with a hose before? Ever forget to turn it off? Forgetting to turn the water off for long periods can lead to massive fish losses due to chlorine toxicity. This happened to a client of mine a few months back.

How can we avoid this? My suggestion is to use the hose with an in-line timer set at 10min intervals. Timers come in all designs, but a simple one can be easily purchased from your local hardware store for around $10. This will save your fish, save water and save flooding your floor.

Depending on how much you need to refill, you can set the timer for 15, 30 or 45 min…

When fish suffer from respiratory disease, they will often be sitting at the surface, gasping for air. Their activity will be reduced and appetite will decline. What causes this?

This paper describes all the reasons for it.

Disorders of the Respiratory System in Pet and
Ornamental Fish
Roberts HE & SA Smith (2011). In: SE Orosz & CA
Johnson (eds), Veterinary Clinics of North America:
Exotic Animal Practice, 14(2): 179-206.
Abstract
The respiratory organ of fish is the gill. In addition to
respiration, the gills also perform functions of acid-base
regulation, osmoregulation, and excretion of nitrogenous
compounds. Because of their intimate association

with the environment, the gills are often the primary
target organ of pollutants, poor water quality, infectious
disease agents, and noninfectious problems, making
examination of the gills essential to the complete examination
of sick individual fish and fish populations.
The degree of response of the gill tissue depends on
type, severity, and degree of injury and functional
changes will precede morphologic changes. Antemortem
tests and water quality testing can, and should, be
performed on clinically affected fish whenever possible.

Books received

Fish Vetting Essentials Loh Richmond Dr.Landos Matt Dr. 215 pages, paperback, AUD 99. Richmond Loh Publishing. 2012. ISBN 978 0 9871571 0 2

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364 | Veterinary Record | April 7, 2012

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http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/170/14/364.3.full

To be reviewed.