Ornamental fish are one of the most popular pets in the United States, yet they seldom receive veterinary care. It has been estimated that when a problem arises, nine out of ten fish owners go to the pet store for assistance.¹ No FDA approved drugs are available to treat ornamental pet fish, yet numerous over the counter preparations are sold in pet stores. These preparations contain everything from erythromycin to malachite green and formaldehyde.

Pet store owners and their employees are diagnosing diseases and prescribing treatments for pet fish. Yet, these individuals are not regulated by any governing body, nor are they required to meet any type of standard regarding their knowledge base or quality of service provided. To our knowledge, no study has been done to evaluate how effective these employees are in diagnosing and treating disease in pet fish. Factors which would be of concern in this type of evaluation would include: appropriate diagnostic procedures; accuracy of diagnosis; effectiveness of prescribed treatments as dispensed; and client education regarding general case management, management of the diseased individual(s), and administration, disposal, and possible toxic effects of medications. These factors are critical in the successful treatment of any animal. In order for fish to receive the care required, the individual responsible for diagnosing and treating the case needs to be able to competently address each of these factors.

In order to evaluate pet store employees in their role as primary care providers, information needed to be gathered on how they handled individual cases. In order to do this, a field trial was performed. One of two fish with a skin lesion (a fantail goldfish, Carassius auratus, with a granuloma on the dorsal fin, and a strawberry tetra, Hyphessobrycon sp., with distal tail fin necrosis) was presented to each of thirty-two pet stores throughout North Carolina. The pet stores included in the study were open to the general public and sold pets at retail value, sold only pets and related supplies, and were not operated in association with a veterinary clinic nor with a veterinarian on staff.

At each store, an employee willing to examine the fish was located, and the fish, water sample and a brief history were presented to this employee. Information was recorded on diagnostics preformed, water test results, diagnosis made, treatment prescribed, and cost and contents of brand name products recommended. In order to have a definitive diagnosis and a standard veterinary work-up protocol with which to compare the results obtained from the fish store, the fish were taken to the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine for examination.

Results obtained from this study were fairly consistent from store to store. The diagnostic work-ups done by the pet stores were substandard to the veterinary work-up. As a result, the accuracy of diagnosis and effectiveness of recommended treatments suffered. No diagnostic tests other than visual inspection were done or offered. Not one store analyzed the water sample presented. Only once did an employee ask for any type of history in that they asked the temperature of the tank at home. The trend was also to rely on brand name products instead of ancillary treatments such as improving or changing water quality parameters. The option of taking the fish to a veterinarian for more extensive examination was never mentioned. In effect, the employees were willing to provide a diagnosis and prescribe a course of therapy without attempting to obtain an accurate picture of the case being presented.

One last area of interest is the packaging and labeling of the over the counter products being recommended. Some of the products had no indication on the label of the active ingredients they contained. Most, including the antibiotics, were sold without an expiration date on the label. In addition, toxic compounds such as malachite green were sold in containers without child-safe packaging and no indications or warnings of the compound's toxic properties.

Reference

1.  Smith, CA. 1994. Pet Fish Medicine Offers New Challenges, JAVMA, 205(9):1267-1271.