Signs of cyanide caught fish?

[jdiver]

I'm curious if there is any way to tell if fish have been caught illegally using cyanide. I ask because my gf recently purchased 2 False Percs from a lfs. On day 2 they developed a minor case of ick, which disappeared after soaking their food in garlic extract and feeding it to them for a couple days. The fish both looked good, were active, and were eating. A day later (5 days after purchasing) my gf woke up, looked in the tank, and the fish were both dead. I suppose it would be odd for False Percs to be cyanide caught, but the deaths struck me as very sudden, especially since all water params tested fine and the fish appeared fine.

[MKramer]

While Amphiprion ocellaris' range does include regions where cyanide use is prohibited, they are found abundantly in areas where that is not the case. The sad truth of the matter is that collectors can make more money in higher volume by catching fish in large numbers using cyanide. I would never say it's safe to assume that any widespread fish is caught without the use of cyanide. With fish as inexpensive as A. ocellaris, any wholesaler, and then LFS, is going to be attracted by lower purchase prices, otherwise they have very little profit margin.

 

In the wholesale market these days, tank-raised A. ocerllaris are almost as cheap as net-caught specimens. Odds are probably that if they didn't bother to pay for tank-raised, they bought the cheapest clowns on the market: cyanide-caught.

 

As for your sudden fish death problem, there's no way to know the cause for sure. While cyanide capture does result in poor survival rates, ordinary shipping stress can be nearly as bad. For all you know, those particular clowns got left in their box a couple extra days, water cooling, oxygen deminishing, and ammonia rising. That alone could make them very fragile upon purchase from your LFS.

 

Short version: You'll never know. Ask before purchase. And if they tell you they're net caught, don't believe them. But at least if they tell you they're not sure, or they're definitely cyanide-caught, then you know to throw a hissy fit and recommend the store improve it's practices by using more reputable suppliers.

 

If anyone wants a list of reasonably trustworthy net-weilding collectors to supply to your local distribution centers or LFS, let me know. Most LFS can't make any use of it, other than to request that their distributors look into these more respectable collector outfits, though.

 

Matthew

[Dave ESPI]

Its something I am CONSTANTLY looking out for.

 

her are some symptioms that can be a result, BUT NOT ALWAYS THE CAUSE... on some fish.

 

 

generaly speeking slow swimming fish are NOT cyanide cought as well as fish that are open water swimmers. Reef crevace and in areas that are heavy with dense growth and make it difficult to net fish (as in dead acro groves of staghorn or table top acro fields) is where they use it mostly.

 

Stuff like small angels, some damsels, large angels, Triggers, many wrasses Squirel and soldier fish and cryptic or "burst of speed " swimmers are usualy targeted.

 

There is a "Blast radius" when cyanide is used

Within 10 feet, everything is anhilated. 10 meters= stunned.

The vilagers and fisherman try to minimize the losses by tossing the "bombs" away from the desired areas, but they still manage to kill fish. THANKFULLY due to international and ecological pressures, the use of cyanice is becomming far less widespread.

 

Cloudy eyes (could also be bacterial)

 

Sunken belly (with refusal to eat at all)

 

Wasting (narrow body and normal sized head)

 

Doughnut effect (fish constantly swims to the LEFT in circles)

 

Swimbladder failure (inability to maintain orientation in water collumn)

 

Faded color (can also be stress induced, and can return)

 

Heavy respiration (regular paces then fast paces that are super exagerated) could also be ammonia poisioning or improper re/de salination acclimation process, or high nitrates.

 

Blindness.

 

Teeter Toter Effect (inability to remain vertical)

 

HTH.

Also if you see a fish doing this....

[jdiver]

Thanks for all the info, it was quite interesting. The Clowns exhibited some of the signs listed by Dave, but I realize there is no way to know for sure, and it could be any number of things. The LFS the fish came from is one that I've had problems with before, and don't intend to deal with any more with the possible exception of some dry goods.