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Besides nitrate and temp levels, what causes stress and what is the best way(in your opinion) to cure it?



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BIG QUESTION !!! (cracks knuckles lol)


Prepare for a huge answer, you did want the complete picture didnt you? Muhahaha. too late now...im rolling .

The way I look at it, stress is a massively inclusive term, and has become the standard byword for a lot of hugely complicated factors that basically cause a detrimental effect either physically or mentally to any given fish. It can be broken down into factors for clarity, but always remember one of the primary factors of stress is that despite often being directly responsible for ill health in a primary way ,it leaves fish open to secondary problems. Diagnosing it ,properly recognising it, and knowing the remit of it is almost as difficult as curing its symptoms. Its all interconnected .

By way of a little mindgame here I think its entirely possible to attribute stress on any given individual on a points system, and i'll use this point scoring system, that way we can even play around with stress burdens , and their likelihood of actually causing a physical problem capable of doing serious harm. Its a nice way to give "estimates" of degrees of stress, thus in effect creating a system by which undesireable stress levels can be pre-empted.

Its nice to have a system that can allow you to react pre-emptively without actually having to wait for symptoms to occur, and frankly I wish more poeple had a handle on this methodology, so while this might get long and convoluted, bear with me here. Ill keep it in laymans english where I can, and if theres anything you need explained, dont hesitate to ask. Basically ill try and break it down for anyone who doesnt know. Here we go then.(deep breath)

1 Acclimation Stress and stress from potential predation.

Ive gone for this topic first because it really is the first point of stress management for people who have just acquired new fish, but obviously people who actually capture their own fish will need to know stuff prior to this , but ill cover that on a need to know basis. The first aspect of this type of stress is psychological , stimulated by the emotional and environmental, vs the innate and learned behaviour the fish already possesses. First to strike among these is the adrenal and neurological effect, often enhanced or made worse by the "fight or flight response". Basically this is a moment of confinement, capture or transportation from, or to any given location, and every stage in between. Its a continuous process from the inception of action through to the final point at which the fish feels that it can resume normal daily behaviour with no state of alarm arousal.

The stress in this case is a perfectly normal state of hyperstimulation in response to a stimuli,usually percieved as danger. In nature , predators quickly finish hunts or predatory situations, natural disaters usually do not last a great deal of time in a "normal" wild life. This level of arousal is expected to last only a short time and the fish's anatomy and brain is usually geared only to last a certain amount of time in this state,as it is initially indended only as a stimulation to give the muscles and the brain all the immediate awareness and power required for those quick getaways or that massive impending violence.

If the stimulation continues beyond acceptable limits , stress will become shock, the body will attempt to protect itself by causing the retreat of blood to the crucial organs, and by shutting off additional brain activity. This can lead to coma and death from heart attack. Extreme hypertension can also cause blood vessels to explode, muscles to tear, and strokes to happen.Some fish will become torpid, other will become irrepressably violent, but the more usual response is to blindly take flight, with no result other than complete exhaustion. The response depends on species and the idividual, but any way you slice it, maintaining the stimulus that causes the fight or flight response to continue ends up with a fish taking on a massive metabolic change, and the longer it continues in this very energy expensive vein,the greater the likelihood of permanent damage.

This applies to the situations of netting, moving tanks, transport, and releases into new aquaria, new quarantine, putting fish in with predators or in other situation like some idiot banging on your glass front, dying a fish via injection, and basically administering any handling or invasive procedure without anaesthesia.

There is obviously no cure for this, except to change the stimulus, either by ending the activity and allowing the fish to find refuge, or to deny the fish its senses by anaethesia, or by that common pet store trick, bagging it in darkness. Stimuli reduction is the key.

Those fish that have gone into deep shock and require medical assistance can be helped by a counteractive steroid stimulant that brings them back into the world of the living with some rapidity. This will not be anavailable option for most fish. For the home keeper, keeping stressed fish dark and quiet is usually the best that can be done, although providing them with constants like a familiar situation to them can be for the best too. Imagine a fish stressed out by quarantine finally returning to its own tank and home territory, no matter if it still lit. AHHHH bliss.

for aguement sake give it 10 out of 10 for stress acuity. This is the type of stress that is most likely to kill a fish flat out dead.With this level of stress, most "stress cures" are a bit of a sham and are unlikely to do anything but the most peripheral good. They might help obscure some symptoms but basically they do bugger all real good.


2 Environmental Stress and Sickness/Parasite burdens and stress from pain and injury


This one includes most of the chemical reasons, yknow all the usual,chlorine and untreated tapwater, high nitrate, ph levels being off, too many or two few dissolved salts, present ammonia and nitrite, too many protiens and fats in the water, photoshock(which links back to fight or flight again), oxygen deprivation, etc etc. The net effect of all this is a fish that has a physical and mental stress combination. One type of stress feeds the other making for an eventually often devastating stress score. If the breathing is affected, the fish struggles for breath and a portion of its mentality has to cope by changing its behaviour. A fish hasnt got much brain to work with, they like simple lives and only the most gregarious fish will usually complicate their lives out of choice,when a fish has to think about compensating for in inflicted disability no matter how temporary, it will suffer stress. If it is constantly tired with illness, bad respiration , or nagging pain, they get stressed just like we do. The ultimate end of this is a fish that cant function.

Fish are logical creatures really. If they keep puking they stop eating, if they keep getting beat up cos they drift into the wrong terrirtoy, they stop moving, fish are like many animals , when something becomes too consistantly difficult, rather like many of us humans, they will give up on it. Some of it is real life and death stuff, and if they feel so week that the mind fails and they stop reacting normally, the flesh will fail, the sicknesses will come and be worsened. This is like watching someone break,from a nervous breakdown or depression, and along with other methods fish use to cope with the unnacceptable situations, stereotypical and illogically self harming or self repeating behaviour, it seems that simply giving up is an involntary choice taken by many fish.

Above all I think this is the saddest stress you can witness. It is the most suffering, and the most easily prevented.

Good husbandry, good knowledge of water chemistry ,medications and some sensible decision making can cure 99% of all this stuff. Remember not treating a sick animal in most countries isnt just a tragic error, its also illegal. It constitutes animal abuse. A lot of animal law recognises environmental stress as an illness.

Scires for this stress can be as little as 2 all the way up to a very progressive and fatal 10.

3 Suboordinate Stress

The same applies to the residents of tanks with very strident fish who just cant quite make the seniority grade. Repressed, shy or suboordinate fish , rather like humans suffer from increased illness and behavioural disorders ranging from crippled growth rates, to complete psychological breakdowns as a result of persecution and suboordination. It is always the fishkeepers responsibility to house only compatible specimens. you sure can watch them settle scores and work out rank order, but when a fish is outright persecuted, it is always your responsibility to house it seperately, not watch it die in a state of stress over weeks or weven years. Fishtanks arent nature and we have to sort it out. Few fish die from having nothing to fight lets face it, and im not about to sacrifice the life of a fish for the ego of another. Tankmate selection is an important business. Creating the correct social structure in a tank is as important as creating hiding spots and refuges, and the two are totally interconnected, Your fish might not just be frightened of you, but also of your cat, the shadow in the corner, the sounds of footsteps and their cagemates!

As with all accumulative damage, these kinds of stresses are best nipped in the bud early before the myriad of complications can make treating the problem a never ending cycle of modification and never ending medications. Its all in the planning, and the pre -emptive design process, which is why we like many others on net communities spend a lot of time finding out the best solutions, asking opinion, and spreading the good word on husbandry and responsibility.


4 Breeding stress

This can be linked to suboordination stress and environmental stress. Fish that breed incessantly in tanks when they never would in nature should be seperated occassionally for their health. Breeeding overdrive often causes fish to die young, and since many fish clutch size and quality improves with age you can be doing the species a disservice , This can be both a case of stress from physical and mental exhaustion. You breed a beloved fish too early and too hard, and you get crap fry. Dont do it. A lot of commercial breeders are at fault with this, its not only genetics that cause weakness , its just the general health and maturity of the breeding stock. Ever heard those complaints that fish just dont live as long as they used to? Combine this with a poor genetic variation and selective breeding and you sure have your answer as to why. Stressed fish make rubbish parents of poor offspring, and this is true of just about any species. Prolific doesnt always equal high quality, its just that there is a commercial pressure for it. Males fall victim just as much as females, the male dwarf gourami has been known to die of exhaustion maintaining bubble nests, the females if over bred are lucky to make a year. Male cichlids the world over are killed in their tens of thousands trying to fight for territory. Give em a break!

5) Medical stress

This one comes at the end for a good reason. Its bloody unlikely! Most people worldwide dont do enough to treat the medical conditions of their fish, but then unfortunately you get those at the other end who just cant let go. Some are so extreme as to regularly treat healthy fish that are in a contained and already sterile environment for conditions they couldnt possibly have! How demented is that? People actually making healthy fish ill with meds! Somehow a few slightly dim people managed to escape the truth that fish meds are actually toxins and they think that fish can chug down on them 24/7! Most meds have toxins that at the very least have to be or are incidentally metabolised by a fish's renal system, and not only can you cause discomfort , there can be neurological and behavioural problems and overstimulation becuase of the continued use. Sterility in fish is not an uncommon side effect of continuous med us, particulary with drugs like metronidazole. Simple answer to that one is use em only when you have to!

The sad reality is that there are species of fish that are imported that just dont do well in aquaria as yet. There are weak fry that should have been culled, deformed fish, etc. They suffer from depression and stress all their lives, improper feeding, unknown water qualities, and low immune systems , but whatever the reason ultimately they just wont make it, and for these unlucky fish, death really would be a release. Except some people cant bring themselves to euthanisation, and end the suffering. Instead they go on week after week, month after moth piling in the antibiotics, incessant medical cures that do nothing, force feedings on fish that arent suited to it,etc etc, and eventually your fish ends up debilitated. It should have died while in a better condition to be honest, and before it experienced all that pain. This life stress is a good reminder that people often err at both extremes.As much as you need to be quick off the mark to treat, you have to know when to stop and if to euthanise.
Its always an emotive subject, but sooner or later death is an inevitable truth, and some fish cannot be allowed to suffer for so long.It achieves nothing except living in pain and desperation.Avoiding that life is why fish give up sometimes in the first place. The law recognises overmedication as animal abuse. Besides some people that do it are scary, anyone remember what people with munchausens by proxy are capable of?

There, that should keep you going for a bit ;D

The basic and fundamental cure for stress is to remove itand avoid it.It isnt really a med related issue. You can add a few appropriate chemicals in the odd situation that help take the edge off, but ive never used them, and i have well over 200 fish now, have done for years, and theyre not dropping like flies. Its all in the design and consideration stages. Stress in fish is usually because the owner screwed something up during planning , or just acquired a new fish. Hopefully for mos experienced keepers the stress is on them and not their fish! In fact having just reread this post I kinda realised how much of it is true of humans.No wonder half the world seems on medication...nobody actually seems to fix anything! Ill have a pint of stress- zyme.

Cheers!

..........WOW..........
That was probably the GREATEST reply to any one of my posts. That covered more than i could possibly imagine. I never knew stress was caused by netting and/or movement. I thought that Moving and netting fish to a quarantine tank was A-OK. i will refer to this guide as much as possible. Thanks again!

Sweet Post



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I aint finished yet, ill give ya the full run down. the above reply will probably keep growing for the next hour or so lol. We do it for the kids lol.

Update : 4.36 am gmt : ive done as much as I can be bothered, i need coffee, cigarettes, and meat products now.

I blame it on "forum exhaustion stress" .

Apologies to anyone suffering from the same after having actually read it.lol.

Most everything causes some stress to a fish. Motion around the tank, disturbances in the water, definitely being chased, caught, and removed from their tank, changes in water parameters including ones we can't test for like different mineral content of different waters, changes in the layout of the tank(moving, adding, or taking out decorations), which of course also means being moved to a new tank with a different layout, changes in lighting....

You could probably go on for pages listing all the things that can cause any amount of stress to a fish. Some of those things they just have to get used to such as changes in light. Most will not cause death provided you do a few things to lessen them. Carefully matching all testable water parameters when doing water changes or moving them to a different tank along with proper acclimating procedures is a main one. Making sure there is hiding places for when they get stressed out from motion around the tank, loud noises, changes in lighting, or similar things can help alot. The most important thing you can do though, once your fish is properly acclimated to it's new tank, is to keep up on regular water changes and tank maintenance. While most of those stresses are temporary problems living with dirty water or poor filtration and water movement is something that will effect them everyday and won't go away without intervention. Keeping nitrates low keeps their overall health high so that they don't succumb to small or temporary stressors including illnesses. Healthy fish in healthy tanks don't get sick often and can recover from most illnesses they do catch. A healthier fish also handles changes in it's environment better than a sick already stressed out fish.

Hi,
Stress can also be caused by the way the tank is arranged.
Fish need to feel protected (goes with the predation part)
They should have plants in the tank that will give them
a sense of security from the sides, as well as from the
surface. Some fish live among tall plants so they are not
attacked from the surface by birds or other wildlife
and from the sides by other fish.
If you have no plants that partially cover the surface, or
have large leaves for the fish to swim under, then they
can be stressed from fear of predation

Stress should be considered when you place a tank within
a room. It should not be in a high traffic area. It should
not be placed in an area where kids are running back and
forth, or where visitors can tap on the glass to watch the
fish jump. To a fish, tapping the glass is as if you were
sitting in a 55G drum and had someone smacking the sides
of the drum with a sledge hammer.

Frank


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