AILMENTS AND DISEASES 



fish may be due to widely different causes. It consists of a gradual emacia- 

 tion whereby the entire appearance of the fish is changed. The body 

 becomes shrunken and lean, most noticeable at the junction of the head 

 and the spinal column. The sides are depressed, particularly along the 

 back, and the abdomen is shrunken. The operculae are sometimes pro- 

 truding, giving to the head an abnormally large appearance, and at other 

 times the edges are depressed, as though folded in on the gills. The fish 

 has a general appearance of feebleness, lethargy and listlessness, frequently 

 accompanied by an abstinence from food. 



Treatment. For this illness there is no certain remedy, though 

 its progress may often be arrested by removal to a separate aquarium or 

 to tanks out-of-doors under the most favorable conditions, together with 

 trials of a stimulating diet of animal substances, earthworms, raw beef, 

 ant eggs and fish-roe, the later prepared by first parboiling in salt water and 

 then drying in a moderate heat. Great care must be exercised in feeding 

 these animal foods that all is immediately consumed or later removed. It 

 should be noted that extreme care may keep the fish alive and in fair condi- 

 tion, if it will eat, yet the slighest change or exposure will rapidly cause fatal 

 results. When the condition is permanent, such fishes should not be used 

 as breeders, not only because the majority of the spawn is usually 

 unfertile but also for the reason that the hatchings produced are feeble, few 

 of the fry reaching maturity and these generally with a similar tendency. 

 Therefore, unless the fish is valuable it is not worth the trouble of keeping 

 it in condition and it would better be destroyed. 



Eye Inflammation. The protruding eyes of the Telescope goldfishes 

 especially those of the males during the breeding season, are frequently 

 injured and serious inflammations may occur. When so affected the eye 

 seems to protrude farther from the orbit and the cornea becomes opaque 

 or of a milky color. This condition sometimes goes no farther and the 

 eye gradually becomes normal in a month or more; but the inflammation 

 may continue to such an extent that ulcers form and either entirely destroy 

 the cornea or leave a blinded fish. If both eyes are affected, the fish is 

 temporarily blinded and may suffer through inability to find food. 



Treatment. However treated there is always danger of permanent 

 injury, but probably the best results are obtained by washing the eye with 

 a pledget of cotton dipped in a saturated solution of boracic acid once a 

 day until beneficial results are produced. The fish should be isolated and 

 food placed so that it may find it by touch, and, in extreme cases it may 

 be fed by hand. In severe cases it takes nearly three months for complete 

 recovery, but the above treatment is almost invariably successful in about one 

 month, if the fish is in vigorous condition, and treatment undertaken at once. 



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