This article is part of our special Pets section about scientists' growing interest in animal companions.
Many students enter veterinary school with career aspirations that date back to childhood, when they became obsessed with the idea of ​​caring for cats and dogs, horses and exotic animals at the zoo. Jessie Sanders came to vet school with a much more specific passion: “I was an oddball fish kid,” she says.
It was an interest she even surprised herself with: During college, Dr. Sanders began volunteering at the aquarium hoping to work with whales, but she ended up working with the fish team and fell in love with the finned whales.
“I love fish,” she says, “I love the way they're structured, I love how they interact with their environment, and there's so much we still don't know about the intricate inner workings of fish.”
Today, Dr. Sanders runs Aquatic Veterinary Services, where her patients include carnival goldfish, pet store bettas and prize koi worth tens of thousands of dollars, and last year she became one of the first 10 veterinarians to become certified in fish practice, a brand new certification.
Dr. Sanders spoke to The New York Times about life as a fish veterinarian. Her story is based on two conversations, and her answers have been edited and condensed.
I've been keeping fish pets for 10 years now and it's been wonderful and rewarding. I love the challenge of setting everything up in an underwater environment. And fish have all kinds of different personalities and lots of little quirks. Some are very calm and gentle, others are downright fearsome.
The hospital was there for about three years. Unfortunately, a 24-hour gym moved in sharing the wall next door and played music all night long. Fish have a vibration-detecting organ called a lateral line that helps them sense predators and swim in groups. Of course, playing rock music all night long is stressful. Everything that was connected to that wall was gone within a month of opening.
Now I run a mobile clinic. I serve the entire San Francisco Bay Area. I drive three to eight hours a day. When I get there, it's just like taking a cat or a dog to the vet. We talk. What's going on? Are they eating? Is there anything in particular that you want me to look at in more detail?
The most common “diseases” we see in fish are actually poor water quality. Just like the air we breathe, the water your fish swim in is important to their overall health. If they're constantly breathing in pollutants, they're more likely to get sick. So we check the water quality. If the water quality is terrible, your fish is already stressed. You don't want to mess with them because it could make the situation worse.
Then you have to catch the fish. I have a variety of nets. Cute little square aquarium nets for tank fish. I usually use one on each side of the fish to stick together and crush them. In bigger ponds I use a seine net, which has a float on the top and a weight on the bottom. Because the pond is so big, I have to use two nets and get under in waders. This is something that takes practice. No one is good at it right away, but I'm pretty good now.
Once I have caught the fish, I transfer it to a container for examination. I usually have a container filled with aquarium or pond water and a bit of sedative. For most of my physical examinations, I prefer to have the fish lightly anesthetized, as it is less stressful for the fish. Holding down a wet, slippery fish is not beneficial for either of you; it's good for the fish to be easy to handle. So, although the fish may be wiggling its fins at me, once it's anesthetized I can get a good look at its entire body.
Typically we do a skin mucus and a gill biopsy. The skin mucus biopsy is mainly just looking for parasites that are irritating the fish and making them lethargic. The gill biopsy is more important because it tells us what's going on with the fish's respiratory system. It gives us a great diagnostic tool without having to stick a tube down their throat.
If further diagnostics, ultrasounds, x-rays, etc. are needed, these can be done while the fish is asleep. One client has a goldfish pond and one goldfish won't swim with the others and remains glued to the bottom. An x-ray is done.
Buoyancy impairment occurs when a fish sinks to the bottom or floats on the surface when it should be able to swim in the middle of the water column. For fish with buoyancy disorders, it is very important to evaluate their internal structure, especially their swim bladder, the tiny air sac that helps them float.
It could also be related to feeding. This is very common in goldfish ponds, where the fish float after eating. If there is a lot of competition and limited food during feeding time, it goes crazy. They all just eat, eat, eat, and end up gulping down a little too much air.
This can be fixed by spacing out feedings a bit more, or by giving them sinking food. Many fish foods float because it gives the owner a chance to assess the fish at the surface and is obviously more interactive. Koi and goldfish are bottom-dwelling by nature, but being golden retrievers they will do anything for food so we teach them to come to the surface at feeding time.
There are many levels of fish surgery. I do a lot of eye removal surgeries. With fish, it's very easy. They don't have eyelids, so they don't need anything like an eyeball in there to look normal. I actually did surgery on a little goldfish that had an abscess in its eye. The fish was in horrible misery. We were able to remove the abscess, and the next day the owner says, “This fish is a completely different person. He's eating and moving around.” Every time, the fish makes a beautiful recovery.
Ovarian cancer in carp is very common. If detected early, it can be removed by surgery. The sedative dosage is increased. There is a special tank for the fish to stay upright in. The fish sits on a small reservoir containing anesthetic water. An aquarium pump pumps water through a tube into the fish's mouth, through the gills, and down the side of the body back to the reservoir.
The biggest problem is that the general public doesn't even know fish vets exist. Even within our own profession, we get ridiculed. In general, fish aren't respected as pets. It's like, “Why waste your time? They're just fish.” To many people, fish aren't just fish. They're actual living, breathing animals that require care and respect. Many fish are brought into homes as practice pets and are really mistreated.