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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #195331
Title: FINFISH HEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES (1797 TO 1920): PIONEERING INVESTIGATORS, EARLY FINDINGS AND UNUSUAL TREATMENTS

Author
item Mitchell, Andrew

Submitted to: International Aquatic Animal Health Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/4/2006
Publication Date: 9/3/2006
Citation: Mitchell, A.J. 2006. Finfish health in the United States (1797 to 1920): pioneering investigators, early findings and unusual treatments. International Aquatic Animal Health Symposium Proceedings. p.189.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Several notable men set the stage for the development and growth of fish health in the United States including: White House surveyor, Benjamin H. Latrobe, world renowned physician and naturalist, Joseph P. Leidy, essayist, poet, and philosopher, Henry D. Thoreau, clergyman and premier fish culturist, Livingston Stone, aquatic ecosystem science founder, Stephen A. Forbes, “Father of US Fish Parasitology”, Edwin Linton, and arguably the most progressive fish pathologist in US fish health history, Millard C. Marsh. These men recorded early fish kills, described parasites, bacteria, melanomas, and tumors on fish and developed fish treatments and methods to detect pathogens. They established blood parameters for fish, evaluated pond disinfectants, and considered the effects of environmental toxins, gas supersaturation, nutritional deficiencies, and crowding on fish health. They did all these things in a time when the majority of work in fish health involved descriptions of parasite from wild fish. Contemporaries of these men developed and refined a number of interesting fish disease treatments including: submersing fish in electrozone (electrically charged salt water) for parasite control, coating fish with asphalt to eliminate parasites, dipping fish in kerosene to get rid of Ich, applying salt to the water at a rate strong enough “to bear up a potato” for fungi control, adding swamp earth to the water to eliminate parasites, and putting brandy into the mouth of almost dead carp to revive them. These early fish health pioneers, as well as some others, and their accomplishments will be discussed.