The Fish Vet's Blog

I have been preparing a presentation on fish welfare for the ANZCVS Science Week at Gold Coast (July), and for the WSAVA Annual Conference in Cartagena (September).

It has really be ten (10) years since my colleague and I floated the idea that fish should be afforded the same level of welfare as other vertebrates. At the 2006 Australian Veterinary Association, Annual National Conference, we presented this talk:

Making fish smile, sing and dance: ornamental fish welfare. By Drs Matt Landos & Richmond Loh.

…And then my colleague did a great rendition to blues music with the following story (roping me to do some awkward singing).

Check out the verses below, and if you’re lucky, I can get my colleague to play the song again.

… this story is by Frank in his tank with loving owner Richo…

I got them water blues…

From my head to my shoes (if I had shoes)…

This new bloke stopped by,

He said, “I know my fish Rich. Have a good holiday. Goodbye.”

My tank’s never been the same.

This man started all the pain.

He fed us too much.

I ate till I was full

I ate till I was stuffed

I ate till my big fat belly

Was about to bust

Then the next day came

And he fed me again

I was about to explode

I soiled my own tank,

Sending my water rather rank.

I was really catching the stress,

‘cos I’d made such a mess.

Then I looked across my room;

‘Saw through the murk and gloom,

My girl was in trouble!

Her colours had begun to fade,

Her fins were all frayed.

She was looking sad and sore,

Saying “please don’t feed me no more!”

This tank, it smells bad

These toxins are making me sad.

“I can’t go on.”

Another day went past.

It was even worse than the last.

There was waste everywhere.

My gills are so sore – it’s making me despair.

The biofilter’s crashed.

My hopes are all but dashed.

The ammonia’s through the roof.

Today I lost my girl.

She’s out of this world L

I’m just watching her, post-mortem.

In the corner, on the bottom.

Myself, I’m not feeling so good,

This tank’s just not like it should (be)

Bacteria levels are sky high.

Another day went by…

Molly and guppy just die.

I’m thinking what the heck!

And my gills are a wreck.

My blood is turning brown.

I feel like I’m about to drown.

The nitrite’s too high!

The water has turned to acid.

I’m feeling more than a little flaccid.

I’d rather be dead.

Someone please give me a hole in the head.

I want my real owner back!

Get rid of this hack!

This is no life for a fish (in this filthy dish).

I can’t take it no more!

I’m having to lie on the floor.

Through the slime I see;

Is that my owner? Is that he?

He looked at me, dead-set.

He knew I needed a fish vet!

I had those water blues…

He knew I was in trouble.

He had to act on the double!

When he saw poor ole Frank,

Richo’s heart, it just sank.

He saw my friends had all died.

He knew that his mate had lied.

Mate knew nothing about fish!

He ran to my aid!

An emergency 50% water exchange was made.

He threw in 5 grams per litre salt,

To help me fight the osmoregulation assault.

He reached for his water test kit,

Saw the readings and nearly had a fit!

He was amazed I was still alive!

Then Richo started singin’ along with me,

Frank’s got them water blues.

Yep, he’s got them water blues.

He’s got those blues real bad!

It’s making him really sad,

The water blues,

Them water blues,

Stop those water blues.

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

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPh (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics & Pathobiology), CertAqV, CMAVA, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist
THE FISH VET, AUSTRALIA – PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE
Mobile Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383

The Premier’s Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program has launched, with applications now open until midday Friday 5 August 2016.

The Premier’s Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program supports entrepreneurship and innovation in agriculture and aquaculture by offering scholarships to regional entrepreneurs in the sector.

 

This scholarship provides Western Australian farmers and individuals engaged in the agriculture or aquaculture sector up to $30,000 to enable them to develop and pursue their idea through exposure to international best practice and leaders in their field. At the completion of their travel and learning experiences the successful applicant will share their knowledge and learning with industry.

 

This Program forms one component of the Science and Agribusiness Connect initiative being administered by the Office of Science in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC).

 

Applications close midday Friday 5 August 2016.

 

More information, including the applicant information and application form, is available on the DPC website.

 

If you have any queries please contact either Judd Millner or Johanna Dowsett at the Office of Science on 08 6552 6080 or science@dpc.wa.gov.au.

–

This article in the June 2016 edition of The Veterinarian features on its front page, concerning revelations on the future of fish.

Researchers found fish can adapt to slowly rising temperatures by altering their metabolism. But this adaptivity is limited by their inability to increase their capacity to take up oxygen.

Let’s hope fish possess, or are able to have something like 2,3-biphosphoglycerate that humans have, and are able to upregulate it (enlightened by my final year vet students – JS).

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.

Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist.
PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA.

Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383

For those interested to see the events at our local koi show, and to see the outcome of the contender for the "world’s longest goldfish", and to see The Fish Vet in action (saving a that almost died); watch this clip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n38almzkg5U

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPh (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics & Pathobiology), CertAqV, CMAVA, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist
THE FISH VET, AUSTRALIA – PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE
Mobile Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.

End of financial year is coming. Make sure you get your orders in before EOFY.

Visit
http://thefishvet.com.au/shop/shopping.html

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh 

DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.

PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA. 

Mobile Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383

Q: What happens if a bird flies into a perch??

A: the bird gets wet.

Have a FINtastic week! R <+>{

Perch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the Greek perke, simply meaning perch, and the Latin forma meaning shape. Many species of freshwater gamefish more or less resemble perch, but belong to different genera. In fact, the exclusively saltwater dwelling red drum is often referred to as a red perch, though by definition perch are freshwater fish. Though many fish are referred to as perch as a common name, to be considered a true perch, the fish must be of the family Percidae.

Facts source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perch

Dory does not really speak whale. Marlin should really be Marlene. Nemo is ageless?…

OK, so now I’ve seen the movie twice (can you blame a fish vet?). I thought it was very good for a sequel, with challenge after challenge; in the non-stop action-packed movie with twists and turns.

But, what are some things that I spotted that weren’t quite right?

1. The movie is set to be 1-year later, however, Nemo has not aged a bit. He still has his baby voice and is still the same size.
2. Marlin is still Marlin in this movie, when in fact, Marlin should actually be Marlene! Why? It is because clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodites. This means that when Coral (Nemo’s mum) was gone, the next largest clownfish in the colony which is Marlin (Nemo’s dad) would transform to female… and then life gets even more complicated… "Since Nemo is the only other clownfish around, he becomes a male and mates with his father (who is now a female). Should his father die, Nemo would change into a female and mate with another male. Although a much different storyline, it still sounds like a crazy adventure!" (Source link).
3. The shells in the "Ocean" exhibit remained exposed, almost undisturbed on the sand, even though it had been several years since the departure of Dory and her parents from the tank. One vacuum of the substrate in any well-kept aquarium would see the shells scatter about.
4. When baby Dory got flushed out of the main exhibit, it led straight to the outside/bay. But the adult Dory had a convoluted series of bends to negotiate.
5. Dory DOES NOT SPEAK WHALE! Dory had Destiny as a pipe-pal. Destiny is not a whale, but is a whale shark (an elasmobranch, the world’s biggest fish). She is not a whale (mammal), but is a shark.
6. Is Hank an octopus or a septopus? According to the comedy group "Axis of Awesome", having one leg less doesn’t make him any less of an octopus. In this age of political correctness, it would be frowned upon to treat Hank as any less. But luckily he has a lot of heart (3 in fact!).

Also, the movie makers may be trying to bring into the mainstream, an awareness about gender fluidity:

• Did you notice there’s a Sting-Ray that’s becoming Sting-Rhonda? (source link).
• There was also two women with a baby pushing a pram. Perhaps a tribute to Ellen DeGeneres who is the voice of Dory (source link).

Looks like everybody that is in the world is being represented in this movie. Good on Pixar and Disney 🙂

Overall, I’d give it a 4/5 score. I think the more you watch it, the better it gets because there are so many layers and subtleties that you may miss on the first watch.

If you notice other bloopers or have other revelations, please add your comments.

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

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPh (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics & Pathobiology), CertAqV, CMAVA, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist
THE FISH VET, AUSTRALIA – PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE
Mobile Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383

Did you answer the cheetah?

Cheetahs can hit speeds up to 29 meters per second (or about 64 miles per hour).

Compare this with the sailfish. These large billed fish, in the same family as marlins and swordfish, have been known to reach speeds of about 30 m/s (68 mph) when they breach the waves. These big-billed-beasts move so fast on a normal basis, they’ve evolved special tissues that heat up their eyeball nerves so they can process images at race-car speed and precision.”

But a study on a gyrfalcon named Kumpan, was found to accelerate to speeds between 52 and 58 m/s (~116 and 129 mph) after free-falling from a height of 500 meters (~1640 feet). Another experiment by National Geographic clocked a peregrine falcon at nearly 82 m/s (183 mph), though this bird was taxied up to 4,572 meters (15,000 feet) in a plane before its record-breaking dive.

So there we have the fastest animal on land, the fastest animal in water, and the fastest animal in the air.

But are they really the fastest animals on the planet earth?

Read on at the link below where they explain about the fastest animal movement being to the lowly little termite, and the fastest cells belong to a jellyfish (nematocyst).

Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3040131/superlatives-week/the-fastest-animal-on-earth-is-not-a-cheetah

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh 

DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology), CertAqV, NATA Signatory.

PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE
THE FISH VET – AUSTRALIA. 

Mobile Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383

Here’s a link to the interview my colleague, Dr Anne Fawcett, did on this very fish kind of guy.

http://www.smallanimaltalk.com/2016/06/what-fish-knows-interview-with-jonathan.html

Enjoy!

R<+>{

Do your fish get stressed, lack richness in colour, have poor growth, or become diseased easily?

Do you feed your fish frozen-thawed foods? Do you breed your fish regularly?

Do you want to feed your fish, like they do in large public aquariums?

Then your fish may benefit from nutritional supplementation.

Manually compounded, fresh each time, TheFishVet in combination with his compounding pharmacist, have found you the solution. We present you, a multivitamin concentrate suspension for sharks, rays and other marine fishes. It effectively and safely adds all essential vitamins to the diet meeting their dietary needs where feeds may be deficient. Simple to use. Apply directly to the food, and allow to soak prior to feeding. Aids fish health in avoiding disease during stressful times, and used in conjunction with treating diseases. Especially good for growing juveniles and for supporting breeding.

Contact Dr Loh to see how your fishes may benefit from these nutritional supplements.

Delivery Service Provided.

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

—
Yours sincerely,

Dr Richmond Loh DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPh (Pathology), MANZCVS (Aquatics & Pathobiology), CertAqV, CMAVA, NATA Signatory.
Aquatic Veterinarian & Veterinary Pathologist
THE FISH VET, AUSTRALIA – PERTH | MELBOURNE | TOWNSVILLE

Mobile Aquatic Veterinary Medical & Diagnostic Services.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383

Skype: thefishvet

President WAVMA 2014

Adjunct Lecturer Murdoch University

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