All about Fish Vetting – Dr Richmond Loh
Don’t beat yourselves up, because many diseases are difficult to diagnose without the proper equipment, knowledge and experience. And without a diagnosis, treatment will become a game of trial and error.
Instead, seek professional help, rather than keeping on trying in despair.
With The Fish Vet’s representatives in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Townsville, we’re here to help.
Your fish will thank you.
Contact us to see how we can help.
Visit www.wavma.org/welcome to watch the welcome message.
The World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association was formed in 2006 as a not-for-profit professional association to serve the rapidly expanding discipline of aquatic veterinary medicine throughout the world.
The Mission of WAVMA is to serve the discipline of aquatic veterinary medicine through enhancing aquatic animal health and welfare, public health and seafood safety, and to support aquatic veterinarians, aquatic animal owners and industries, and other stakeholders.
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | SYDNEY | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.
Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 421 822 383
Q: What did the sick fish say to the fish doctor?
A: I’m feeling a little green under the gills.
Have a FINtastic week! R <+>{
A lot of the Koi people routinely use potassium permanganate for disease control, and to clarify water. Similarly, those growing fish for food production may use it to clear up superficial bacterial infections. It is an oxidising agent that is basically used at a small enough dose rate that’s enough to zap anything that’s small, and leaves the fish’s skin and gills relatively unharmed.
But does it do no harm to your fish? A lot of people swear by its routine use, and many have experienced no adverse effects. Maybe they’ve just been lucky?
Our The Fish Vet team member, Dr Giana Bastos Gomes, brought this article to our attention.
A recent publication by Mohammed & Arias in the journal of Veterinary Research (2015) show that PP treatment dramatically altered the community variety of normal resident bacterial flora on the skin of fish that have been exposed to PP – they had the least diverse microbiome in terms of species richness.
Why is this bad? They also ran an experiment where they challenged fish with a common bacterial skin disease agent – Flavobacterium columnare (previously Flexibacter, causes fin rot, gill rot and bacterial ulcers in fish). The deaths in fish previously exposed to PP was about forty-percent (40%) worse (85% cumulative mortality compared to unexposed groups that had a mortality of just over 60%).
Just like people know that we ought to line our guts with healthy Probiotics bacteria, having a healthy range of bacteria on the skin of fish is protective for fish, possibly because of competitive inhibition of pathogens, or through immunoregulation.
This might explain why some fish keepers have commented that their fish thrived in less than ideal waters, but then when they clean up everything and do as they’ve been told by fellow fish-keepers, their fish die.
Read more of the article,“Potassium permanganate elicits a shift of the external fish microbiome and increases host susceptibility to columnaris disease.” by Haitham H. Mohammed and Covadonga R. Arias.
Over ten years ago, I remember driving over two hours to get to this wild tropical fish Mecca in the middle of cold Victoria. We caught a selection of hybrid cichlids, and others have caught Oscars and plenty of other cichlids. These tropical fish had been released by fish hobbyists and have been able to survive the cold temperatures and have a self-sustaining population. Subsequently, these fish are considered feral and carried a pest status.
How is it possible? They’re thriving because this is a man-made lake, made to hold water to cool the power plant. So, I felt it was rather awkward to have to buy a fishing permit, to catch these fish. Nevertheless, we did, and were amazed at the different types of fishes we found.
This year, the state government took advantage of this tropical waters to stock with barramundi for the purpose of fishing. What an excellent idea!
Even in New Zealand, there’s a tropical freshwater prawn farm utilising the same idea – http://www.hukaprawnpark.co.nz/
But it sounds like it’s much too late. The Hazelwood power station is scheduled to shut down in the very near future. Bad timing? Was the $150,000 well spent for 5,000 barramundi?
Read more about "Victoria’s short-lived barramundi project, in cooling ponds of Hazelwood power station" at –
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-07/hazelwood-pondage-short-lived-barramundi/8000988
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | SYDNEY | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.
Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 421 822 383
I must admit I’ve never seen this happen during my time in Tasmania.
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | SYDNEY | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.
Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 421 822 383
Check out the spots in her face. These could be the beginnings of “head and lateral line erosion syndrome” (HLLE), if they’re forming pits. It seems to be confined to fish belonging to the groups: surgeonfish (like the blue tang) and butterfly fishes.
It’s still a syndrome because there’s been no definite causal agent identified. There are, however, many factors associated with the disease. Stress, poor water quality, improper diet, parasitic infestations and the use of charcoal in the filtration.
Read more about HLLE here –
In a recent publication, successful treatment incorporated topical application of a wound healing gel called Regranex which contains 0.01% becaplermin (recombinant platelet-derived growth-factor).
But you’ll be glad to know that these feckles are actually normal in healthy mature fish (thanks to the feedback from avid aquarists). Though, if they’re forming pits, definitely investigate whether it is HLLE.
And just for laughs, read about the movie mistakes in Finding Dory at this link.
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | SYDNEY | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.
Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
Ph: +61 421 822 383
Q: What fishes can you find in your tool shed?
A: Sawfish and Hammerhead sharks.
Q: Why is it always Christmas in an aquarium?
A: Because there are always baubles (bubbles)!
Merry Fishmas everyone and
have a FINtastic new year!
R <+>{
If you’re in need of more humour, watch
We are all closed Xmas Day.
NSW team: Business as usual.
VICTORIA team: Business as usual.
QUEENSLAND team: Business as usual.
WA team: out of office 24/12/16-3/1/17. Then business as usual.
Have a safe and joyous Christmas and a happy new year!
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | SYDNEY | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.
Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
Ph: +61 421 822 383
