Customer Reviews

The Manual of Fish Health

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was and am still very pleased with this book and all the methods the authors used to present their information in a meaningful, thorough and understandable manner. I have seen books costing close to $100 with a 'gazillion' pages full of unintellagible giberish, that one would normally need to purchase to obtain the same information you get in this book (at a substantial savings). This books helps to quickly get the reader to a clear understanding using diagrams, graphs, flow charts and photos along with the text written in laymans terms. For example how a tank cycles and what developments occur at what stages, or how to recognize and treat different fish ailments with out having a 'Phd in Fishies'. Higly recommended.

Simply put - this is the most benificial book you can get on tropical fishkeeping, both freshwater and marine. Just over 200 pages of full color photos and diagrams, it takes you from the understanding of your pet fish and it's enviroment at a basic level straight to a guide to treating most any pest and disease that can plague your pet. This book will serve you as an excellent reference for your home aquarium. Step by step it will help you to identify those calamadies that can wipe out an entire fish community BEFORE it becomes a problem. The section on water chemistry is invaluable in helping your understanding of your fishes enviroment... I can go on for a long time about this book... but suffice it to say that I have found it invaluable as a reference and I have absolutly no hesitation in not only recommending it - but go so far as in saying that it should be a required book for the aquarist, from beginner to avid veteran alike!! I have been keeping fish now for over 10 years - I still go back to the "manual of fish health" by Dr. Chris Andrews more than any other book in my collection! Bravo on a job well done

This was one of the first books I bought when I started keeping fish and 12 years later it's still a wonderful book. <P...>This book takes you through how to keep your fish healthy, but more importantly it helps you through the inevitable times when you have sick fish.

With a chapter on recognizing your sick fish, to a chapter on the most common diseases and parasites this book will help you figure out what's wrong with your fish.

Finally there is a chapter on how to treat each type of illness so you don't have to guess on what to do.

This is definitely a book that every fish keeper should have.

The book is pretty good for most aquarists as all should have something to help with the diagnostics and treatment of their pets. There's some pretty good photography of various diseases that simplifies the text, and in each section there is a little box of explanation of a point in the text, be it a bacteria type or similar. Where the book falls slightly short in my opinion is in the treatment section. I would not advocate the use of all the chemicals in this chapter and some may well be impossible to obtain for most people. In this case, I would recommend using the book then visiting a professional fish keeper, specialist shop or vet with your diagnosis after consulting the treatment section to see if there is an alternative.

All said and done anything that can help easy diagnosis and lead to the correct treatment of fish disease is a good thing.

The fish hobby is made up of two different types of people. Some hobbyists do not really bother to understand their fish, they simply buy replacements when the current ones die. The second type of fish-keeper wants to know as much information as he or she can on the types of fishes they keep. This book would be of most value to the second type.

Sometimes, we mistakenly assume that fish are fragile and that there is simply no way to maintain them at optimum health. But that is not the case. Most fish are quite hardy. They can easily be maintained in the home aquarium if attention is given to their particular needs. Even so, from time to time, our fishes do get sick despite of our care. This book will help you diagnose some of the more common diseases that afflict fishes, as well as some possible remedies.

Some of the procedures in the textbook are simply not feasible for the average aquarists. Most of us do not have access to a laboratory. However, there is enough solutions in the book that are easy enough to follow. I highly recommend this book.

This small book is full of useful information on preventing illness in fish in ponds or aquaria and on recognising and treating symptoms should they occur. It starts out by raising the important issues of prevention, water environment and stress and follows on with a really simple flow-chart system of identification, diagnosis and treatment. I found it very readable, useful and easy to follow.

I bought this book based on the great reviews here, and have not been disappointed. That said, there are a few deficiencies that drove me back to the web for more information and hence this review.

There is very little information about contemporary brands and their products that can be used to treat fish diseases. Using the book, one can easily diagnose pop-eye (which I was combating in my prize altum angels). But the suggestions are not terribly helpful in finding the right product to treat this affliction. For example, there are 3 or more different drugs under the Mardel brand that all claim to treat pop-eye. Some target gram-positive bacteria, some target gram-negative bacteria, and some are broad-spectrum antibiotics. At the same time, some can be simultaneouly administered with other treatments, some cannot. And so on. It would have been helpful if the book had helped me sort these details out (which I eventually did) and if it had suggested possible courses of action. Even something that lists all common antibiotics and adds a classification chart to go with them will address this concern.

And as one reviewer pointed out, some of the suggestions are beyond the scope of the hobbyist. But let this not detract you from purchasing a guide that will save you time and help you narrow your diagnosis.

I have Aquarium books coming out of my ears. In my quest for knowledge on how to care and treat my freshwater fish, I have purchased books, but most left a lot of my questions unanswered, or were vague on discriptions of fish diseases and/or how to treat. This is by far the best all around book for the Aquarium Hobby enthusiast. It has everything you need to know about aquarium fish, their environment, disease and prevention. The pictures of diseased fish help you pin point the proper ailment, bacteria, and cure. I give this book 5+ stars and highly recommend it to anyone who has aquarium fish.

Dr. Chris Andrews, et.al.'s Manual Of Fish Health is a basic guide to providing a healthy aquarium environment and should be a part of any fish owner's home collection. It covers all aspects of health care for all types of fishes, both freshwater and marine, and cover pond as well as aquarium environments. Add plenty of charts and color photos and you have a truly comprehensive reference.

This book is amazing! I absolutly recomend it to everyone I've talked to. Not only does it use casual scientific terms but it does also explain them for anyone that doesn't have a BSc. Great information not only on fish disease, but on maintaining a properly balanced aquarium & preventing diseases from occuring in the first place.

Personally I think it should be a manditory buy with ever first-fish purchase.