Husbandry Tales

[Seisage]

I volunteer at a local public aquarium that exclusively keeps species native to the Pacific Northwest (USA). I've been volunteering for a few years now and really enjoy the work. I always end up with a lot of pictures of the animals, so even though these aren't my personal tanks, I figured I'd start a journal to document the fun little moments I run into while feeding, cleaning tanks, and otherwise caring for these critters. I'll try to update this once a week, so consider subscribing to this little "newsletter" if you'd like to see more haha.

To kick this off, we've got:

Spawning sailfin sculpins! These are one of my favorite sculpins ever. They're extremely charismatic, although very picky. They only thing they eat consistently is live shrimp. The female's hiding behind that clump of barnacle shells, but the male's out and about. They do care for their eggs, which are the little orange clumps on the sand. This is a somewhat older picture, so by now the eggs have eye spots and are getting closer to hatching. We won't collect and rear the fry because we don't really have extra tanks to do so, and we don't have anywhere to give the fry to. Once hatched, they'll all be sucked into the outflow and end up in the ocean.

A very peeved kelp crab. I love these little guys. They're so full of personality, and that personality is usually "anger". I admit, I do love to tease them.

And lastly, one of our wolf eels. We have two, although our larger one is fairly sedentary at the moment. They seem to go through periods of inactivity where they won't eat at all, and then have short bursts of energy where they're suddenly ravenous. These cycles happen on the order of weeks to months. This boy is currently our active one and he'll come straight up to the surface and stick his face out of the water when he sees you climbing the ladder to feed the tank. He does have a little sore on his lower lip, but there's not a ton we can do about it, unfortunately. The vet we consult with has said he's never seen a wolf eel in captivity that doesn't have a bit of wear and tear from rubbing on the glass or other tank features.

 

[MattW3344]

Beautiful! But that 2nd Wolf eel pic looks exactly like a guy in my village who is always at the pub

 

[gwand]

Beautiful! But that 2nd Wolf eel pic looks exactly like a guy in my village who is always at the pub

I thought she looks like my mother-law.

 

[Seisage]

Beautiful! But that 2nd Wolf eel pic looks exactly like a guy in my village who is always at the pub

Incidentally, I've always pictured him as some old British bloke as well

 

[Seisage]

Well hello there, sir
(He's waiting very politely for his shrimp delivery)

You can see his wife down below in the video. She also got some shrimp

 

[Seisage]

Sorry I haven't updated this journal in a while, but hopefully this is a good enough update to make up for it.

A little bit ago, the vet stopped by to check out some of the animals. I learned a lot through talking with him and was very glad my volunteer shift lined up with his visit.

To start off, he did a quick check-up on our skate. Just doing a quick overall body condition check using a flashlight, although the skate was not too pleased about being netted and examined. He went off to go sulk on the far side of the tank afterwards

Then he had a look at a female buffalo sculpin who has been heavily gravid for a number of weeks. She had been getting daily massages to try helping her pass the eggs but hadn't passed any by the time the vet came, so he conducted an ultrasound. I had no idea there were ultrasounds this small and portable. Fascinating to watch. You can see the screen with the ultrasound image in the upper part of the second photo. She did still have eggs, but none were solidified or clumped together, so the vet wasn't concerned and thinks she's just slowly resorbing them. She got the all clear to move out of her hospital tank and back into the display tank!

Lastly, we had a look at the wolf eel I featured in my first post.

He's had this weird grayish-yellow patch on his head for a while. I mentioned it to the aquarist and the director (who also works with the animals), but I don't think anything was really done about it. I made sure to point it out to the vet though, and I'm glad I did because he was concerned enough about it to do a skin scrape and... well... just take a look for yourself.

Towards the center, that stretched out worm-like thing is a skin fluke. There's only one in this field of view, but there were many more elsewhere on the slide. All those little circular microorganisms that have the darker center are ciliates of the genus Trichodina. They're ectoparasites that live on the skin. Poor guy's been pretty itchy... He's been going through courses of treatment using formalin to kill the Trichodina and the vet said to follow up with an antiparasitic medication for the skin flukes if necessary. I think that tank will definitely be siphoned more often from now on. Anyway, figured you all would appreciate an actual close-up look at some fish parasites. I think it's really interesting to actually lay eyes on the creatures that cause such illness and discomfort in our fish.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I volunteer at a local public aquarium that exclusively keeps species native to the Pacific Northwest (USA). I've been volunteering for a few years now and really enjoy the work. I always end up with a lot of pictures of the animals, so even though these aren't my personal tanks, I figured I'd start a journal to document the fun little moments I run into while feeding, cleaning tanks, and otherwise caring for these critters. I'll try to update this once a week, so consider subscribing to this little "newsletter" if you'd like to see more haha.

To kick this off, we've got:

Spawning sailfin sculpins! These are one of my favorite sculpins ever. They're extremely charismatic, although very picky. They only thing they eat consistently is live shrimp. The female's hiding behind that clump of barnacle shells, but the male's out and about. They do care for their eggs, which are the little orange clumps on the sand. This is a somewhat older picture, so by now the eggs have eye spots and are getting closer to hatching. We won't collect and rear the fry because we don't really have extra tanks to do so, and we don't have anywhere to give the fry to. Once hatched, they'll all be sucked into the outflow and end up in the ocean.

A very peeved kelp crab. I love these little guys. They're so full of personality, and that personality is usually "anger". I admit, I do love to tease them.

And lastly, one of our wolf eels. We have two, although our larger one is fairly sedentary at the moment. They seem to go through periods of inactivity where they won't eat at all, and then have short bursts of energy where they're suddenly ravenous. These cycles happen on the order of weeks to months. This boy is currently our active one and he'll come straight up to the surface and stick his face out of the water when he sees you climbing the ladder to feed the tank. He does have a little sore on his lower lip, but there's not a ton we can do about it, unfortunately. The vet we consult with has said he's never seen a wolf eel in captivity that doesn't have a bit of wear and tear from rubbing on the glass or other tank features.

The crab has a heart shaped spot right in the middle of his underbelly. Love the wolf eel- that's one ornery looking fella.

 

[MuddyWaters]

No wonder Mr. Wolfie is so grumpy! I love the latest pic- "YOU, again? "

 

[GaryE]

I'm jealous of your opportunity. I'm about an hour and half north of a marine laboratory (the Huntsman in NB, Canada) with a small attached public aquarium, and I have wished I were closer. There would be so much to learn.

I've only gotten to wander with one fish vet. They are rare. He was finishing his degree in Montreal, and eventually vanished into the salmon industry. We used to do the rounds of the local large chain style fish stores, and he would buy diseases. He'd stop in front of a tank and get a glint in his eyes, and buy one tetra, or one livebearer. They were, sadly for them, destined to become microscope slides. He got very excited one day because he had found seven diseases in one store.

He didn't have a car and I did, so we went out and did the rounds of the stores. He said that what he called the "tropical disease stores" were a rich hunting ground and while he knew he'd end up working in the north with salmon farming, he would come away with a collection of tropical parasite and pathogen slides to study. I have wondered if he stayed with commercial farming, or went off into research. He was a curious man, probably retired by now.

If I sometimes seem skeptical about our ability to identify, let alone treat fish parasites and diseases, it dates back to then. Interestingly, to me, he attended a few aquarium society meetings, which always had a couple of dozen bags of locally bred fish for the auction. He checked every bag, and said there wasn't one worth buying. The homebred fish were all healthy.

 

[Seisage]

I'm jealous of your opportunity. I'm about an hour and half north of a marine laboratory (the Huntsman in NB, Canada) with a small attached public aquarium, and I have wished I were closer. There would be so much to learn.

I've only gotten to wander with one fish vet. They are rare. He was finishing his degree in Montreal, and eventually vanished into the salmon industry. We used to do the rounds of the local large chain style fish stores, and he would buy diseases. He'd stop in front of a tank and get a glint in his eyes, and buy one tetra, or one livebearer. They were, sadly for them, destined to become microscope slides. He got very excited one day because he had found seven diseases in one store.

He didn't have a car and I did, so we went out and did the rounds of the stores. He said that what he called the "tropical disease stores" were a rich hunting ground and while he knew he'd end up working in the north with salmon farming, he would come away with a collection of tropical parasite and pathogen slides to study. I have wondered if he stayed with commercial farming, or went off into research. He was a curious man, probably retired by now.

If I sometimes seem skeptical about our ability to identify, let alone treat fish parasites and diseases, it dates back to then. Interestingly, to me, he attended a few aquarium society meetings, which always had a couple of dozen bags of locally bred fish for the auction. He checked every bag, and said there wasn't one worth buying. The homebred fish were all healthy.

He does seem like an interesting fellow. And yes, I'm definitely lucky to have been able to watch all of this and talk with the vet. He only comes to us rarely, as he normally works for a different, larger institution. He also used to work with ornamental fish, primarily ponds and especially those with expensive koi. When a client has multiple $20,000 fish, money is no object, and he got paid by the mile to travel wherever he was needed. He's since moved out of that line of work though. I think he didn't particularly like the sorts of clients who buy koi the price of a new car.

Many times, it certainly is a bit of a guessing game when it comes to diagnoses. In the case of the wolf eel, it was thankfully very straightforward, but such is the power of a microscope and slides. I'm also interested in the fact that your veterinarian friend was suspicious of healthy homebred fish. Perhaps he saw something no one else could, or perhaps he was just too used to seeing ornamental fish in a poorly state.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Incidentally, I've always pictured him as some old British bloke as well

I suspect I know why you specify British, and I object in the strongest terms!

Not all old British men look like that. Some look like this

 

[MattW3344]

I suspect I know why you specify British, and I object in the strongest terms!

Not all old British men look like that. Some look like this

Just reminds me of Gerald that

 

[GaryE]

@Seisage I think the vet wanted to look at the homebred fish to see how the diseases from the stores travelled between generations. I suspect (with zero data) that the intense crowding needed for cheap commercial production makes it close to impossible for farmed fish to escape pathogens that are present. They are simply always present in numbers.
Home breeders use survivors - the fish who ran the gauntlet, and tend to raise the young fish with much less crowding. No hobbyist wants to hear his/her fish are stunted, and there is usually more care put in. Things like TB don't care - they hit the new fish as they hit adults.
He didn't want 'our' fish because they weren't diseased. This was a relief for us.
Other than that one man, I have never met a vet with fish experience. I knew a great small animal vet who trusted me enough that she'd sit with me and let me present a case for a fish prescription. All I ever needed from her was prazi and fenbendazole, which like all antibiotics are controlled here.

 

[Seisage]

@Seisage I think the vet wanted to look at the homebred fish to see how the diseases from the stores travelled between generations. I suspect (with zero data) that the intense crowding needed for cheap commercial production makes it close to impossible for farmed fish to escape pathogens that are present. They are simply always present in numbers.
Home breeders use survivors - the fish who ran the gauntlet, and tend to raise the young fish with much less crowding. No hobbyist wants to hear his/her fish are stunted, and there is usually more care put in. Things like TB don't care - they hit the new fish as they hit adults.
He didn't want 'our' fish because they weren't diseased. This was a relief for us.
Other than that one man, I have never met a vet with fish experience. I knew a great small animal vet who trusted me enough that she'd sit with me and let me present a case for a fish prescription. All I ever needed from her was prazi and fenbendazole, which like all antibiotics are controlled here.

Oh, yes, I misunderstood your meaning earlier. He considered the fish "not worth buying" by his personal standards because he only buys diseased fish. Yes, that would be a relief.

 

[davros]

Hot Fuzz and Clarkson's Farm - you guys are killing me. It's no fish slap dance but up there. ROFL