Free Pekins to good home, Virginia

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Our four pekin ducks are destroying the ecosystem in our pond. Eight fish died today. We would love to give them to a good home in Virginia. They have been wonderful and such fun to watch.

-- Sharon Papps (sharonva1@yahoo.com), April 17, 2002

Answers

make sure you don't have ick

might not be a duck problem

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.


Rose, what is ick?? Last year our pond; 1/2-3/4 acre 25 ft deep and with no ducks on it started to have fish floating to the top dead. First it was just one or two, then more & more & by the end we figure we've lost about half of the population. We are fairly new to KY & to having a pond. It's fed by a year round heavy flow spring so the water never gets algae growth and is clear. So far this year it hasn't happened but I wondered if 'ick' could cause a large fish kill. Thanks for your help, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), April 17, 2002.

We lost almost ALL our catfish in just a few days due to ick brought in by waterbirds from the nearby lake.

Here is the info I found on the web... This species of parasitic ciliate is well known to many aquaculturists and fish-hobbyists. It causes the disease commonly referred to as "ick," a disease that can infect and damage the skin, gills, and/or eyes of many species of fish. The parasite's life cycle is direct and simple. The trophozoites are found in pustules on the fish and escape when the pustules rupture. The trophozoites settle to the substrate, forms a "cyst," and then reproduces asexually. The cyst, now containing hundreds of "swarmers" (or tomites), breaks open, and the swarmers search for a new host. Upon contacting a new host, the swarmer or tomite burrows into the host's tissue and grows into a new pustule.

This parasite is found on many different species of fish under natural conditions, but it is a particularly serious parasite under conditions of confinement and high population density (i.e., aquaculture ponds, aquaria, etc.). There are a number of commercially available treatments for the parasite.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.


website with ICK-y pictures

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/ichthyophthirius.html

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.


You've Got Mail!

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), April 18, 2002.


Di you still want to give them up???

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), April 19, 2002.

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