Manual of Fish Health: Everything You Need to Know About Aquarium Fish, Their Environment and Disease Prevention

• 500 Freshwater Aquarium Fish: A Visual Reference to the Most Popular Species
• Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants
• The Simple Guide to Fresh Water Aquariums (Simple Guide to...)
• Setting up a Tropical Aquarium Week by Week
• A-Z of Tropical Fish Diseases and Health Problems

A healthy environment is crucial for all aquariums. It is often a challenge to understand what fish need to survive apart from a tank of water and a daily sprinkle of fish food.

The Manual of Fish Health is a fully illustrated and highly informative guide covering: - Maintaining a healthy aquatic environment - Recognizing and coping with pests, diseases, parasites and bacteria - Water chemistry and how to achieve the correct balance for your fish

This book explores vital aspects of health care for all types of fish including freshwater and saltwater, tropical and temperate, and pond and aquarium.

The clear and concise text is abundantly illustrated with underwater photography, charts, and diagrams.

Fancy Goldfish by Dr. Johnson and Hess is still the bible of goldfish care, but this book is a good addition.

This is a huge information database on fish health and diseases in my opinion that greatly signifies the authors authority in that field. The only negative is that I bought this book once on amazon and the order was canceled because of damage to the book. I have nothing but gratitude for this book as I have already cured my fish once with its help. I got it as a birthday present later though.

It has a lot of detailed pictures for identifying fish sicknesses, and is actually kind of gross, but I have never seen a book with so much info on the topic and I think that is its strongest point. I like that this book is more focused at experienced aquarist who want to further their understanding rather than people who are completely new to the hobby. I also like that it is a heavy read relative to other aquarium books, In some places I felt like I was reading a microbiology textbook. Its all around aquarium health info but it has a big section on fish health. The weakest point is there isn't much on plants which to me is just as important as the fish, I guess that's a different book.

I would not advocate the use of all the chemicals in this chapter and some may well be impossible to obtain for most people. There's some pretty good photography of various diseases that simplifies the text, and in each section there is a little box of explanation of a point in the text, be it a bacteria type or similar. The book is pretty good for most aquarists as all should have something to help with the diagnostics and treatment of their pets. In this case, I would recommend using the book then visiting a professional fish keeper, specialist shop or vet with your diagnosis after consulting the treatment section to see if there is an alternative. Where the book falls slightly short in my opinion is in the treatment section. All said and done anything that can help easy diagnosis and lead to the correct treatment of fish disease is a good thing.

At the same time, some can be simultaneouly administered with other treatments, some cannot. It would have been helpful if the book had helped me sort these details out (which I eventually did) and if it had suggested possible courses of action. And so on. That said, there are a few deficiencies that drove me back to the web for more information and hence this review.There is very little information about contemporary brands and their products that can be used to treat fish diseases.

Using the book, one can easily diagnose pop-eye (which I was combating in my prize altum angels). For example, there are 3 or more different drugs under the Mardel brand that all claim to treat pop-eye. But the suggestions are not terribly helpful in finding the right product to treat this affliction. I bought this book based on the great reviews here, and have not been disappointed.

But let this not detract you from purchasing a guide that will save you time and help you narrow your diagnosis. Some target gram-positive bacteria, some target gram-negative bacteria, and some are broad-spectrum antibiotics. Even something that lists all common antibiotics and adds a classification chart to go with them will address this concern.And as one reviewer pointed out, some of the suggestions are beyond the scope of the hobbyist.