Discus, problems and solutions

Scritto da Luca Chiaravalle

Mr. Andrew Soh ci regala in anteprima assoluta la prefazione del suo nuovo libro

Having published my first book, ‘Discus, the Naked Truth’ in May 2005, I thought that work on a second publication on discus would be unnecessary since the first had covered a wide range of issues pertaining to ‘Best Discus Practices’. Though I have tried to insert as much information as possible in the first book, further inclusion was restricted by the limitation of space. It definitely needed more than a 170 pages book to do that. I hope both hobbyists and professional breeders have gained some pointers from reading my first book. Two and a half years have passed since the launch of my first discus book. I think it is timely to launch this second book, which I hope will not only compliment my first book, but will wrap up my contribution to discus knowledge as a whole. With the global discus community recognizing the first book as being a good read, embarking on this second discus book becomes even more challenging basically because it is natural for people to expect the second to be more informative and advance than the first. Simply put, it is expected to be better!!! Anyway, this second book will still run along the line of ‘Truth’ and is basically, ‘My Truth’. Why is it not the truth of the discus industry? As I have mentioned in my first book, everything from feed-formulation to disease-treatment to discus-parentage are secrets to commercial breeders and many are unwilling to share their personally acquired knowledge and discoveries with others. Therefore, there is one thing I need to be honest with you. The information I disseminate and share with readers in both my books are not compilation of information received from other breeders, the industry nor other written works but mostly from my personal experience, researches and indulgence in this ornamental fish industry. If you are amazed with the information disseminated and feel enlightened, it depicts that I have gone through lots of research and development…a lot of suffering, pain and sorrow…much more than what others might have experienced. If you feel that the information given is short of your expectation, I

am sorry for it could be that I have missed it out or that I have reached my personal limitation. No one is a ‘Know-all’. God works in a mysterious way. I cried and cursed nature for the numerous occasions where my farm was infected with diseases that lead to huge financial losses. Of all the parasites that have invaded my farm, the worse were the protozoan, Tetra Hymena; the bacterium, Aeromonas Hydrophila and the virus known as the Iridovirus, which have also caused mass mortality in many other ornamental fish-farms and also in the food-fish industry. As always, with a ‘Never-say-die’ nature, I fought furiously with these pathogens. Being a non-scientist, accessibility to laboratory equipments and material was beyond my reach and creating a vaccine is $$$$$$$. So I have to learn through the hard way, inventing better system to keep the problem in-check, work out a good husbandry system to prevent cross-contamination and concoct supplements instead of vaccines to better equip the cytotoxic T cells in their search and destroy mission, finally succeeded in eliminating most of the invaders,

including the iridovirus. Now I am proud to say that eliminating all these pathogens is no more daunting. Also, after all those sweat and tears, I came to realize that all these mishaps were actually ‘Blessings in disguise’. It is through these misfortunes that new products like Fucin, Pro-more and Pro-growth were invented and is through these that I have the confident to share my knowledge with you and the industry at large. And with the success in defeating the invaders, the company, Aqua Innovate, offering consultancy service and transfer of technology to fish-farms in the Asian region was formed. The company also provides healthy produces, brooder-stocks and quality products for the Asian ornamental fish industry. Among all the ornamental fishes kept as aquatic pets, discus is still one of those that need special attention and care. It is not surprising that even discus veterans are still riding on the learning curve in search of answers. Many are still venerable to epidemics that could easily result in mass mortality. Further to that, as new mutants appear, new methods may need to be incorporated in ensuring success. We should always be their masters and never their slaves. Therefore, to achieve a holistic approach to Discus keeping, spending time to understand their needs is vital but the ability to find immediate yet effective solution to every unpredictable predicament is the ultimate asset. This book is written to solve problems and for that reason, I titled this second book:

Discus, Problems and Solutions

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Contents

Acknowledgements....................................................................................................6

Preface.....................................................................................................................8

Introduction...........................................................................................................11

Chapter One Breeding..................................................................................17

ChapterTwo Induced Breeding.....................................................................35

Chapter Three Faces.....................................................................................49

Chapter Four Recipe...................................................................................71

Chapter Five Pro-more...............................................................................85

Chapter Six Pro-growth...........................................................................91

Chapter Seven Fucin......................................................................................97

Chapter Eight Diseases.................................................................................103

Chapter Nine Genetics..................................................................................127

Chapter Ten Frequently Asked Question......................................................171

Un particolare ringraziamento a Mr. Andrew Sow Singapore

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