Fish Disease Advisor

Just a thought, Couldn't we appoint a Disease treatment advisor that can recomend treatment for specific Disease related problems. I was thinking of Sean?? he is very knowledgable and always offers sound and correct treatment& advice, this would also save confusion when two or three people recomend differing oppinions,
As I said just a thought.

Immediately there is a problem with that. one mans opinion may not be right for your problem and heres why.
Not a sleight on Sean but every keeper has had differing experiences and obviously every keeper has kept different fish.
I think the current set up is about as good as it gets on a public forum.
You post your woes in the appropriate fish health section and the various forumites (both experienced and not) can post their experiences, hopefully you glean the correct data for you out of that.
Now what you might have thought is that maybe there is a niche for a section with articles on how to treat the various common diseases that we encounter. I think that would be ideal, as it gives a solid database of information. If the likes of Sean, Holger, Daragh Owens et al combine their abilities and write articles for such a section I think it would give us all a step up in the battle.
Just my thoughts of course, half ass as they are!!!

good idea, russell. sean would get my vote.

Yes Point Taken but sometimes advice is offerd by non experienced members with good intentions. a good idea to have a data base where two or three people agree the best course of action.
lets see what progress this makes?

Oh don't get me wrong i reckon the most experienced folks should drive this, absolutely!!!
Its a good idea Russell i hope it takes off.
It would be a like a FAQ section, it might stop the same things posted over and over, and newbies (and me) can go read articles and wexpand our knowledge at leisure, before an emergency happens!

although fr.jack is by far most qualified he will not have up to the minute information on what meds are available here and is not as easy to contact as someone in this country plus how are we to create innovation the moment you stop the silly answers you also destroy the spark that innovation comes from, STIFLE THIS AND WE STAGNATE

True, its always easier to trust the more personal approach.
Its human nature.

Still, a few articles wouldn't hurt.
'How to diagnose and treat white spot'
Why should you never trust LFS water'
'How do you acclimatise a new fish'
'The nitrogen cycle for idiots'

A few suggestions for starters.

Didihno, you know where to send your entries, the more the better. Get writing.

Good idea Russell, here is an alternative suggestion too, I came across this on a forum sometime ago and unfortunately I can't find it now.

Essentially when replying to a fish health issue, the poster had to say whether their proposed treatment was from their own experience or whether it was what they would do. The forum was really strict about it and at the time I thought it seemed an odd thing to take so seriously.

However if someone is recommending a treatment or suggesting a link, it makes sense that they state whether they have any experience and what the result was with the proposal they were making. If we adoted that approach it does not matter who replies, the original poster at least knows whether it is a tried and tested solution or something someone thought they overheard in the LFS.

Something I am not suggesting, but for the record, the postion that forum was to use the following protocol, use IME (In my experience) ... or IMO (In my opinion) at the start of any recomendation, a bit too fussy I think, but you get the idea.

No that makes perfect sense Daragh!
IME it has always been best practice to be as clear as possible about the source of your advice.

Lets's get the ball rolling. but first a few Points.

1. What makes you suspect your fish are diseased.??? Sounds a silly question, are they just acting strange. how long have you had your stock. have you recently added any new fish.
I will try and cover a few points as the topic progresses, or the subject could become lengthy and put some newer members of.

Let's take ragged fins. could be Fin rot there again it could be aggresion by other tankmates,
The difference between White spot and Velvet.
Red blotches on the skin, again could be bacterial could also be water.
There are many conflicting symptons, so before you use any treatment try and get a photo posted. and a good discripton of the symptom's. also to include ALL your water perameters. and any information that may assisit.
Another factor that always crops up is , I hear some say \" I tried so and so remedy and it didn't help, so I tried a different one. same result\". NEVER use a second course of treatment until you have run your water through Carbon to remove the first medication before starting another couse of action, and do a good water change. There are csome medications that ARE compatible but I always advise on the side of caution.
The sponsors on the forum are reliable & trustworthy and willing to give advice, and recomend the appropriate course of treatment. Aquatic Village is a Good example.
Where possible try to quarantine new additions before placing in the tank. 1 infected fish can infect your healthy stock.
Get to know your supplier and I am sure they will try to help. But they must have the right information.

I think the best way to go is slowly!! and take a couple of specific / common diseases tom start with.
Let,s say White Spot & Velvet\" Use to be called salt and pepper disease\" the difference. appearance and treatment.

White spot is as it sounds. looks like the fish has a sprinkling of Salt all over it. starts of by the fish persistantly flicking itself agaist rock work ect. trying to rub the irratation off. Common disease . easy to treat. over the counter standard medication. always read the instructions.

VELVET
Similar to white spot but dosn't seem to be as common as it use to be, I may be wrong.
Symptom's looks like the fish has been sprinkled with Pepper. again medication readily available over the counter.

The reason I have not mentioned any specific coure of treatment is there can and will be many conflicting oppinions,

After pondering I think there should be TWO sections , One for Marines Corals and Inverts in the MARINE section, and one for Tropical ast he treatments will be vastly different.

as a newbe to fishkeeping i would like to put in my 2 pennys worth! gulp!
i seem to be using 3 different websites for advive some are quicker and some very slow to answer any question but i did come across a very good 'sticky' post on a uk site. they were asking almost the same question who should we trust and from what i read the beat reply came from 20 questions the poster had or would be required to answer. i know that some of the questions 'could' be difficult for a newbe to answer but even if half the questions were answered there would be more chance for at least more than one member on this forum posting the same thoughts or answers.
the questions were as follows ( i dont think they were copyrighted!)
The patient
1.What type of animal is ill? (scientific as well as common name if possible)
2.Was the animal in question captive bred or wild origin?
3.How long have you had the animal/how old is it?
4.What are the visible symptoms of the animals in question? (Post pictures if possible)
5.How long have these symptoms been going on?
6. What treatment has already been taken?
Where does it live? And who with?
7.What kind of tank do you have?
8.Please state physical size (L X W X D) and volume. (If the tank is \"brand name\" please state the make and model in addition to the dimensions)
9.What type of filtration systems does this tank have in place?
10.What kind of substrate and decor does it have?
11.Is it planted? And if so how?
12.What other creatures share the aquarium with the sick animal? (please state sizes if possible)
13.Have there been any recent livestock additions to the tank?
14.If so what quarantine procedures (if any) were taken?
15.Have there been any signs of aggression between tankmates?
16.What has been your recent feeding regime? What types of food have been offered? How much? How often?
What is it swimming in?
17.Have you tested your water recently?
If so, what were your readings for the following:
Temperature
ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
PH
GH
Phosphate
Specific gravity (if a saltwater or brakish aquarium)
18.Have there been any major variations in your recent readings?
19.What is your water change regime like? (X% volume over Y weeks)
20.Any other information that you think might help?

just a thought!
ps many thanks for the advice ive been getting.
matt

I think it is better to keep it simple, otherwise we will be getting into e.g What plants -what lighting period- what food and the list goes on. This hopefuly will be a starting point of reference to immeadeate problems.

Hi russel & suckersi think if you were to add to the below link you would both be making a very big and worthwhile contribution

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...w/id,19380/catid,30/

russell wrote:

Just a thought, Couldn't we appoint a Disease treatment advisor that can recomend treatment for specific Disease related problems. I was thinking of Sean?? he is very knowledgable and always offers sound and correct treatment& advice, this would also save confusion when two or three people recomend differing oppinions,
As I said just a thought.

Thanks for your kinds words, but if there was expected some kind of almost automated response from me, any time a fish coughs, no one else would post their ideas and the diease part of the forum would stagnate. How ever I do read all the fish disease post so if I think they are wrong I will say, so in a way I an unofficial moderator, I am not sure the forum would want me as a official moderator due to by bipolar geenius and in sane post, I heard there is a narrow line between them:P besides I am my permanent final written warning status with extensions. Besides a fish never dies, if his heart stops pumping he is immediately frozen till the technology has come to a point to thaw him and re treat him. So in effect one keeps fish to the day the E.S.B bill is not paid.

If a disease post is posted in the beginners section, I will miss it as I never read, if its posted in the freshwater section, and its worms I have very little experience, most freshwater disease that are common to marines types is O.K, I know but there is gaps in my fresh water knowledge.

Marines that different, for a period of 2 years between 1990/1992 the biggest Philippine owned operation in the world paid me to developed the shipping chemicals to add to shipping water to ship marines from the Philippines to the states, then commision me to solve the morality rate in their Tampa, Chicago, New York and La wholesalers, my marine fish only knowledge is not bad but that sonly because I was imersed in it, I have however little knowledge on long term inverts keeping.

I think to avoid confusion that the point should be made that the poster if a begginer has read for e.g How to set up & cycle the tank fist. otherwise we will just end up forwarding the seder to the relevant section.

Just before Seans post I had posted a similar repyl that seems to have gone astray, Anyway what I was suggesting was two seperate sections one for Marines and one for Tropicals as the treatments are vastly different.Perhaps Sean couldn be involved in the Marine section?

What ever way this section is run, I think it will be a welcome addition to the forum, keeping it simple will be key to it been used. I think a split between freshwater and marine would be a good idea too.

splitting it would be a good idea it avoids people reading the meds and buying say fresh for marine

links to other post or Articles would be good as well it allow quick cross reference