This is an entirely TRUE biograph of the experience of a young lady working at a Pond Center and dealing with the repercussions of a Koi Herpes Virus outbreak. She recalls the losses of the fish and then the aftermath for the business, in lives lost and the realization that many businesses won’t deal with situations ethically. Fish death en masse, and watching unscrupulous businesses harming the public are scarring events for a young person. I find that Koi Herpes Virus is dealt with in sterile terms and that throwing around “Destroy all the infected fish” is handled casually when in fact it’s not. This is the true story of a girl from 2012, and how she and some co-workers coped with Koi Herpes Virus.

My experience with KHV.

I find it difficult and uncomfortable to write about this, even though it’s been over 15 years since I had the nightmare of dealing with KHV. I had pushed this experience to the back of my memories because it’s still awful to think of it.

I was an employee at place that retailed pond fish. I was a few years into my pond career with a good grasp of the basics (water quality, filtration, and ecosystem). Studying and learning the more advanced areas of fish health (scrapings, disease identification, medications). I was very interested in learning about fish health because I hated having to throw out dead fish. It was very sad ! The more I learned, the more fish I could save. To me it was also very important to sell healthy fish. Our customers and their fish counted on us.

I also learned in pond retail as, in many kinds of retail, best procedures and or employees opinions are not always listened to. While the ideal thing to do for fish health is to quarantine new fish for 2 weeks, this isn’t practical practice for most store owners, so they don’t quarantine period. Instead stores count on vendors having pre-quarantined the fish. Most vendors are great helpfully, reliable, and trustworthy. Store owners and customers count on the employees to be reliable and trust worthy.

Employees count their vendors and bosses to be reliable and trust worthy. Occasionally you have that vendor or boss who cares more about money than customers or fish.

My store had multiple vendors and all had separate filtration systems. The store owner was concerned when here seemed to be an issue with the fish. The owner would allow us to shut down the sales from a system if there was an issue. The owner and I both became suspicious of a vendor who kept ending sick fish, and an employee who kept ordering from them and allowing the situation to escalate. The details of why aren’t important to this story. Both the employee and the vendor were let go.

I was now responsible for a lot of fish lives and trying to discover why they were dying. Upon being in charge I implemented some basic procedures I feel every fish retailer should follow; daily water testing and charting, daily 10 % water change, charting fish loss per system, separate fish nets in buckets with Net Sanitizer and hand sanitizer for each system. No cross contamination ! Because of these steps I was able to quickly identify there was a higher than average death rate in 2 systems as suspected that was growing higher exponentially daily. Fish in both of these systems had come from the aforementioned shady fish vendor. The fish were getting ulcers in multiple places on their face, sides, belly and tail… fin rot ? Tail rot ? Bacterial infection ? Parasites ?
We maintained the shutdown of sales of fish from those systems. We told customers who asked that we “we were quarantining new fish”. I don’t remember the exact order in which I tried things, it was long ago. I do remember that I tried every medication that I could and nothing was working. Every day more and more fish looked sick, sunken eyes, flesh rotting off their bodies, being eaten away by an invisible monster that could not test for. I don’t recollect how many fish I threw out, I stopped counting when it was over 75 per day. I feel like this happened over a 2 -4 week time, but I am not positive. At this point I had done enough investigating that I suspected and feared KHV. The store owner was reluctant to test for it. A positive test result would have to be reported and could result in the loss of his business! The boss did know (as I knew) that it did need to be addressed so I found a way to test anonymously. I sent samples from each system and waited an excruciating amount of time.

In the meantime, customers started coming in who were having issues with fish they bought from a different fish store. After some questions to the customers I believe the other fish store received the shipment intended for us when my boss fired the shady vendor. I was so grateful that it was the other store that received that shipment.

I finally received the results I had been expecting and dreaded. We had KHV ! The store owner and I had discussed the situation. I had not been allowed to discuss it with other employees, and was instructed to not inform employees or customers. The store owner (out of fear) did not report our positive KHV test. The owner agreed that we should destroy the fish in the 2 KHV positive systems. The owner did not want to destroy all the Koi. The owner could not afford the loss of reputation or financial cost of losing that many fish nor having to shut down. We continued selling fish from our other systems.

I researched the most humane way to euthanized fish. I went to the health store (an ironic sad laugh here) to buy all of their clove oil bottles. I waited the next day for all our employees to leave for the day, as instructed by the store owner. One manager sensed something was wrong and refused to leave until I explained through tears what I was about to do. I’m grateful to that manager for not letting me go through the experience alone, and sharing the burden of that memory in silence with me. They helped me drop the water level in the tanks, prepare dozens of extra-large fish bags scoop thousands live and dying fish into the bags.

I’m grateful to that manager for not letting me go through the experience alone, and sharing the burden of that memory in silence with me.

I felt like the fish stared at us as we put their still breathing bodies into overcrowded bags and poured in clove oil and tied off the bags and began to fill the next bag. Once all of the fish were in bags with clove oil we waited and as they slowly stopped breathing and moving. If it was taking too long for them to die we added more clove oil. Once they were all dead we put the bags of fish in double black trash bags and then threw them in the store’s dumpster. It was a sickening experience, the store manager and I both cried then and that night and never spoke of it again.

The next day I had to make up excuses why there 2 empty fish systems while I decontaminated all the equipment. Over the next month we left the systems empty while I ran multiple decontamination methods to make sure the KHV was gone. I bleached everything for one method and separately used potassium permanganate for the other method. I repeated these 2 separate methods over the next month until I felt the systems were safe to use again.

To be extra cautious when I restarted the 2 systems I made them the goldfish systems as they don’t get KHV and then cleaned the old goldfish systems and readied them for new KOI fish bought from more reputable vendors.

I learned during that decontamination period from customers that came in that the other fish store had been having issues was completely shut down. I know that my no-cross-contamination policy saved the koi in the other systems in our store. The other koi never had a health issue during this time. It seemed that we had shut down our sale of fish in those systems just in time.

To my knowledge we did not sell infected fish to our customers. I felt extremely bad for the store that bought our tainted shipment and the customers that bought fish there. I feel extremely bad to this day for anyone having to deal with KHV. It is heartbreaking to watch such beautiful creatures die. If you have had the responsibility of mass destroying KHV positive fish, there aren’t any words to describe the imprint this leaves forever on  your soul.

I did a thing so I could live with myself, and rescued a small number of spectacular and beautiful KHV positive koi who were asymptomatic. They were relocated to a secret isolated pond with caretakers aware of the situation. Those fish have lived and thrived with no issues. I prefer picturing those few select fish swimming happily along, to remembering the thousands of unfortunate dead fish.

I have written this story to the best of my recollection because I wanted to share it and collectively we can handle KHV better.

If you find a turtle (broken or not) on the road that needs help, for example a subdivision on both sides and a shopping center across the street, bring it here and I’ll relocate it. If it’s just crossing the road, put it off on the side of the road that looks safest. I repeat: DO NOT PUT THE TURTLE IN THE CHURCH PARKING LOT or a CONSTRUCTION SITE just BECAUSE THAT IS THE DIRECTION IT WAS CROSSING THE ROAD. (Yes, I read the National Geographic article, but it’s being interpreted literally.) Turtles are in the road to breed, lay eggs or OFTEN to escape from environmental trouble.

If the turtle is broken, but it’s alive, I’ll try to fix it. If I fail, I will put it down humanely. If I succeed it may join a rehab colony or be released in North or South Georgia. But not into some “Mower-palooza” hahaha.

There are three conditions: I don’t give the turtle back. There is no cost. I forget the third condition. Oh well. Wait.. Condition three: Yes, I almost never retrieve turtles. You need to bring it here. Last year I came and got ONE turtle because it was too heavy for practically anyone to pick up (48 pounds emaciated) and was in a 2.5ft deep hole. 3100 Roswell Road Suite #113 Marietta GA or call 770.977.5377 they’ll say “He doesn’t treat turtles” because I don’t professionally treat turtles.

But FIXING BROKEN NATIVE SPECIES WILDLIFE, yes, why yes I do. And thanks very much for your kind attention.

I hope you win the lottery which is a lot nicer to wish you, than just “Have a nice day.” But you can do that too.

To order:  https://savingsickfish.org/order

I love keeping hermit crabs as pets. I was fascinated by their need for fresh and salt water. This document describes how they get water, if they have to immerse, the role of humidity, ideal temperatures, and exactly WHY they need salt water AND freshwater in their enclosures. AND it tells EXACTLY how and why they use the salt water and fresh water. Hermit crabs. Who’d a thunk it?

This looks like some arcane document from the fourteen hundreds (1400’s) but it’s just 1972. 1400’s or 1972: Same thing right?

This document discusses how hermit crabs store water in their shells and also, what the amounts of fresh water and salt water are. I didn’t know there was a variance on that. It also talks about the physiology of dehydration, rain, hyperhydration and the whole shenanigan is 148 pages long! I did find it a fascinating read. Nerd.

https://drjohnson.com/hermitcrabs/

Odd things, in Veterinary medicine when a Mastocytoma shows up. Let me catch you up.

Here’s some highlights if you’re looking at a Mastocytoma / Histiocytoma diagnosis with a pet of your own:

1. Dog seldom die of Mastocytoma.
2. Dogs seldom die of Histiocytoma
3. Histiocytomas and Mastocytomas often appear identically.
4. Mastocytomas are “Graded” on a scale running from 1 to 3.
5. Some Mastocytomas are like Millennials and basement dwelling videogamers who are happy to achieve thirty years old living unmarried in their parents basement. On the other hand, some Mastocytomas are like Elon Musk and spread like the culturally co-opting phrase “I celebrate Ramadan” at an “inclusive” post menopausal white woman dinner party.
6. Chemotherapy and radiation have no impact on whether your dog will have another Mastocytoma. About thirty percent of dogs sprout another Mastocytoma whether you spend $12,000-$21,000 on an oncologist, or NOT.**

For starters, you can’t usually tell by looking at a “mass” whether it’s a Mast Cell Tumor (mastocytoma) or a Histiocytoma. (Same “cancer” except it’s made of renegade Histiocytes).

Nearly round, raised pink ‘mass’ that sometimes bothers the dog, sometimes changes in size from day to day and usually drops the hair growing on it. They look like someone tried to graft a strawberry onto the skin.

So it’s not REALLY a visual diagnosis. But it tries to be.

When you suspect a Mastocytoma I like to remove the mass with the widest margins I can still close safely. I like to remove the mass-primary and also go a little deeper and take whatever subcutis I can, usually there’s a layer of fat you can take without consequence to the dog or the surgery. When I get my results back and they say “narrow margins” I can sleep at night knowing I took it a step further and got “more”

What exactly IS a histiocytoma or mastocytoma? Apparently it’s a giant “party” of cancerous / renegade inflammatory cells that have aggregated in one location which creates the equivalent of a mass. The argument might maintain that ONE mastocyte went ‘crazy’ and formed a tumor with a zillion clones of itself. Sometimes I wonder if these “masses” of cancerous mastocytes are actually “working on something” we don’t understand. Like a ‘dog pile’ instead of one cell creating a mass of it’s own replicates. Ahhhhhh who cares.

For the most part, “gone is gone”.

Histopathology of one Mastocytoma reflects “grading” and the typical biopsy report:  2024-04-26mastocytoma

I recommend a biopsy of these masses. A histopathologist can look at the mass under a microscope with special stains and tell us what kind of tumor we have, and then they can GRADE IT. And a higher grade mass is harsh and fast. A lower grade mass (Grade I for example) is like that kid that never launches because he’s on his videogame every spare moment. They don’t grow, fast if it all and they don’t move around. They stay right where they started. You can remove them without a trace.

These days: Franchises and corporate veterinary environments have found a lucrative, chemo/radiation approach to Mastocytomas. I haven’t seen one case where it made a difference over just leaving the dog alone after resection. **

If your dog has something that looks like a Histiocytoma or Mastocytoma, you can try smearing it with some hydrocortisone or giving some antihistamines to see if the cells can be ‘dismissed’ and disperse. In all likelihood, removal is a better option, cutting wide and going deep. Interpret the biopsy with “How we will handle potential future masses or ‘growbacks'” and then decide if you want to pay for oncology or not. Chemo/Radiation has not made a difference to the pets we sent out for it, or for those owners who didn’t want it. (And there are a LOT of those who can’t afford it.) And it’s from these cases WITHOUT chemo/radiation that we see in clinical-practice that even without it, dogs do “pretty well” with high odds of survival.

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[ps2id id=’why-chemo’ target=”/]Okay so here is how that goes. In the eighties and nineties we removed Mastocytomas and held our breath. 20-30% of dogs got another Mastocytoma sooner, or often: Later. Which we’d remove and nobody died.

More recently, it’s been far more profitable to do chemotherapy or radiation on the Mastocytoma cases especially if they are high grade. And then: Over the years subsequent: 20-30% of dogs get another Mastocytoma sooner, or often: Later.

Which leaves ME wondering why we’re doing chemo and radiation on all the Mastocytomas if the outlook for recurrence is clinically the same?

NAC Canine n-Acetyl-Cysteine NAC For Dogs.

I’ve had questions about NAC. And there’s a LOT of hype and “buzz” around it.

First, “What is n-Acetyl cysteine (NAC)?”

It’s an Amino Acid. It’s rich in cysteine and serine. Yay!

Where to get NAC Quickly, Affordably and Safely

We used to use n-Acetyl cysteine as an “inhaler” and it would VERY effectively break down and move out mucus in the lungs and bronchi.

Then I guess someone thought: “We should inject n-Acetyl cysteine into dogs, and feed it to them. And just see what happens.”

And found out that it’s “magical” and benefits practically everything they tried it on. (150mg/20lb Once a Day at least, all the way up to 100mg/lb is recommended in some places.)

My recommendation:   20mg per pound once or twice a day. 60 lbs = 1200mg once a day.

I mean, n-Acetyl cysteine kills effing GERMS!!! It boosts the number and function of anti-oxidant producing cells and production in the body. n-Acetyl cysteine’s used in airway AND neurological injury. It can help the liver to heal, to survive intoxication, and to help restore function.

And, n-Acetyl cysteine has all the benefits of other “big time” antioxidants. It’s a precursor to Glutathione, the OG (original gangsta) of antioxidants.

Where to get NAC Quickly, Affordably and Safely

I am presenting a small curated list of articles that flesh this out and some doses from “reasonable and trustworthy sources” on the Interwebs.

Optimal Nac Dosages For Dogs- A Guide. – PetShun

NAC_In_Traumatic_Brain_Injury

Amelioration of oxidative stress using N‐acetylcysteine in canine parvoviral enteritis – PMC

Antibacterial effect of N-acetylcysteine on common canine otitis externa isolates – PubMed

Top 9 Benefits of NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine)

Effect of N‐Acetylcysteine Supplementation on – Clinical Score, and Survival in Hospitalized Ill Dogs

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Dosing NAC In Dogs

Green is the recommended dose for the dog. In yellow is a higher-end dose and caution could be exercised as it’s possible to upset the stomach with NAC in the higher dose ranges. Where to get NAC Quickly, Affordably and Safely

Where to get NAC Quickly, Affordably and Safely

Surgery Recovery Suits have a few features to look for:

These features are IMPORTANT

1. You might need one with full front leg coverage
2. You might need one with full hind leg coverage.
3. And you just might need to protect the dog’s trunk or soft parts like the following one:

So one feature is leg coverage or not.

The second feature is whether the dog can still get to it’s soft parts. (Private parts) which is sometimes undesirable)

In the above image –  there is NO ACCESS TO HER GIRLPARTS –  the hole is for where the dog’s tail goes through. YOU HAVE TO OPEN THE SUIT FOR THE DOG TO PEE AND POOP.

Which leads me to my NEXT feature and that’s the VELCRO tabs you see going up on her sides. That makes this thing

1. Infinitely adjustable
2. Quick to open and reclose

So make SURE when you buy that you get the one that protects the girl / boy parts if that is the “point” of the suit. And make sure it’s got the tabs going  up the sides of the abdomen and:

1. NOT zipper
2. NOT snaps.

Any Surgery Recovery Suit you choose should have two Velcro tabs running up either side of the abdomen in front of the hind legs. THAT is adaptability and ease-of-use.

Here’s Where to Start (Click Here)

Conserving SeaTurtles in Fresh Water – It Can and Should Be Done.

The TL;DR – Sea Turtles can survive and thrive in fresh water. They would be safe from a globe full of fishermen who harvest as many as they can catch. Breeding sea turtles could at LEAST be done artificially but it’s possible they can learn to reproduce on artificial beaches. Feeding sea turtles would require manmade feed. Space needed for sea turtles would be large lakes. Impact on the environment could be gauged in smaller private lakes and bodies of water. (Bibliography)

Since I was in my teens I’ve dreamed of rearing Sea Turtles in fresh water. I always thought it was possible and now I know that it is. My first exposure to that reality was a side show in Florida. A man had a Sea Turtle swimming around in an above-ground swimming pool in fresh water. Apparently he did not know they only lived in salt water.

The turtle had been captive (on display) for at LEAST five years in exclusively fresh water eating bits of fish, and probably dog food.

Two other cases of Sea Turtles that “got lost” in fresh water ponds, and which swam up the Potomac to happily swim around for an undetermined amount of time prove that freshwater does not kill Sea Turtles. These cases are described in the limited bibliography below. (Bibliography)

Reasons that Chat GPT AI Generated articles conclude that Sea Turtles can’t survive in fresh water:

• Kidneys are engineered to handle tons of salt.
• The Sea Turtle is engineered for Salt Water
• There’s no mollusks, lobster, jelly fish in Freshwater.
• Freshwater pollution is bad for them
• Freshwater predators & diseases are unknown to them.
• Marine water is optimal for them.

And that’s LITERALLY all there is.

These push backs are SURMOUNTABLE entirely. For example we can FEED the Sea Turtles in the habitat / conservatory.We can conserve them against other turtles and predators. We can control certain environmental conditions including heat and alkalinity.

Let’s look at that list again:

• Kidneys are engineered to handle tons of salt. (But they can handle fresh water just fine if acclimated)
• The Sea Turtle is engineered for Salt Water (And a cactus is engineered for the desert but can live in a house)
• There’s no mollusks, lobster, jelly fish in Freshwater. (Sea Turtle Food would not be challenging to manufacture)
• Freshwater pollution is bad for them (Wild in freshwater, MAYBE but no more deadly than a boat load of hungry fishermen in Manila)
• Freshwater predators & diseases are unknown to them. (This would require initial quarantine and experimentation but their worst predators and diseases would actually be ABSENT.)
• Marine water is optimal for them. (No evidence suggests that Fresh Water couldn’t be as good or better)

Would You Be Risking Threatened, Wild Sea Turtles to Your Experiment?

NO not at all.

Every Sea Turtle in the conservatory could be purchased from a turtle farm in the Caymans. NO WILD TURTLES WOULD BE RISKED. (Where the turtles would come from)

The advantages would be numerous

1. Turtles would start out young and adapt to freshwater more easily
2. Bouyancy issues would be easier on the animals practically raised in fresh water
3. Adaptation to new (commercial prepared Mazuri) food would be smoother for young turtles
4. Breeding would be several years off while the Conservatory developed the needed infrastructure, technique and experience.

We would need:

• Mazuri Feeds to design and produce a food for the Sea Turtles
• Blink or Ring or similar to provide cameras to detect human and other predators and provide an early warning.
• DJI to provide a few drones for capturing images of thieves, predators and announcing their location to law enforcement
• Fiberglass inground and aboveground pools for the young turtles being prepared / acclimated to the facilities.
• A front end loader to engineer and build the holding water for the young turtles.
• Acres and acres of fresh water land in Southern Florida so that the turtles could receive the correct temperatures and light.
• Sand for artificial beaches
• Incubation and Hatchery equipment
• Invitation to any Sea Turtle conservationists ,  marine biologists or similar to advise on all things “Sea Turtle”.

Will this ever happen?

Almost certainly not. Mankind has a tendency to “extinct” animals. And so far the only animals that have survived that are FARMED and IMPORTANT.

It is ABSOLUTELY probable that in the interest of keeping NO SEA TURTLE IN CAPTIVITY, the powers-that-be will (in the Big Picture) condemn the species’ to death at the hands of fishermen across the globe even while saving “one nest at a time” on Florida beaches.

The Sea Turtle Farm in the Caymans is (to me) the ONLY hope for long range sea turtle survival by attaching economic import and success to SeaTurtle culture. Unfortunate that there isn’t safe “room” in nature for these animals but we can cry about that all we want. It doesn’t stop those thousands of little boats with fishermen harvesting as many as they can catch and laundering them through Hong Kong.

 

[ps2id id=’sea-turtle-bibliography’ target=”/]Partial Bibliography

Turtle Debate- Can Sea Turtles Live In Freshwater- – MarinePatch

Can sea turtles live in freshwater- [Answered]

Can Sea Turtles Live in Freshwater- A Comprehensive Guide – Tortoise Website

Can Sea Turtle Live in Freshwater – Turtles Talk