14th
February
2011
Heart disease is the UK’s single biggest killer and, at present, there is no cure for a damaged heart.
In real terms, every day in the UK, 340 people have their lives shattered by a heart attack. For many, this can lead to severe heart failure, a condition that cuts short thousands of lives every year.
But now scientists have the first real hope that these lives could be saved.
When a Zebra danio’s (Danio rerio), heart is damaged, something truly amazing takes place. Its heart cells start to regenerate, creating functioning heart tissue once again. By learning the zebrafish’s secrets we could trigger this same process in our own damaged hearts.
The ‘Mending Broken Hearts’ research programme is one of the biggest programmes ever undertaken by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). They believe that in as little as 15–20 years’ time they can develop a treatment to repair damaged heart muscle, giving real hope for the future.
The early stages of the programme are crucial in taking them towards early clinical trials. The BHF believe passionately that they can do this, and have committed to spending £50 million over the next five years to make it happen.
For more information on the appeal and how you can donate visit the special section of the BHF website at http://www.bhf.org.uk/research/mending-broken-hearts.aspx
Tagged with danio,
heart,
zebra
30th
November
2010
Scientists at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) reported that tests of a potential vaccine against “Ich” — the dreaded “white-spot” disease that plagues fish in commercial fish farms, public aquariums, pet fish retail outlets, and home aquariums — are raising hopes for finally controlling the disease.
“Outbreaks of the parasitic disease caused by Ichthyophthirius (Ich) can result in losses of 50-100 percent of fish,” Dehai Xu, Ph.D., said in presenting the results. “The disease is very common, and almost every home fish hobbyist has encountered it. Once the parasite infects fish, and starts growing in the skin, fins, and gills, there is no really effective treatment. Ich causes losses estimated at $50 million annually. It would be much better to prevent the disease.”
As an indication of the difficulty in treating Ich outbreaks, Xu used the example of an infection that strikes a commercial fish farming pond, which might have a surface area equal to 10 or 20 high school football fields. The typical treatment involves pouring in a solution of formaldehyde, a potentially toxic substance. Hundreds of gallons might be needed, and farmers might have to repeat the treatment several times. Even after treatment, the fish would be at risk of reinfection if they encountered the parasite again, he said.
“To vaccinate against Ich, you would need much less medication, and it would not pose an apparent threat to the environment,” Xu pointed out. “And you would need just one treatment to make the fish immune for life.”
Xu explained that efforts to develop an Ich vaccine have focused on use of so-called “trophonts,” which are the infective stage of the Ich parasite’s life cycle. Trophonts burrow into a fish’s skin, fins, and gills, causing the white skin spots characteristic of the disease. Those efforts have been hindered, however, by gaps in scientific knowledge about how fish develop protective immunity to trophonts. Xu and colleagues, Drs. Phillip Klesius and Craig Shoemaker, who are with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) set out to fill those gaps.
Their study evaluated influence of vaccine formulation and doses of vaccine on protective immunity of channel catfish against Ich. The results showed that vaccination with live Ich theronts and trophonts killed with high-frequency sound waves stimulated production of protective antibodies in the catfish.
“This study demonstrated that vaccines against Ich induced protective immunity and could provide a unique solution to prevent this parasitic disease through vaccination,” Xu said. “An Ich vaccine would have great impact by preventing the disease, minimizing loss of valuable fish and increasing profitability of aquaculture.”
Xu noted that the study was a small, laboratory-scale endeavor, with unsolved problems on the road ahead to a commercial vaccine. One, for instance, involves producing a large quantity of Ich antigen for the vaccine and then formulating a vaccine that can be easily administered to large numbers of fish in a “bath” or in food, rather than by injection. In the bath approach, fish would be kept in a container or an enclosure with water containing the vaccine.
12th
May
2010
Recent reports tell of a 59 year old chef from China who apparently passed out after a heavy drinking session, friends of his then decided to insert a live 50cm Asian swamp eel into his rectum for a bit of fun.
The unfortunate man died after suffering severe abdominal pains. Doctors who performed a post mortem on him found the eel in his rectum where it had reportedly gnawed at his intestines, causing heavy internal bleeding.
Swamp eels are native to Central and South America, Africa and Australia and from India to eastern Asia, including much of China. In Asia, swamp eels are widespread and commonly sold live in markets as food for human consumption. The fish have a snake-like body with no noticeable scales or fins, the skin produces a thick mucous layer making the eels slippy.
26th
March
2010
Accidentally leaving the aquarium heater switched off recently wiped out most of my fish. I have been back to Maidenhead Aquatics on a couple of occasions since then and now have Penguin Tetras (Thayeria boehlkei) and Columbian Tetras (Hyphessobrycon columbianus) swimming about quite happily in their new home.
The Penguin Tetra is a hardy, peaceful, shoaling fish that tends to keep to the top and middle parts of the tank. They can adapt to hard or soft water between 22 and 28 degrees centigrade. They grow to about 4-6cm in length, and have a unique way of swimming at about 45 degrees with their head pointing upwards. This species originates from the Upper Amazon River basin in South America. Thayeria boehlkei has a slim appearance with a silver coat and a black stripe that goes from the back of its gills to the tip of the lower portion of its caudal fin. It is often confused with its cousin, Thayeria obliqua, but that fish has a shorter line and gets a little bigger than the Penguin Tetra.
The Columbian Tetra has a steel blue body and red fins and is another peaceful shoaling fish. They tend to swim in the middle and bottom parts of the tank and prefer soft water between 23 and 28 degrees centigrade. They grow to about 7cm and originate from small vegetated streams and waterways in Colombia, South America.
I went to Riverside Aquatics and Crafts today and purchased a couple of small bits of bogwood with Anubis plants attached. These have replaced the triangular shaped bit of rock that I had as that looked a bit fake.
9th
March
2010
Having recently spotted an outbreak of white-spot in my fish tank, I tested the water and found there to be zero nitrite, and amonia and only a low level of nitrate. I had assumed that cleaning the filter the other day had caused the levels to rise, but obviously not.
I did discover, however, that I had forgotten to switch the heater back on after cleaning the filter and sand, so I think the fish became ill because of the drop in water temperature over the last few days. I do have a digital thermometer which has an audible alarm if the water temperature drops or increases beyond preset levels, but the batteries had gone flat and I never got around to replacing them. Needless to say I have now fitted new batteries and have learnt the importance of careful and regular system maintenance.
I now only have 6 Penguin Tetras in the tank. I will continue with the white spot treatment and water tests for a while and then i’ll have to start thinking about re-stocking.
5th
March
2010
I’ve noticed the Tetras in my fish tank have white-spot. The only changes I’ve made recently have been the introduction of some shop bought moss onto the bogwood and I cleaned the filter media. I will have to test the water for nitrite, nitrate and amonia levels. Not sure how long the fish have had the spots though. I’ll also start a course of treatment containing Malachite green.
7th
September
2007
Went to Maidenhead Aquatics again today and bought a couple more Corydoras sterbai and to go with them a couple of Corydoras julii because the Corys like to be in little groups. All the sand substrate has taken on a nibbled look now as they have been sifting through it for food.
They don’t seem to care much for the Variety Wafers sinking food, but the Odessa Barbs love those. The Corys do seem to like the frozen food and the TetraPrima granules though so they are getting some food.
I bought some more plants too, in order to add some more shady hiding places for the fish. The sand doesn’t offer much for the young roots to hang on to, so I added weight strips to stop the plants from floating to the surface.
Tagged with barb,
corydoras
20th
August
2007
Since last posting about White-Spot, I have replaced the Black Phantom Tetras I lost, with Red Phantom Tetras. I also now have a shoal of Cardinal Tetras and some Odessa Barbs and the last three Sterba’s Corydoras in the fish shop.
I have added some more real plants too, although some of them may not last too long because the Barbs are already eating them. Once the shop has some more Corys I’ll buy three more because they like to live in groups.
3rd
August
2007
Worcester racecourse (about an hour from here by car) was one of the many local areas badly flooded by rain recently. Now thousands of fish stranded by the flood water are being stunned with electricity as part of efforts to rescue them.
The Environment Agency has said that the oxygen levels have been dropping out of the water quickly so the fish would die if they were not helped now. Electricity is passed through the water before the fish are collected in nets and tanks to be stored until they can be put back in the water later.
Meanwhile, the council is using a Worcester firm that specialises in air pollution, to spray a neutralising mist over the flood water to get rid of the smell of drains (and the odd dead fish no doubt).
1st
August
2007
I recently added 6 x Rhomboocellatus Barb and 6 x Black Phantom Tetra to my tank of 6 x Zebra Danio.
I noticed on Monday evening the new fish had white ‘salt like’ spots on them. Yesterday I was at Silverstone but I did manage to purchase a bottle of King British WS3 treatment on the way back home. By the time I arrived home (midnight), the Barbs and Tetras had died 
I have removed the dead fish and carried out a large water change. I’ve added a dose of King British WS3 treatment and will continue the medication for another 10 days.
The original Danios are all swimming about quite happily. Water conditions have remained at zero ammonia and zero nitrite and the temp is currently 27c.
