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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Important. Crayfish and Chytrid Fungus

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18 Dec 2012 23:34 #1 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
If this is verifiable, then this is a major problem.

www.newscientist.com/article/dn23012-fun...s-into-crayfish.html

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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18 Dec 2012 23:59 #2 by JohnH (John)
Like it says, it could go a long way to explaining the Amphibian kills even after none is left to further infect the new tadpoles.
How long, I wonder, until the fungal problem mutates and becomes a hazard to mankind (they'd be rushing to do something more about it then!!!)?

Perhaps you'll keep us informed, Ian.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


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It's a long way to Tipperary.

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21 Dec 2012 22:38 #3 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Something that is more disturbing here is that 2 genera of crayfish that look like carriers of this fungus seem to have a large increase in illegal trade in the UK.

The difficulty in getting the message across to people to not release these when they become pests in the fish is that there is a great potential that many of those buying and releasing these are not part of the bigger conservation or fish-keeping community.

As a fish-keeper and someone more concerned with the native habitats of this country than my rights to continue being a fish-keeper, trading and dumping of species like is going to play into the hands of those wanting overkill on restrictions on exotic species trading.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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21 Dec 2012 23:10 #4 by JohnH (John)
When I was in the UK last Spring one of the lakes (well, it was a series of three interlinked) was teeming with those awful Signal Crayfish - escapees from a 'Crayfish farm' nearby.
To fish with bait on, or close to, the bottom of the lake resulted in an immediate 'bite'.
They really were a pain, but one old lad had his own solution - he had a fish-trap baited with 'gone off' bacon and was taking them home for food by the bucketfull, the stocks didn't seem to diminish, though!
But that's rather off-topic - I see what you're saying Ian - indiscriminate releasing of non-native species can have a devastating effect on the natural balance of any environment. However, in some cases it's already too late. We hear a lot said about invasive species and their resultant damage to existing flora and fauna but I still maintain the most deadly Invasive Species is mankind!

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



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