Reef Safe Fishes

Transportation by Air
Derived from:
The industry perspective: Wholesale and retail marketing aspects of the Hong Kong Live Reef Food Fish Trade by Patrick Chan

Live tropical fish have been transported by air since the beginning of trade. Generally speaking, fish are the most difficult item to transport by air. But with good practices their survival rate is very good if the total transportation time is within 24 hours.

Decline in water quality is the biggest problem—declining oxygen content, carbon-dioxide build-up, detrimental changes in pH, detrimental changes in temperature, and build-up of fish wastes. The loss of the protective layer of mucus on fish can also be a problem.

Every minute counts when packing live tropical fish for air transport. An experienced operator knows how much time his packing team needs to pack a box, and plans so that the team will start packing with just enough time for them to finish their task. Ideally the packing centre should be no more than a 30-minute drive from the airport. Running costs can be reduced if seawater can be directly pumped to the packing centre. This also cuts down the cost of water holding facilities, which are essential for any packing centre. An immediate water supply is needed for when the water in the holding tanks suddenly turns bad.

Fish should not be fed for at least 24 hours before they are packed—to avoid vomiting of undigested food which will pollute the water. Live reef fish can be given a Vietnam Freshwater bath for 2–3 minutes when they are first delivered to the centre. The Vietnam Freshwater tends to cause the fish to vomit undigested food and it also kills various external parasites.

The temperature of the holding water should be in the range of 21–23°C. Since reef fish typically live in water ranging in temperature from about 24 to 30°C, gradual reduction in temperature will render the fish less active and less stressed. The water in the holding pools should be well circulated and must go through a bio-filter to neutralise ammonia. Injecting air using an air compressor and diffuser can raise oxygen content.

The water temperature should be lowered another 2–3°C prior to packing. The chilling process should be slow and completed within four hours. Packing water should be the same temperature as that in the holding tank. Anaesthetic is used if the fish are packed in polyethylene bags. In addition to cooling, it is a double measure to ensure that the fish will not become too active when the water temperature rises during transport. Anaesthetic use is commonly used in Southeast Asia.

To pack live fish in polyethylene bags and expanded polystyrene boxes requires a skilful working team. The water is cooled as described above. Two to three kg of water are used per one half kg of fish, depending on the type of fish and length of flight time. The box is passed on to a second worker who is responsible for the injection of pure oxygen into the bag; the bag is then secured with an elastic band. The box is then passed on to the final worker who checks the packing, adds coolant, and seals the polystyrene box with sealing tape. An experienced working team can process one box per 15 minute.

Treating Marine Ich
Unless you know what you are doing, you can use this copper treatment. Otherwise, please consult an expert for Marine Ich to treat the ich.

Taken from:
Treating Marine Ich by Bob Goemans and Lance Ichinotsubo from Freshwater and Marine Aquarium, March 2008 edition.

Marine ich is a parasites that are ubiquitous and almost always present either on existing fish in number not radically affecting them, or in aquarium organic debris awaiting a "window of opportunity" to increase their numbers. Once these parasites reach the swimming stage, it can be transmitted from tanks to tanks by anything passing between those tanks, including infected net or wet hands.

Marine ich is usually caused by stress, such as poor water quality, poor nutrition, radical temperature fluctuation, hostile tankmates, etc. often results in a lowered resistance. This permits parasites already existing in the aquarium to find a beleaguered host that is no longer capable of warding them off or controlling their numbers. In these conditions parasites often reproduce quickly enough to achieve population levels of epidemic proportions.

Common Symptoms
- affects primarily the skin, fins, eyes and gill tissue of fish
- resulting in rapid breathing and flashing (rubbing against aquarium decor)
- often create opening in the slime coat and epithelium (skin), which allow more dangerous pathogens like bacteria entry

Marine Ich
Cryptocaryon Irritants is probably the most common disease encountered by marine fish enthusiasts. These ciliates bore under the fish's skin causing a buildup of skin and slime.
It often result in whitish appearance, giving it a familiar name of White Spot Disease.
Its life cycle can extend upward of 28 days or more and undergoes 3 stages:
1. The trophont stage
- period when the parasite are imbeded in the fish's skin also known as the feeding stage.
2. The tomont stage
- period when the parasites have fallen off the host and have encysted to reproduce also known as the dividing stage
3. The tomite stage
- period when the cyst breaks open and tomites are released in swarms as the newly hatched parasites is either under the skin of the fish or encysted during the first two stages.
It is only during this final swarming stage that medications such as Copper or Formalin can actually kill the parasite.

Treatment
In fish-only tanks hyposalinity (i.e. water with a specific gravity of 1.010 to 1.013) should be established as first aid if at all possible.
Combined with hyposalinity, an ionic copper sulfate solution utilized at a concentration of 0.18 to 0.20 ppm for 28 days, so as to encompass the entire life cycle of the parasite, is quite effective.
It has been reported that copper sulfate and either formalin, malachite green or both has shown more effectiveness than copper sulfate alone.
Freshwater bath will also be recommended. (personal note)

UV Method

Another method that will ensure safe and clean system water is to used UV Method. For each 1000 gallons of saltwater, the recommended wattage would be at 500 watts. Please follow the requirement for water flow that passes through the system to ensure that the UV kills all the bacteria / unwanted parasites in the water.
Bulb replacement also necessary at regular interval or according to the manufacturer specification to ensure that the lights' effectiveness still function well.
This method works really well because you can put all the fishes, corals, invertebrates and etc on the system without worrying that the copper water will kill the livestocks.
I personally recommended this method.