Much like Bailey and Burgess' Tropical Fishlopaedia: A Complete Guide to Fish Care (c. 2000), it is broken up into sections designed to make the work more usable by aquarists. A-Z is broken into three sections. Section I is on "Health and Husbandry" and will sound familiar to Guppylog people in that it is built around the thesis that proper selection, quarantine and care of the fish are the best defenses against diseases. Section II is a checklist in 40 pages: "Signs of Tropical Fish Diseases and Health Problems." This is where one starts looking if there is a problem. They will then refer to Section III.
Section III "Treatment of Diseases and Health Problems, A-Z", is an encyclopedic, alphabetized list of most of the terms one is likely to encounter on the topics of aquarium fish health and diseases. It will take a little getting used to.
Inconveniently, there is no general index. However by cross-referencing terms one can, increasingly quickly, chase down more information on an illness topic than will be available in most sources.
Scanned from Pages 211-12 is a section, which should sound familiar after a couple of discussions on Guppylog. The numbers after the key terms indicate which section of the text will describe them more completely.
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ANTHELMINTHICS
Chemicals which are effective in killing NEMATODES (3), HELMINTH (`worm') PARASITES (3) such as FLUKES (3), and CESTODES (3).
Anthelminthics are generally administered via medicated food, though some are effective as a bath treatment. Those which have been used for treating fish parasites include LEVAMISOLE (3), MEBENDAZOLE (3), Oxamniquine, PIPERAZINE (3), PRAZIQUANTEL (3), TRICH-LORFON (3), and NICLOSAMIDE (3). In most countries a veterinary prescription is required to obtain these drugs, as many are still important for treating human helminth diseases. Others, such as trichlorfon, are highly toxic ORGANOPHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS (3), the supply of which is restricted in many countries. Where no dosage is given under entries for individual anthelminthics, veterinary advice should be sought regarding this subject.
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By the way, MEBENDAZOLE, one can find out else where in section III, is a "chemical analogue" (similar in function and structure) for Flubendazole.
That organophosphate warning on trichlorfon is one we should heed. Don't use it.
Scientific names continue to change. For instance, those we've been trotting out for velvet have been updated. There are now two freshwater species and a marine species of Piscenoodinium known to afflict aquarium fishes.
If one has the Tropical Fishlopaedia (also put out by Howell Books) most sensible people probably wouldn't want to ante up for the somewhat more expensive field guide style A-Z of Tropical Fish Diseases and Health Problems.
My Fishlopaedia was purchased for a little less than $20 at one of our local Borders Stores. A-Z, list price $24.95 , was secured through half.com
http://half.ebay.com/
from an out fit called Indoo_half for $16.08 plus 3.25 for packing and Media Mail. It arrived in a timely fashion despite the seasonal congestion.
After a certainly reasonable handing and mailing fee, internet vender prices are not quite the savings percentage they mention in their ads, but it was less than list, (my) gasoline wasn't used and I didn't spend $6 or $7 on fancy coffees for my lady and me at the bookstore. That has cut down our visits and cheap dates (before the inevitable purchases) to once a week. ;)
Local venders, as with the LFS, are still preferred, but a book in the hand is a good thing. I'll probably swing by Borders or Barnes & Noble or one of a couple terrific independents some day and feel guilty when the red cover of A-Z jumps out at me. ;)
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