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SYMPTOMS
8. Within
6-8 hours of the fish becoming infected the respiratory rate rises very
steeply from the normal 60-90 GB/min. to as high as 200-300 GB/min.
If not treated quickly at this stage, tiny greyish-fawn cysts (difficult
to spot with naked eye unless fish can be manoeuvred into a head on
position with light behind it) appear in enormous numbers on body and
finnage. Can never be confused with "white-spot" disease since - a)
the spots are much smaller, and b) "white-spot" disease doesn't cause
an increase in respiratory rate until several untreated days have passed
and the fish is dying. Some species occasionally seen to flick and twitch
pelvic / dorsal fins and even close down the worst-infected gill chamber
if disease progress untreated.
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DISEASE
OODINIASIS
(="OODINIUM" = "VELVET" DISEASE) - caused by protozoan dinoflagellates
(Oodinium Limneticum:- F/W and Oodinium ocellatum:- S/W). Almost always
caused by exposing fishes to high levels of ammonia / nitrite poisons,
e.g. during intercontinental shipment, unmatured filtration systems
etc.
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TROPICAL
FRESHWATER & COLDWATER AQUARIA
Carry
out 25%-33% partial water change if time permits using HALOEX
and treat with PROTOZIN
until respiratory rate falls to a normal 60-90 GB/min. Stop all feeding
until symptoms disappear.
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SEAWATER
AND BRACKISHWATER
Treat
immediately with CUPRAZIN or, if invertebrates
are present, with OCTOZIN. After breathing
rate falls to normal freshen up aquarium with a 25%-33% ULTRAMARINE
partial water change if possible.
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GARDEN
PONDS
Flush pond through (for safe method see above) and treat as soon as
possible with MEDIZIN P. Stop all feeding
until symptoms disappear.
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PREVENTION
Never
permit the nitrite reading to show higher than 0.125ppm (=1/8 mg/litre).
This means using an efficient undergravel filter 24hrs. a day. Never
permit nitrate reading to climb higher than minimum permissible level
indicated on the test kit literature. Never overfeed.. Never use seafoods,
Daphnia, Tubifex, bloodworms etc., which are not gamma irradiated.
Use TROPIFLORA (f/w) or SEAGREEN
(s/w) to promote vigorous, harvestable plant growth, or - conscientiously
use partial water changes to control nitrate build up. This disease
is extremely virulent and must be treated as soon as possible. The casual
pathogens in both s/w and f/w are essentially gill parasites - hence
the sudden and dramatic increase in respiratory rate.
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