Customer Reviews

Handbook of Fish Diseases

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Battling fish disease is difficult, as there are not a lot of handy resources available. You can't easily tote your sick fish to a vet or the home of a knowledgable friend for a diagnosis, and fish ailments can be difficult to accurately describe in words. Even if you know what disease your fish has, it can be difficult to choose the right medicine or treatment. There are a myriad of medicines available through pet supply stores, most of which advertise themselves as a general cure-all for either bacterial, fungal, or parasitic disease.

I felt that this book was particularly promising, as it contained many color photographs of various fish diseases, a comprehensive listing of various medications, and diagnostic flow-charts. It is unfortunately cumbersome to use, however, and offers advise impractical to the casual fishkeeper. For example, although you can use a flowchart to reach a diagnosis and recommended treatment, the lack of a clear index or organization order makes finding the one paragraph you need difficult. The book also frequently recommends taking samples from your fish and analyzing them under a microscope. Although this may be useful to someone who knows how to handle fish without hurting them and has a laboratory at their disposal, it doesn't do a lot of good for the average person.

The book does contain useful information about fish disease, even though its practical application to the casual fishkeeper is limited.

This book does have a lot of information on fish disease, including information on how to diagnose and cure infected fish. The first 20 or so pages make up a giant flow chart to help you determine what is wrong with your fish. Something like, "does the fish have white spots if yes go to step 2 otherwise continue to step 3." This flow chart is hard to beat...it is excellent. The author seems to target this book more toward the advanced user. It has sections on how to perform an autopsy on your fish, and how to determine what is causing the problem with a microscope; a little more in depth than most people probably want or need. I'm a bit disappointed in the pictures. There is a fair amount of pictures, but not as many as I would have liked to seen. It's easy to read some of the symptoms for a particular disease and think, "gee, my fish might have that," but without a picture to let you know for sure, there's a little guesswork involved. The book is probably worth picking up, but I think it would be best used as a compliment to another, similar book.

I bought this book thinking it would give me a better idea of diagnosing and treating fish diseases for my African Cichlids. I did not find the descriptions very helpful, nor did I find the lay out of the book very user friendly. I wish I knew of a better one out there to recommend to you, but I cannot. I did find a website out there that does have an excellent interface, with careful searches you should be able to find it easily.
This book is better than nothing, but there has to be better out there.

Peace,

Morley

This is the most helpful book on fish diseases I have ever owned. It has helped me understand what ogranisms have infected my fish and helped me to find treatments for them. The various charts help narrow down all the possiblities of disease that a fish may have. I recomend this book to any fish hobbist that is interested in finding cures for the diseases that have effected their fish, beginners and advanced. However a basic understanding of biology and microbiology might be helpful while reading this book.

This book covers it all and has it all in my opinion. I enjoyed the amount detail and information given in this book. The charts are VERY useful in helping to diagnose fish and the treatments given are wonderful. The detail Mr. Untergasser went into concerning the different kinds of things that can effect your fish was another positive to this book. A five star book hands down in my opinion!

I have several fish books and they offer very little as far as diagnosing the problem goes. This is an excellent book for getting right to the problem without having to second guess and improperly treat your aquarium fish. I love the charts and the pictures. It really simplifies things. It will be my number one book when it comes to keeping my fish healthy and happy. I give it 5 stars plus!

I bought this book thinking it would give me a better idea of diagnosing and treating fish diseases for my African Cichlids. I did not find the descriptions very helpful, nor did I find the lay out of the book very user friendly. I wish I knew of a better one out there to recommend to you, but I cannot. I did find a website out there that does have an excellent interface, with careful searches you should be able to find it easily.
This book is better than nothing, but there has to be better out there.

Peace,

Morley

This book takes you step-by-step through its easily understood charts, describes in detail many diseases in fish, and presents you with a comprehensive index of medications and means of treatment. A MUST for any aquarist.

Handbook of Fish Diseases is a wonderfully prepared book. The pages are printed on high quality glossy paper showing spectacularly detailed photos and microscope images. The first 50 pages contain a detailed flow chart to facilitate diagnosing of illnesses, as well as treatment(s) available. The author cites multiple treatments when available, as well as advises which one will be best suited to your application. For example, the author will state treatment A is most effective, but risky for plants/certain kinds of specified fish, etc.; treatment B is safer for these situations, and so on and so forth. I personally love the fact that I have choices in treatments and methods, which the author clearly explains in detail.
After the flow charts, the author goes into a chapter on fish anatomy, primarily from the view of an autopsy. This section boasts fantastic photos and illustrations that will take the novice right up to the intermediate level almost immediately. If you are one that seeks knowledge and understanding of fish diseases, the author provides information that will bring you to the expert level in short order.
The author next introduces separate chapters on Viral and Bacterial Diseases, Fungal and Algal Diseases, Pathogenic Protozoa, Worm Diseases, Arthropods, and Diseases Not Caused by Specific Pathogenic Organisms. Don't worry if you have no clue as to what those mean, the author quickly brings you to a complete understanding of those things.
The chapter on Treatment of Diseased Fish gives an in depth explanation of the different treatment methods available, as well as detailed instructions for mixing of treatment medications and chemicals. Each method is given an alphanumeric code by the author. These codes are referenced throughout the text, allowing the author to include tons of detailed information, without repetitive inclusions. Very efficient indeed!
The author includes a chapter on Microscopy in the Diagnosis of Fish Diseases. The first line of this chapter reads "The most important tool for diagnosing fish diseases is the microscope." The author goes into microscope selection information, magnifications, etc. If you're new to microscopes, this chapter will quickly make you feel comfortable. This chapter alone is worth buying the book. No where else have I found such a complete guide to using a microscope for aquarists. You will love learning how to prepare slides, collect specimins from your fish, stain, make permanent slides, using measurment, and making custom easy to make components that you can use with your microscope that will increase it's capabilities. The author has detailed lists of items that will help you, such as petri dishes, forceps, etc. The author lists chemicals and the quantities needed to perform slide preparation and to preserve specimins. The author discusses camera attachments to microscopes, what information should be included on your permanent slides, and descriptions of film types to guide you along your learning path.
The last chapter is entitled Pharmacopoeia, and includes names of chemicals and treatment medications, their many synonyms, how they are used, chemical compositions, sources to purchase, and so much more. If the microscopy section wasn't enough to purchase this book, this section contains a alphabetical listing with descriptions that should be enough to purchase this book.
The Handbook of Fish Diseases is one of the most asthetically pleasing, as well as most informative books on this topic I have encountered to date. When asked to recommend good reference material on this topic, I recommend this book. Not only will this book help you with any problems that you are aware of concerning the health of your fish, this book will show you how to look for things your fish could possibly be infected with. Certainly you will find some surprises that you didn't even know were problematic! No more will you be plaqued with 'why did my fish die' or 'why is this treatment not working?'. This book will show you how to use a microscope to find it!

While this book was very detailed in the descriptions of the diseases, most of the diagnoses seemed to depend on autopsy of the victim after death. It also seemed that a microscope would be required to get full use from the book. I am not sorry that I bought the book, but I would not recommend it to most people looking for a reference on curing sick tropical fish.