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Oregon Sea Grant
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the first edition of the Ornamental Fish Health Newsletter. The purpose of this newsletter is to be a source of information for ornamental fish hobbyists and industry members on issues of health management and husbandry. I will try to highlight emerging health and husbandry issues, current research, and educational opportunities that I feel would be of interest to the hobby and the industry.
Check out our program web site for a bit about my background and the program goals.
I encourage any readers to contact me with suggestions or comments at the email address or phone numbers below.
Many people have asked me recently whether or not there are any diagnostic laboratories in the Pacific Northwest that will accept ornamental fish samples.
In fact, there are two state diagnostic laboratories that regularly handle food fish and increasingly ornamental fish. I have chatted with the directors of both laboratories and they would be eager to do more ornamental fish work.
The two laboratories are the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) at Oregon State University, College of Veterinary Medicine in Corvallis, Oregon and the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) at the Washington State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.
I have listed the pertinent information below as well as the individuals you should contact if you are considering sending a fish or samples. It is very important that you contact the labs BEFORE you ship them anything so that they are set up to process your samples or fish quickly once they arrive.
The University of Florida has put out an excellent publication that details how to submit fish to a diagnostic laboratory for evaluation and what we can learn from those samples. You can access this publication on the web at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA055. While all the diagnostic labs listed are in Florida, the two labs listed below use essentially the same procedures. You may contact myself or the individuals listed at the labs below for more information.
Here are the labs:
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Magruder Hall, Room 134
30th and Washington Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-3261
Fax: 541-737-6817
Contact: Dr. Jerry Heidel, DVM, PhD, DACVP Director, VDL
Washington State University-WADDL
155N Bustad Hall
Pullman, WA 99164-7034
Phone: (509) 335-9696
Fax: (509) 335-7424
Contact: Dr. Danielle Stanek, DVM Aquatic Health Associate
This web site is a gateway to the world's electronic aquaculture resources. Includes access to extension publications from across the US pertaining to aquaculture and ornamental fish keeping. This is a great source of scientifically-based aquaculture information. The basic principles of fish husbandry are the same if your rearing trout for food or ornamental fish for pleasure. This site is a great place to start if you need information about fish husbandry.
Many of you have probably heard about the recent identification of Spring Viremia of Carp (SVC) on a koi farm in North Carolina. This is a disease that has not been previously identified in the U.S. and may cause high levels of mortality among most species of carp. This includes koi and goldfish.
This disease is the first reportable disease of ornamental fish in the United States. This means that a confirmed case of SVC must be reported to a qualified USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) veterinarian. It is very important that we prevent the spread of this disease to other wild and captive populations of carp in the United States.
More information about the virus, the symptoms, mode of transmission and prevention are available in a US government alert- http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/cei/sv_us0718.htm, and in a new publication by the University of Florida- http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM106
An article, in which I was one of the co-authors, with more specific information for koi and goldfish hobbyists will be available online in the next few days at the Koi Health Assistant section of the Associated Koi Clubs of America (AKCA) web site - http://www.akca.org/ . It will also be published in the November/December issue of Koi USA magazine. This article will also address Koi Herpes Virus (KHV) another significant viral disease of koi that has been identified in the US a number of times in the last few years.
FishBase, http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm, is an amazing online database that contains information about all known fish species. The database currently contains information on 26,840 known species, has 74,920 synonyms for those species and 128,960 common names. New information is constantly being added and references for all information sources are cited. This allows the user to easily get a rough assessment of the information quality.
FishBase was developed and is maintained at the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources and Management (ICLARM) in Las Banos, Laguna, Philippines.
FishBase is designed for users with a variety of needs, backgrounds and training. Fisheries managers will find the largest compilation of fisheries dynamics data. Teachers and students of fish may access numerous graphs, photos, and text windows illustrating basic concepts in fish biology. An online ichthyology course was recently added to the web site. Fish taxonomists have access to the most current version of Eschmeyer's (2000) Catalogue of fishes. Conservation biologists may access the current version of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Fish Species. Policy-makers can access chronological, annotated lists of species introductions by country and island as well as common food fish and aquarium species by country and island. Biologists, aquarium hobbyists and aquaculturists can access quick species summaries, pictures, dietary information and, in some cases, information about culture and diseases. Zoologists and physiologists may access the largest compilation of data on fish morphology, metabolism, gill area, brain size and swimming speed. Fish ecologists can look up information on diet composition, trophic levels, food consumption, and predators. Fish geneticists can access the largest compilation of allele frequencies. Processors and aquaculturists will find proximate analysis and processing recommendations for many commercial species. Field researchers, amateur naturalists, anglers, and divers may generate lists of species by country or region or develop a personalized list of sightings or catches. Finally, anthropologists or biologists interested in local knowledge will find over 128,000 common names of fishes combined with information about language and culture in which the names are used along with comments about their etymology (origin).
I tend to use fish base when I come upon a new species of fish as a medical case, in a fish store, or as I discuss species for new displays. I'll run a quick search on the species and get a species summary, a picture, as well as dietary and reproductive information if its available. Generally, in less than 3 minutes I can have information on that fish's habitat, basic biology and often mode of reproduction and type of diet in the wild. This gives me a good background as I'm asking questions to obtain a medical history or working with aquarists as they contemplate species for a new aquarium display.
Take a peek at this web-site I guarantee you will learn something new. I always do every time I visit. Have fun exploring.
I would like to thank Charlotte Dinolt for her kind donation of a portable tank from Pearls of Paradise in McMinnville, Oregon. We will be using this tank for our fish health wet labs.
Another thank you goes out to Chris Cahill for his kind donation of a complete life-support system for a 300 gallon marine aquarium as well as a large amount of decorative corals, lava rock, and coral sand. We will be using this equipment as we set up a marine ornamental demonstration exhibit at the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center.
Anyone who is interested in making monetary donations to this program to help us offset the costs of maintaining this program may make checks out to Oregon State University and send them to me at the address below. You will receive a thank-you letter from Oregon State University that also documents your donation for tax purposes. All donations will be used solely for support of this program and are GREATLY appreciated.
If you are interested in making a donation of goods or services please contact me at the numbers and email below and I can tell you about our current needs.
I hope you have found this issue informative. If you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to contact me.
But if you tame me we shall need each other.
To me, you shall be unique in all the world.
To you, I shall be unique in all the world.
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)
Tim Miller-Morgan, DVM
Extension Veterinarian/Assistant Professor
Ornamental Aquaculture
Sea Grant Extension/College of Veterinary Medicine
Oregon State University
Hatfield Marine Science Center
2030 Marine Science Drive
Newport, OR 97365
(541) 867-0100 (office)
(541) 270-4218 (cell)
E-mail: tim.miller-morgan@oregonstate.edu
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