known as fish lice, and are found externally on scales and fins, and internally in gills and mouth. 

 Those most frequently met with are copepods, which irritate when on the skin and fins, and may occur 

 in the gills in such numbers as to seriously interfere with respiration and ultimately to cause death. 

 Such parasites can usually be removed with tweezers. 



The most serious diseases of goldfish are those due to bacterial and protozoan infections, which 

 as a rule affect large numbers of fish and may destroy every fish in a pond or even a large part of 

 the stock of a breeding establishment. When visitations come, attention can more profitably be 

 directed to the removal of the cause, usually to be found in the water supply, rather than to attempts 

 to cure the individual fish. The treatment of such diseases, unless superficial and localized, is most 

 unsatisfactory; and as a general thing it is better to sacrifice the fish at once so as to prevent further 

 infection. 



One of the leading goldfish culturists of Japan has given to the writer the following memoranda 

 of the diseases met with by him in the course of many years' experience: ( 1 ) "Kama." This is a 

 serious epidemic disease affecting fish about ten days after hatching. The abdominal wall is thinner 

 than normal and becomes attached to the dorsal side of the abdominal cavity. As the fish can take no 

 food, they soon die. When the disease appears in a pond it spreads quickly, may attack nearly every 

 fish, and may extend to other ponds. As soon as discovered, the pond is drawn down, drained, and 

 cleansed, and all the fish are sacrificed, as there is no known remedy. In the year immediately pre- 

 ceding the author's visit, nearly every fish resulting from the first and second spawnings was lost in 

 this way, and only the third and subsequent broods escaped the malady. (2) "Naginata." This 

 affects also the young in the hatching ponds, and while not so disastrous as the preceding is much 

 feared. It is characterized by a swollen abdomen, and is thought to be caused by improper food. 



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