Chapter 9 - Disease

[russianmd]

In this chapter, the various illness that affect livestock are discussed. Fenner concentrates on fishes, but the principles outlined can absolutely be extrapolated to corals, inverts, etc. (with appropriate modifications, of course).

The author points out that there are infectious(e.g. ich) and non-infectious (e.g. HLLE) diseases, and gives bullet-point summaries of probable causes and best treatments.

The point that is stressed over and over (it's as if he was reading this forum!) is that water quality and aquarium environment play the biggest role in all fish illnesses.

The chapter starts with acclimation, reviews basic chemistry again, and then moves on to more advanced techniques (dips and baths).

There is a great short and sweet recipe on how to set up a QT.

Fenner has a great quote in the first paragraph: "In short, disease is relatively rare in a well-kept marine tank, but it can be a never-ending problem for the uninformed or uncaring hobbyist."

 

[LeslieS]

The emphasis was definitely on prevention. Both through a well maintained tank and quarantine.

One thing that he mentioned regarding acclimation that I have not been doing is dimming the lights to reduce stress. Makes sense! I like a nice dim room myself

Also, when my fish was sick, I found the cartoon pics on page 162. As a newb I had no idea what to look for, and these pointed me in the right direction.

Every livestock problem that I have had with my tank has occured because I added something new without appropriate quarantine.

 

[Harif87]

One thing that he mentioned regarding acclimation that I have not been doing is dimming the lights to reduce stress. Makes sense! I like a nice dim room myself

.

Leslie you should start, honestly it makes such a huge difference. When i acclimate the actinics are usually on, which sets the tone. I shut my den lights and acclimate. You can see the difference by the fish's calm movments. If the specimen is skiddish your not doing a good enough job. Key is not to make the fish nervous..... theyll last longer :splitspin
BTW i also always throw my jacket over the bag that the fish is in to block out all light during transit in the car. Really helps. I cant stress the crucialness (that a word?) of dim lights while acclimating.

 

[daisy]

So interesting thing is that when a fish is sick, Marrone suggested rather than dimming the lights or keeping them off, keep the lights ON, as (he says) when a fish is in dim lights, its energy levels drop and this makes the fish less able to fight off disease. when the lights are on, the fish is swimming around and is generally more active, and also more able to fight off whatever is attaching it.

I was "raised" by Fenner in this hobby - weaned from freshwater on his book - and have always set my bioload low and LR high - kept params as constant as possible, and until the temp swing of last week, I have not had death or illness in my tank in many years. It's all about stability. (which is also why i'm a firm believer in LARGE systems - as large as you can get according to your space and your wallet)