Over the past week and a half I've lost three of my four freshwater stingrays to an unknown disease (more detailed info can be found in the thread "My rays are all dying" in the stingray forum). Since the standard troubleshooting steps (water chemistry, filtration checks, etc.) haven't led anywhere, I decided to get in touch with some local fish vets. Luckily, I live right near a major research university and I was able to find a lab that will be able to perform tests on the dead rays next week.
The rays are currently in my freezer, but one person I spoke to said that in the future it's best to refrigerate them and get them to the lab ASAP for better results.
Since I rarely see fish vets/labs mentioned here, I thought it might be useful for others to live-blog this process. Perhaps it will be helpful for someone else who has lost valuable stock and isn't quite sure of where to start when it comes to pursuing this sort of inquiry. Personally, I'm interested in finding out how much this will cost and whether or not it will produce any useful knowledge.
I will be updating this thread, but please post any questions you might have about the process. (Oh, and please feel free to move this if there is a better place for this post.)
The rays are currently in my freezer, but one person I spoke to said that in the future it's best to refrigerate them and get them to the lab ASAP for better results.
Since I rarely see fish vets/labs mentioned here, I thought it might be useful for others to live-blog this process. Perhaps it will be helpful for someone else who has lost valuable stock and isn't quite sure of where to start when it comes to pursuing this sort of inquiry. Personally, I'm interested in finding out how much this will cost and whether or not it will produce any useful knowledge.
I will be updating this thread, but please post any questions you might have about the process. (Oh, and please feel free to move this if there is a better place for this post.)
