It seems that everyone who gets in touch with me these days, has a problem, so that often I wonder if anyone out there, has fish that are in good health.

This is especially disheartening when I realize just how many Hobbyists give up keeping fish, because they have had such bad experiences, lost so many cherished specimens, and feel that they can never succeed.

This series of articles that I have had the honor to be asked to write for your excellent new web site, will try to deal in a pragmatic manner, with the problems which are encountered by the average Hobbyist, & how he/she may take prudent steps which should minimize or eliminate the dreadful feeling, when one finds an expensive or other prized specimen with the so evident signs of disease, & the awful certainty that "there goes another nice fish".

Firstly let us be quite clear, as so many of you, who have ever gone angling will be able to confirm from your own experience .

Fish in nature are seldom sick. If you catch fish or have seen anyone do so, you will be aware, that hardly if ever, will one pull from the water a specimen that manifests anything except robust good health & appearance.

Why is this? ….. Well nature has a way of eliminating very quickly the weak or the sick. Furthermore fish like humans have a reasonably well developed immune system, which can ward off, many small infections or parasites, thus protecting them against so many of the problems that they encounter in the wild.

I imagine that the majority of persons reading this column, are well or reasonably so, well just imagine that by some "trick" of modern science such as we see on one of the science fiction television channels, that you could be whisked in your pajamas in one or two seconds, to say the North Pole, and that you endured this for some 20 minutes, if such was possible. Then you were transported back to your nice home and comforts at the same speed etc.

What do you think would happen? In all likelihood you would come down with a crushing case of pneumonia if not worse, as the bodies immune defenses would have been overwhelmed by the stress that such an "unnatural" exposure to the elements would create.

When fish are put into what is for them, similar "unnatural" conditions, stress starts to create the conditions, that for so many bacteria, and parasites, allow a rapid expansion of these undesirable pathogens. These pathogens had until now remained dormant for most of the fishes life, until the stress and other unnatural factors created the conditions that allowed their rapid multiplication.

Most Hobbyists that I ask the "North Pole question", immediately understand the probable consequence of such an exposure, yet too many of the same people, are unaware of the fact, that their prized fish, are subjected to the aquatic equivalent of such a stress inducing event. If they can make the adjustment to what this means to their fish, then they are a good deal along the road, to providing a better environment & a far more attractive and healthy aquarium.

So what are the factors that create stress, and so often lead to disease in the fish we bring to our aquariums, & expect to have such pleasure from?

Some of these unfortunately we can do little about, with others we can make choices that will substantially lessen the risk of buying stressed or about to be ailing fish. So let us look at these causes & try to both understand them as well as reduce the chances that inadvertently we will increase the probability of bringing home such unwanted carriers of disease.

Most of you will be aware that today the vast majority of fresh-water tropical fish are bred in farms in various parts of the world. About 85% of all fresh-water species are today reproduced by specialist farmers, in such places as Florida (about 380 farms), Singapore (about 600 farms), Hong Kong, and an unknown number of producers in Thailand and Malaysia.

These producers as I said account for some 85% of the fish we eventually see in our aquaria. The other 15% are chiefly species that have either never yet been bred in captivity, or are very difficult to breed. These are collected in such places as the Amazon river in S.America, parts of the Indian sub-continent, as well as some species from East & West Africa.

The salt-water species & invertebrates that are today so popular, are probably 97% caught from the wild, with a few bred in hatcheries, mainly clown fish & other demersal species.

Now you can easily imagine, that on the farms that these fish are bred on, as well as the environment that the other fresh-water as well as the salt water fish are caught in, there is little to no disease, as well as minimal stress. That is not to say, that many farms never encounter disease, as they most definitely do, but they are obliged to treat such fish to stay in business, & no exporter who wishes to remain in business will buy from them fish that have evident signs of disease.

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