226 How to obtain it. 



pining for their liberty, get into a morbid condition that renders 

 them peculiarly liable to attacks of fungus. 



I think I m ay safely say that I could cause fish to be attacked 

 with fungus by simply placing them in a wooden tank, or in a 

 newly-made one of concrete. I have done so, and have then 

 removed and cured them. One very interesting and important 

 feature I have noticed, and that is that a fish that was not itself 

 attacked by fungus, on being removed transmitted it to others. 

 I have taken fish that have been affected, as in case No. 3, and 

 have destroyed every scrap of fungus upon them. In a few days 

 a fresh crop has been found growing, and the fish has been put 

 under treatment again, and again a third, and perhaps a fourth 

 time. If taken during an early stage of growth, four out of five of 

 such fish are curable. 



The average life of a trout is about ten years. When dying 

 of old age they are largely attacked by fungus, which kills them. 

 On a fish farm they are not allowed to die of old age, but are 

 killed and marketed before that time comes. I had rather an 

 interesting case a few years ago. A Buttermere trout, which I 

 had kept by way of experiment, died, at the age of over seventeen 

 years. When in its prime it turned the scale at six pounds and 

 three-quarters, but at the time of its decease it had become long 

 and lanky, and weighed under five pounds. It was attacked by 

 fungus, which was removed by means of a saline bath and the use 

 of carbolic about a dozen times in as many weeks. The fish then 

 succumbed. Its allotted time had come. This happens to most 

 fish that are not caught, and the use of fungus seems to be to 

 destroy not only the lives of these old fish, but to live on their 

 bodies also, and it fulfils its mission. They are its legitimate prey, 

 and are designed by Nature to be so. 



In all cases of fungus on fish that have come under my 

 notice, I think I may safely say that there has been a predisposing 

 cause. Either old age, a morbid condition, wounds, removal of 

 the mucous coating, or something else, has been underlying the 

 attack. To preserve our fish from this deadly enemy as far as 

 passible, our aim must be to keep them in health. If we allow 

 them to deteriorate, and to assume a low state of vitality, we give 

 the fungus a better chance. A great deal more depends upon the 



