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by Christopher Chantrill
January 26, 2005
The primary thing to keep in mind about German and Russian thought since1800 is that it takes for granted that the Cartesian, Lockean or Humean scientific and philosophical conception of man and nature... has been shown by indisputable evidence to be inadequate.
F.S.C. Northrop, The Meeting of East and West
Inquiry does not start unless there is a problem... It is the problem and its characteristics revealed by analysis which guides one first to the relevant facts and then, once the relevant facts are known, to the relevant hypotheses.
F.S.C. Northrop, The Logic of the Sciences and the Humanities
Knowledge begins with a problem.
Christopher Chantrill, after John Dewey
But I saw a man yesterday who knows a fellow who had it from a chappie that said that Urquhart had been dipping himself a bit recklessly off the deep end.
Freddy Arbuthnot in Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison
Don Beck/Clare Graves. Don Beck wrote Spiral Dynamics with Christopher Cowan. Their book is a culmination of a century of developmental psychology that begins with the American psychologist James Mark Baldwin and reaches an apogee with the work of Clare Graves. Beck proposes to understand human behavior and motivation with an eight turn spiral of human consciousness, from barely self-conscious to tribal to impulsive, to purposeful, to creative, to communitarian, to integrated, to holistic.
Here are some Spiral Dynamics links: Becks own site here, Cowans own site here, an explanation of Spiral Dynamics here, here and here, and a site devoted to Clare Graves here.
Friedrich Hayek mounted the first great challenge to the welfare state with The Road to Serfdom, arguing that it would lead to the same all-powerful state as that desired by the fascists and the communists, but by easy stages. His Constitution of Liberty was an attempt to imagine a government free from the encroachment of administrative law and rational planning.
Ludwig von Mises was the genius who pointed out in the 1920s that socialism was impossible because it couldnt compute prices. His great Human Action was a mid-twentieth century masterpiece that attempted to extend economics into a general theory of human action.
F.S.C. Northrop was a Yale law professor who went to Germany in the 1920s to get his PhD and learned about modern physics. He learned how the Kantian tradition in Germany regarded the Anglo-American empirical tradition as hopelessly outdated and naive. He also understood, after World War II, how Kant had opened a Pandoras Box that led to the brilliant mistakes of Fichte, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche and the evil of Hitler. His Meeting of East and West written just after World War II was a work of true multiculturalism, showing how the great high cultures of the world were complementary, and that by joining the excessively deductive culture of the West to the excessively inductive culture of the East we could achieve a true meeting of East and West.
Michael Novak wrote The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism to challenge the liberation theology that was popular in the Catholic Church in the 1970s. He proposes a Greater Separation of Powers beyond the practical separation of government branches. He differentiates society into a political sector, an economic sector, and a religious/cultural sector. These jealous centers of power check and balance each other in our modern cosmopolitan society.
Camille Paglia is a feisty Amazon who has interpreted western art in early Nietzschean terms as the struggle between Apollo and Dionysius. Her Sexual Personae reminds us that civilization is just a thin Apollonian veneer that we have constructed to shut out the terror of the Dionysian turmoil just beneath the surface.
Roger Scruton is a British philosopher and conservative. He calls himself both a person of the rational Enlightenment and an old-fashioned Englishman. Son of an atheistic Communist he found that he had to make the choice between reform and revolution in the Paris student riots of May 1968. He describes his turn to conservatism eloquently in Why I Became a Conservative. But his conservatism was scandalous in the left-wing academy of Britain. He was for a time a Professor of Aesthetics at Birkbeck College but had to leave the suffocating left-wing atmosphere. He founded and edited the conservative Salisbury Review for many years and has written several books on philosophy, including Kant and An Intelligent Persons Guide to Philosophy. A cultural and political conservative Scruton has expressed his conservative politics in books like A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism, and his cultural conservatism in titles like Modern Culture. Scruton has written novels and two operas, and rides to hounds (i.e. foxhunting).
Rodney Stark and his merry men are sociologists of religion that have mounted an insurgency against the established notion that western society is in a process of irrevocable secularization and that soon, religion just wont matter much any more. Instead they argue in The Churching of America and many other books that religion evolves in waves of secularization and revival. Anyway, how do you account for the fact that religious adherence in the United States has gone from 17 percent in 1776 to over 60 percent right now? Particularly annoying to his critics is his symbolization of preachers as religious entrepreneurs and churches as religious firms.
Frederick Turner is an English professor in Texas. His Culture of Hope and his Shakespeares Twenty-first Century Economics describe his vision of a society that has vaulted optimistically out of the current elites death spiral into postmodernist despair. He proposes that modern business society is not just a matter of dry contracts and the cash nexus. The Merchant of Venice demonstrated, for anyone who would pay attention, that business requires not just rules and pounds of flesh, but mercy, that falleth like the gentle rain from heaven.
Eric Voegelin belongs to a generation of sadder, wiser Germans that responded to the disaster of 1914-45 by going back to the origins of the Judeo-Hellenistic-Christian tradition. In his monumental Order and History he attempted to refound the western experience as a search for order. Voegelin attacked the universal practice of stigmatizing old ways of thinking as superstition, your Lie that must be destroyed because it stands in the way of my Truth. He proposed that each advance in human understanding was a leap in being that led from compact ways of knowing to more differentiated knowledge.
Ken Wilber attempts to merge the eastern consciousness of Hinduism and Buddhism with western developmental psychology to produce a comprehensive world view in his Sex, Ecology, Spirituality and many other books. Central to his thought is the notion that we transcend and include old ways, rather than replace them, as we evolve. (Note the connection with the Voegelinian leap in being.) Powered with money from the 1990s tech bubble, he is developing Integral Institute into a vehicle for his ideas.
David T. Beito is Associate Professor at the University of Alabama. His books From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State told the story of the fraternal associations that thrived before the advent of the welfare state and The Voluntary City imagines the city freed from the dead hand of liberal compulsion. His books have surfaced important information about the road to the middle class.
John Boyd was a maverick Air Force officer who developed the basis of modern jet fighter tactics. His idea is called E-M theory, relating an aircrafts energy and maneuverability. Then he went on to military strategy, extending the state of military art from the German achievements in infiltration tactics and blitzkrieg to a concept that clearly belongs in the age of cybernetics, the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). The idea is to run your OODA loop faster and more effectively than your enemy so that he becomes disoriented and demoralized. You can read a short article about Boyds life here. SeeBoyd's Patterns of Conflict presentation slides here.
David G. Green is Director the Institute for the Study of Civil Society. Dr David Green had been at the Institute of Economic Affairs since 1984, and Director of the IEA Health and Welfare Unit since 1986. He was a Labour councillor in Newcastle upon Tyne from 1976 until 1981, and from 1981 to 1983 was a Research Fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra. See his Reinventing Civil Society.
Buy the ebook: Road to the Middle Class: only $0.99.
[The Axial Age] highlights the conception of a responsible self... [that] promise[s] man for the first time that he can understand the fundamental structure of reality and through salvation participate actively in it.
Robert N Bellah, "Religious Evolution", American Sociological Review, Vol. 29, No. 3.
[To make] of each individual member of the army a soldier who, in character, capability, and knowledge, is self-reliant, self-confident, dedicated, and joyful in taking responsibility [verantwortungsfreudig] as a man and a soldier. — Gen. Hans von Seeckt
MacGregor Knox, Williamson Murray, ed., The dynamics of military revolution, 1300-2050
Civil Societya complex welter of intermediate institutions, including businesses, voluntary associations, educational institutions, clubs, unions, media, charities, and churchesbuilds, in turn, on the family, the primary instrument by which people are socialized into their culture and given the skills that allow them to live in broader society and through which the values and knowledge of that society are transmitted across the generations.
Francis Fukuyama, Trust
[W]hen I asked a liberal longtime editor I know with a mainstream [publishing] house for a candid, shorthand version of the assumptions she and her colleagues make about conservatives, she didn't hesitate. Racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-choice fascists, she offered, smiling but meaning it.
Harry Stein, I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next to a Republican
[T]he Liberal, and still more the subspecies Radical... more than any other in these latter days seems under the impression that so long as he has a good end in view he is warranted in exercising over men all the coercion he is able[.]
Herbert Spencer, The Man Versus the State
These emerge out of long-standing moral notions of freedom, benevolence, and the affirmation of ordinary life... I have been sketching a schematic map... [of] the moral sources [of these notions]... the original theistic grounding for these standards... a naturalism of disengaged reason, which in our day takes scientistic forms, and a third family of views which finds its sources in Romantic expressivism, or in one of the modernist successor visions.
Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self
Families helped each other putting up homes and barns. Together, they built churches, schools, and common civic buildings. They collaborated to build roads and bridges. They took pride in being free persons, independent, and self-reliant; but the texture of their lives was cooperative and fraternal.
Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
For [the left] there is only the state and the individual, nothing in between. No family to rely on, no friend to depend on, no community to call on. No neighbourhood to grow in, no faith to share in, no charities to work in. No-one but the Minister, nowhere but Whitehall, no such thing as society - just them, and their laws, and their rules, and their arrogance.
David Cameron, Conference Speech 2008
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable...
[1.] protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death; [2.] recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family... [3.] the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.
Pope Benedict XVI, Speech to European Peoples Party, 2006
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you should never trust experts. If you believe doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense.
Lord Salisbury, Letter to Lord Lytton
presented by Christopher Chantrill


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Canada, Mexico and the United States remain fully committed to continue working toward the common goal of achieving the highest level of safety for consumers throughout North America and promoting a global culture of safety.
On September 10-11, 2013, the second North America Summit on Consumer Product Safety convened in Ottawa, Canada. Regulators from Health Canada, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (U.S. CPSC), the Federal Consumer Protection Agency of Mexico (Profeco), and General Direction of Standards of Mexico (DGN), expressed their ongoing commitment to improving consumer product safety, discussed future opportunities to share knowledge, and identified joint activities in product safety. The regulators also committed to build upon the important achievements made since the 2011 Summit. The achievements include exchange of technical information through regular teleconference calls, partnering in three joint outreach campaigns on toy safety and poison prevention to raise consumers' awareness on consumer product safety, as well as the completion of the first coordinated trilateral recall which was an important step toward increased collaboration for joint bilateral and trilateral recalls.
Addressing consumer product safety in the 21st century has presented new challenges to regulators. Innovation and globalization are changing the range of products entering the marketplace and the supply chain that delivers products to North America. Canada, the United States, and Mexico recognize that trilateral cooperation is essential, especially given the numerous entry points for consumer products across our shared borders.
With the current economic climate and an increased need to demonstrate efficient use of resources, regulators need to be both dynamic and targeted in trilateral activities. This means focusing on areas of mutual interest and concern, and identifying common priorities that will protect the health and safety of the public all while respecting the sovereignty and domestic laws of each participating country.
In the spirit of cooperation and in demonstrating shared commitment to consumer product safety, it is viewed that:
North America Cooperative Engagement Framework on Consumer Product Safety
(2013 - 2017)
As a result of shared goals and commitment to consumer product safety, an updated Cooperative Engagement Framework has been developed to guide the overarching trilateral activities over the next four years between Health Canada, the U.S. CPSC, Profeco and DGN.
Regulatory staff from the three jurisdictions will continue to engage bilaterally or trilaterally, as appropriate, in the following areas:
In order to meet the objectives of the Framework, a two-year work plan will be developed within six months to lay out the specific activities that the North American partners intend to undertake.The Cooperative Engagement Framework demonstrates our continued commitment and efforts in strengthening consumer product safety in North America. While the level, intensity, and mechanisms of cooperative engagement outlined above will be subject to domestic priorities and the availability of resources, the three jurisdictions are committed to enhancing our engagement and accelerating progress for the benefit of North American consumers.

subset: commoncrawl


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I recently took a job in which the primary language of the development group is C++. This has not been a terribly happy thing for me because while I can code and read C++ decently enough, I do not like the language very much. C++ has a lot of good ideas underlying it, but it's just terribly implemented. The syntax is god-awful, the rules for inheritance of code and data members are convoluted as hell, and the compiler does things behind your back that can easily cause fits for even an experienced programmer.
I much prefer C. As someone said in a discussion post on Kuro5hin said, "If you must use the wrong language for the job, I'd rather see you use C than C++. It's true that C gives you enough rope to hang yourself. But so does C++, and it also comes with a premade gallows and a book on knot tying." That said, though, C ain't perfect either...
Another thing that catalyzed my thinking about the faults of various programming languages is that I've been reading Writing Compilers and Interpreters (second ed): An Applied Approach using C++. I've been trying to come up with a simplified C-esque language I could write a compiler and/or interpreter for that would attempt to eliminate some of the more glaring flaws of C.
What are some of those flaws? Well, just off the top of my head:
- Assignment vs. comparison. Hasn't this
tripped up many
a novice and even occsionally an experienced programmer? We
need to
differentiate between assignment and equality. Using the
same or similiar
symbols for both operations is a just asking for headaches.
- Pointers. Pointers get programmers in a lot
of trouble.
And not just in obvious ways, either. Ever assigned one
struct to another
that had a string pointer inside? How long did it take you
to realize what
was really going on? (C++ has this problem even worse,
thanks to its
amazingly over-wrought object architecture.)
- Memory managementMalloc() and free() cause a
lot of
trouble, even for experienced programmers. C has the honor
of having its
memory allocation scheme so badly designed that a whole
company (Pure Software)
makes a very comfortable living selling a third-party
library (Purify)
to help us track down our memory leaks. This is ridiculous.
- Keystroke Efficiency On a more general note, I find that many programming language these days require the use of the shift key and special symbols more often that I'd like. My idea of a good identifier is one that you don't have to hit the shift key for. Parenthesis, curly brackets, asterisks and ampersands should be infrequently used characters, not the mainstays of the language syntax.
How do we address these weaknesses? Well, to quote the Perl programmer's motto, "There's more than one way to do it." However, here are some of my proposed solutions to the items mentioned above: (Please, pick on these and tear 'em up! I'm submitting this precisely so people will tell me what's wrong with my ideas...)
- Assignment vs. Comparison. Assignment gets a
symbol: "<-", as in "A <- B + C". Read as: "A gets B plus
C." Comparison
continues to use "=". In pratice, "<-" is a real pain in the
ass to type.
So either a macro will need to be made or another symbol
will need to
be substituted. Perhaps ":", in the tradition of Pascal.
- Pointers. Most of the problem with pointers
comes from a
pointer not pointing at what it should, either because it
was never pointed
there in the first place, or because it got re-pointed
(perhaps set
to NULL). So I propose that a pointer can only be set once,
and is
immutable once set. This will get rid of a lot of ugly crap,
not the
least of which is the horrible practice of casting between
pointer types. Also, before a pointer is set, it is in a
state, and dereferencing a non-initialized pointer will be
I believe both these conditions can be enforced at compile
time. Those
conditions said, however, altering the thing pointed to by a
pointer is
still allowed. Without this functionality, there'd be no
point! (If
you'll pardon the pun. ;])
- Memory mamagement This is the 21st century,
folks. We have
gigahertz CPUs and hundreds or thousands of megabytes of
memory. Almost
no task that a modern PC's main CPU undertakes is hard
realtime critical.
(If someone has such a task, I recommend they not use my
little theoretical
language here.) Garbage collection algorithms have come a
long way and
no longer require unbounded time to operate. We've already
tossed the
bad features of pointers out the door, let's continue in the
spirit of
keeping what we like and having the machine deal with the
ugly stuff and
specify that a well-optimized, bounded-run-time garbage
collector be part
of the language.
- Keystroke Efficiency The first obvious one to me is to substitute "[" and "]" for "{" and "}". Assuming an otherwise C-like syntax, this change should take all of 30 seconds for C programmers to get used to. (What we do about arrays, I don't know - maybe my little toy lanague here won't have them.) Function calls can have a new syntax, funcName:arg1,arg2, etc... This eliminates having to type parenthesis every time you want to call a function, a wrist killer if there ever was one. Strings will get Pascal-style '' delimiters, 'like so', though the backslash notation for escaping characters can stay. We'll keep ; for the end of a statement too, that's actually one I like.
Now, a quickie example of the last point...
Original C:
int main(void) { printf("Hello, world!"); exit(0); }
New style whatever it is:
int main.void [ printf.'Hello, world!'; exit.0; ]
Try typing these two and see which one feels quicker. I think the new function syntax is a real win, anyway.
That's all I have at the moment. So... Questions? Comments? Additions? Flaming rants about my shoe-size IQ? ;]


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Binghamton University's Public Archaeology Facility to sponsor First Friday event
Binghamton University's Public Archaeology Facility (PAF) will host "Touring Binghamton's Past," a guided walking tour that will highlight Binghamton's archaeological heritage, from 6-8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 4. This tour, held in conjunction with the First Friday Art Walk, will cover over 5,000 years of Native American and Euro American settlements, near the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna rivers.
Using PAF's 25-plus years of research within the city, this web-based Smartphone tour of downtown Binghamton will begin at 6:15 p.m. in the lobby of the University's Downtown Center, at 67 Washington St. and will return at 7:30 p.m. to this same location.
Digital presentations of archaeological research in Binghamton, a permanent exhibition of artifacts and commemorative heritage installations will be on display within the Downtown Center's lobby.
Smartphones and tablets are not necessary to participate. For more information, contact Nina Versaggi, director of the Public Archaeology Facility, at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Sunday is a pretty good day to do another post on Knowing God's Will. Here are a few responses from me to some of your comments to the last post on this topic:
- Head coverings, hair ahd holy kisses - all social customs not the same as Levitical law or New Testament doctrine. It would be the equivalent of hats, handshakes and hugs today. The instructions always had a spiritual reason: modesty, fellowship, roles, etc. There were deeper principles at stake that were manifested in social customs of the day. We still need to apply the spiritual principles today, but doing it within the scope of our social customs.
- Thank you for some of the very kind compliments about my teaching.
- God's will for adoption is no different than knowing God's will for anything. Apply the principles we are discussing, and you will know God's will. We do have the added variable that taking care of orphans is "pure and undefiled" Christianity.
Knowing the Will of God - Respond Like Christ
1 John 2:17 - And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (NKJV)
I doubt there has ever been a true Christian that has not struggled frequently with discerning God's Will for their life, whether it's a simple decision facing them, or the general course of their entire life. Knowing God's Will is not only possible, I believe that it does not have to be the mysterious frustration that it is for most.
Bible study, prayer and meditation are the hard work of knowing God's Will. And therein lies the problem: it's hard work. That's why it seems so elusive to many Christians. Let's review quickly. When trying to determine God's will:
- First off, does God's Word contain a plain and direct answer to your question or circumstance?
- Ask yourself "is this really necessary?"
As you can already guess, this is not an "easy" process. We have to work hard and diligently to discern God's Will. What's more... the answer is not always a simple "yes" or "no", "black" or "white" answer. Sometimes both answers can be correct, or both incorrect. We might even be asking the wrong question.
God may have uses for either answer. Or you may get NO answer. Or a delayed answer. Or an answer you don't understand.
But don't let that frustrate you. It's all a part of learning the mind of Christ and "drawing near" to God. Let's look at today's question... when trying to discover God's Will about a question or circumstance, ask yourself:
- How would Christ respond?
It is regretful that this idea has turned into a shallow commercial fad (WWJD). The "what would Jesus do" craze is dying out now but for a time was all the rage. Like most fads it probably started from a sincere and well-meaning effort, but in the end, like most popular trends, there was very little authenticity on a large-scale. For a time everyone you saw from the common guy on the street, to the world-famous sports star was wearing something that had W. W. J. D. plastered on it.
Regardless of the world's abuse of the phrase, it is still very applicable when trying to discern God's Will. What would Jesus do? How can I respond or decide in a way that is Christ-like?
Any time, and in any way, that we act like Christ, speak like Christ or make decisions that Jesus would make, then of course it is the right thing to do. But the trick here is knowing Christ well enough to be able to discern which decision He would make and of course that brings us back to the foundation of knowing God's Will: Bible study, prayer and meditation.
When we respond as Christ would respond, then we are walking the "worthy walk" (Col 1.10; 1Thess 2.12). Consider this:
1 John 2:5-6 - But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (NKJV)
We know we truly belong to Christ when we keep his Word and anyone who is in Christ should walk as Christ walked. In other words we should choose as Jesus would choose, speak the words that Jesus would speak, and act the way Jesus would act. In doing so, we will of course know, and be, in the Will of God.
But none of that is possible if we don't know Jesus intimately. And how do you accomplish that? Like a broken record I keep coming back to the same answer:
Bible study, prayer, time with God and meditation.
I wish that I had some exciting new 10 step method, or seven secrets to success or three-day seminar that would magically replace the hard work of Bible study and prayer with an easy, fun and entertaining process but it just doesn't work that way (and in all seriousness I'm glad it does not).
Do you want to know God's Will? First, search the Bible for a clear and direct answer. If there is none, then ask yourself "is this really necessary?" and " how can I respond like Christ?"
Hard work but worth the effort. I look forward to your comments and questions...
~ Brent


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During a recent Allston basement show performance with her loud, grungy pop band Speedy Ortiz, Sarah Dupuis found herself surprised. The nearly-one-year-old foursome was in town from Northampton for Allston punk trio Sneeze's tape-release show when Dupuis noticed a front row full of random dudes screaming along to her ultra-catchy song "Taylor Swift." "I've got a boy in a hardcore band/I've got a boy likes to fuck to Can," they sang over Dupuis's moody pop vox and big crunchy guitars. "Then there's the boy sings the sad songs I like/I've got too many boyfriends to see you tonight."
The song — released as a single in March — was the first proper recording effort for Speedy, who formed just after Dupuis's previous Brooklyn-based band, Quilty, broke up. The band is completed by former members of Graph and Ovlov: Matt Robidoux on guitar, drummer Mike Falcone, and Darl Ferm on bass.
"The funny thing is, I'm pretty shy," says Dupuis, of the promiscuous narrator of "Taylor Swift." "A lot of the songs I write for this band are just like a character who is into fighting and having a million boyfriends . . . stuff about violence and knives and guns all sorts of things that are so far removed from my life as a poet in an MFA program."
Dupuis is indeed a 23-year-old who studies poetry at UMass-Amherst. But the same angry characters surface throughout the band's debut EP, Sports, which comes out later this month on 10-inch vinyl and cassette via Exploding in Sound. The band celebrate with a May 30 record-release show at O'Brien's in Allston with Grass Is Green, Young Adults, and Arvid Noe.
Highlights of Sports included the angsty, athletic-themed "Basketball" and "Indoor Soccer" and the hook-heavy jam "Silver Spring." "They're kind of love songs, but they're themed about sports," says Dupuis, "which are not typically themes you'd tie to songs about sex and boyfriends and girlfriends and stuff."
And though she's a self-described feminist, she sees the value in writing tracks about "too many boyfriends" and violence and fighting. "I don't necessarily even write from a female perspective," Dupuis notes. Of seeing a bunch of dudes singing along to "Swift," she says: "It's kind cool to have people stepping outside of thinking about gender and orientation and just liking a song."
It's not always easy to stay gender blind, though, as a female-identified songwriter in the hyper-masculine world of heavy loud-rock music-making. "I get the Best Coast comparisons sometimes," says Dupuis. "And it's so lazy . . . . We sound nothing like Best Coast. Whereas a band like Helium, I totally welcome that comparison because it's actually fitting. But sometimes we'll get compared to, like, Juliana Hatfield, and I think, 'You just picked that because she's a girl rocker from the '90s.' "
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MDA toolkits are available for download on the portal. This is downloadable by MDA administrators only
Not sure how to go about checking your waec, gce, jamb results? The government service portal now gives you all the information needed to check your exam results across all qualified examination bodies all in one location
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Symphony SoireeLocation: Coastal Carolina University
Long Bay Symphony & Women in Philanthropy and Leadership for Coastal Carolina University present the Soiree with special guest Jessica Lee. Be delighted with violin music by Lee and piano accompanist Philip Powell. Wine and cheese will be served at 7 p.m. with the concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 to this show.Next Date:


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Results 1 to 10 of 16
Thread: Fish diseases: A Primer
Fish diseases: A Primer
I got a PM recently from a user who wanted to know if his sister's fish had Ich. I told him yes, and what to do about it. And that PM got me thinking about Ich and other diseases that affect freshwater and marine fishes. So, I thought it time to write up a post about the most common fish diseases you're likely to run into, and how to cure a fish infected by them.
Surprisingly, several of the same diseases are both found in freshwater and marine fish, and the life cycle of the parasites are very similar. For example, both marine and freshwater fish contract Ich, and though the protozoa that causes the disease is different, with the freshwater parasite Ichthyophthirius multifilius and the marine Cryptocaryon irritans, the symptoms of the disease are exactly the same, as are the reproductive strategies.
In this post I'll list several diseases as to what they are, how they operate, and how to cure them. Correct diagnosis is essential to a cure, so I encourage you to make yourself familiar with what the parasites look like. Google images is handy in that respect.
I should say that this primer shouldn't make you afraid that around every corner there's a parasite there to kill your fish; on the contrary, it's unlikely you'll run into the majority of them, if you're a conscientious aquarium keeper. So, I wrote this primer on what to do if you ever run into one of them.
Now, on to the diseases.
Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilius) is perhaps the most common disease that plagues freshwater fishes, whether in the aquarium or in commercial fish farming. In this post I'll tell you what it is, how to prevent it, and how to cure it.
Ich is simply a protozoan, that is, a tiny unicellular organism. Though it's among the largest protozoa that infects freshwater fishes, it is so tiny you'd need a microscope capable of 100X magnification to see it, similar to what you'd need to see things like amoebae or paramecium, clearly. The adult Ich protozoan is round to slightly oval, and covered with thousands of cilia (hair-like threads used for propulsion). Its nucleus is shaped roughly like a horseshoe, making the parasite easy to pick out through a microscope. The much smaller motile protozoans are teardrop-shaped, and it takes a very practiced eye and high magnification to identify them. The natural life cycle of Ich is a week to 10 days, depending on the temperature.
And it's a killer. Ich is an obligate parasite, that is, it has to have a live fish to during it's life cycle to perpetuate its species. When a fish is compromised by a chill (rapid lowering of tank temperature) or stress, or an infected fish is introduced, the parasite can penetrate a fish's protective slime coat, and burrow into the fish's epidermal layer where it encysts itself and is referred to at that stage as a trophont (a reproductive body). Thus encysted, the parasite grows up to 1 mm in size by feeding on fish cells. The parasite divides into many hundreds of copies of itself, the cyst drops off the fish within a week, anchors to the substrate, and in a day or so it bursts, and the tear-drop shaped copies surge out looking for a fish to encyst upon. Without fish, the motile parasites die within 48 hours at 80 degrees.
The motile parasites can encyst themselves on the fish they came from, which is why Ich can spread so rapidly on a fish. A fish literally covered by cysts is quite usually doomed. Unchecked, Ich can easily kill every fish in a tank. It is one of the few fish parasites that is 100 percent fatal if not promptly addressed.
Thankfully, when identified early enough, when there are just a very few spots of Ich, the prognosis is excellent.
Hundreds if not thousands of times I've recommended founding a quarantine/hospital tank to prevent introducing disease into your main tank. The benefit vies a vise Ich and other diseases is quarantine tanks are most usually small, like a 10-gallon tank. Thus, an observant person can pick out a fish with an Ich spot or two quite easily, and take prompt steps to eliminate the disease.
The most common excuse not to have a quarantine tank is financial, but replacing dead fish routinely will cost you more than the money for a 10-gallon quarantine aquarium set-up in a short time.
There are several methods of eliminating the parasite, and some are more effective and safe then others. The best cures are those that stress the host fish as little as possible.
The most popular cure is marine salt and heat. The former, because most fish can tolerate the salt, the latter, to speed up the life cycle of the parasite. Average temperature for the process is 82 degrees, and salt is added at a prescribed amount for the types of fish you keep. It's best to use real sea salt in this process.
It works because the motile parasites, which are those that burst out of those cysts, do not adapt to the osmotic change in the water due to the salt, making it difficult for the motile parasites to move, killing some, and more difficult for them to find a host fish in time. As you remember, if the motile parasites can't find a host fish in 48 hours, they'll die.
I say more difficult to move because at the size protozoans are, water is thick like pancake syrup. Protozoans are mostly water. They have a nucleus where the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) and some of the RNA (Ribonucleic acid) are, with those making the blueprint of what the creature is. The nucleus is surrounded by cytoplasm, which is thick enough to maintain just enough pressure against the water pressure for the protozoan to maintain it's shape. In that cytoplasm there are a few to several small ovals of most of the RNA in communication with the DNA and RNA in the nucleus.
When salt is added, it makes life difficult for the motile protozoans. I. multifilius is a freshwater creature. Protozoans very much are what they are, and thus are such simple organisms with just a single cell they can't adapt to change like higher organisms can. You and I can walk out of a warm house to say, a 30 degree day. People can do it easily; walk between changing temperatures and air pressure. Fighter pilots go through maneuverers of many times the force of gravity. Higher animals can easily adapt to change. Simple organisms can not, at least not in any kind of hurry.
The heat is reputed to speed up the life cycle (encyst to motile protozoan). The motile protozoans must find a fish at 80 degrees within two days. The thought is that high heat - say in the low to mid-80's, would speed up the life cycle so the salt can take care of the motile protozoans before they have time to infect another fish.
The downside of this process is it's very, very hard on small, and scaless, fish. Those that developed in soft, acidic waters like the majority of tetras and Corydoras catfish, also don't do well in the long period (usually a week to 10 days) of salt and heat. Also, large partial water changes are needed to remove the salt from the aquarium system.
The astute among you have picked up that if the motile protozoans can't find a fish to encyst upon within two days, it dies. And that, my friends, is why I recommend a quarantine tank.
A quarantine tank is designed to give new fish or fishes the once-over, and also to get them eating. Personally, I quarantine every fish at least a month. A fish that comes in with a spot or two of Ich is isolated, treated, then later returned to quarantine. In over 30 years no disease of any kind has gotten into my show aquariums because I use quarantine.
Another method of curing Ich, and the one I favor, is a marine dip.
A marine dip is a container of marine water of the same temperature as the tank the fish came from. When I say marine water, it's tank water that has commercial marine salts added to make it like sea water, that is, 1.026 specific gravity at 77 degrees. I use a clear glass beaker for the container, and run an air stone during the process for the fish's benefit and to help evenly mix the salt. You can use whatever container you like, as long as you can see the fish clearly, and you'll need a refractometer or hydrometer to measure the salinity as you add the salt..
An infected fish is identified, and removed to another container of quarantined aquarium water, since it does healthy fish no good to be treated for a disease they don't have.
The affected fish is then placed in the container of salt water, and removed when it shows distress. Different species of fish take different amounts of time before they show distress. Larger Cichlid species can take it up to 10 or 15 minutes fairly easily, small tetras and similar well under five. When the fish shows distress (rapid breathing is a sign) it is removed and returned to isolation.
It works because the fish can stand the osmotic change from fresh to marine water for a short time. The encysted protozoans can not, and die almost immediately; within seconds. Some recommend following the dip with a formalin* bath, but I've not found it necessary with freshwater Ich.
The cysts darken and fall of the fish within a day if there are just a few spots, perhaps two if there is a heavier infestation. The marine water does cause the fish to produce more slime coat, and is perfectly healthy and ready to be returned to quarantine usually within a week.
It is vitally important to maintain the same temperatures in this process, as you want to stress the affected fish as little as possible. All my tanks run at 77 degrees, so all my quarantine tanks are the same.
The downside of the marine dip is you have to sit and watch the fish very closely to detect distress. Also, you have to purchase marine salt, refractometer, airstone and an air pump, and have a container for the process, and another to isolate the fish after it.
Last edited by Fishalicious; 04-05-2009 at 07:08 PM.
Part 2
Yet another way to cure Ich is by commercial medication. Several of them contain Copper Sulfate, which will give you more problems than you started with. Copper at the levels of the medications will make it impossible for invertebrates to live in your tank, including all the beneficial ones like copepods and nematode worms that help make aquarium keeping possible, because they process nutrients before they can decay. Select Ich medications very carefully before purchase, and know exactly what's in them.
Some medications work better than others. I won't mention brand names, but check the labels and seek out impartial reviews before purchase.
Analogous to it's fresh water cousin in its ability to spread and kill is marine Ich; Cryptocaryon irritans.
Perhaps the most common disease that appears in marine tanks, Cryptocaryon is again an obligate parasite, needing a live fish to complete its life cycle. Though the effects of the disease are very similar, the reproductive strategy is somewhat different than it's freshwater cousin, as the tomonts can stay dormant in the substrate for quite some time waiting for adverse water conditions, while the freshwater version's tomonts burst within a week after dropping into the substrate regardless of water quality.
The motile protozoan encysts on the fish, feeding on it while dividing into hundreds of copies of itself, before detaching within a week and falling into the substrate. Once there, the parasite moves around the substrate, encysting itself in a chosen spot becoming what is called a tomont (the reproductive body). The tomont can lay dormant for months, waiting for conditions to vary in its favor. When water quality starts to fall, the tomont bursts, and the copies surge out seeking fish, and the cycle resumes. That delay between tomont and reproduction is responsible for recurring cases of Marine Ich, usually in larger and larger numbers of parasites. Some fish are more susceptible to the disease than others. Tangs are infamous for their ability to be infected by Marine Ich. Marine Eels and cartilaginous fish are virtually immune to it. Most other species of marine fish fall in the middle of susceptibility.
Symptoms include flashing against objects, clamped fins, lack of appetite and the telltale white spots the size of a grain of salt on the body of the fish. Cryptocaryon can attack the gills first but spots are soon found on the fish, making diagnosis easy.
Only a compromise in tank conditions such as temperature fluctuation, levels of Ammonia and Nitrite typical of newer aquariums, high Nitrate, or shoddy maintenance, can activate the tomonts and bring on the disease. Cryptocaryon is incredibly rare in nature, and fish with it rarely if ever die from the infection because of the stability of the reef environment. Only the closed conditions of the home aquarium make it the ideal environment for the parasite.
Affected fish or fishes MUST be removed from their tank for treatment, as all potential cures are fatal to invertebrates, despite manufacturers' claims. Also, to make sure the parasite is gone from your aquarium system, the tank should be vacant of fish for at least two months, better 90 days. Without fish, the motile parasites die within two days, but as tomonts can lay dormant for some time, the extended period fishless is necessary to make sure the parasites are gone for good. Fish-only tanks can have the temperature raised up to 90 degrees to hurry the destruction of the motile parasites, but no fish or inverts can be present.
Cures are many, and some are far more effective than others. The quicker the infection is detected the better the chance of a rapid cure.
The one I favor is a formalin* dip.
A container is prepared with tank water and set at no more than 77 degrees. A rapidly bubbling airstone is added, as formalin* can make it more difficult for the fish to breath. The dosage of formalin* listed by the manufacturer is added, and the affected fish is place in the container for up to an hour, removed sooner if the fish shows distress. The process is repeated daily for a week to make sure all the trophonts on the fish are dead. They will turn dark brown to black and fall of the fish when deceased.
Medications containing Copper Sulfate are commonly used to combat Marine Ich, but is only affective on the free-swimming version of the parasite, as the imbedded trophonts are immune to the Copper Sulfate. As the motile parasites are released just after daylight (Colorni & Burgess, 1997), the very early morning would be the time to treat fish with a Copper Sulfate medication. Copper is also absorbed by any calcareous media, which will render it useless, and Copper is fatal to all invertebrates.
In my opinion treating Marine Ich with medications containing Copper is too dangerous, as it's easy to over or under dose, with the former fatal and the latter useless. It can also damage the fish internally, particularly the kidneys and liver, and can make the fish less resistant to other diseases.
Another method is hypo-salinity, that is, less than the marine water concentration of salts. I haven't tried this method but have heard excellent reports on it.
An infected fish is acclimatized to 1.010 salinity and isolated for two weeks with the temperature between 78-80 degrees. Most fish can easily adapt to lower salinity, but some can't for the extended period, and should be removed if distress is detected. The cure works because the parasite can't adapt to the lower salinity, and it kills the infectious motile versions outright. The two-week period is necessary to make sure the parasite is completely gone. Also, the lower salinity means the fish's body doesn't have to work as hard to void the salt, meaning they are less stressed by it.
Returning the fish to normal salinity should be done very, very slowly - .01 to .02 every other day. The process must only be done in isolation, as it will kill most invertebrates, including all the beneficial ones in substrates and live rock.
Though I haven't used this method, I would think it the safest cure.
Of course, quarantining all new arrivals at least a month is essential in keeping the parasite out of your show tank and will keep you from having to leave it fishless for months. If you never want to experience the reoccurring cases of Cryptocaryon in your main tank quarantine is the only way. All medication should be done in a separate container of tank water to avoid nuking the biofilter in the quarantine tank.
Another common disease among freshwater and marine fish is Piscinoodinium pillulare in Europe, P. limneticum in North and South America (FW) and Amyloodinium ocellatum (Marine), commonly known as Velvet, or Gold-Dust Disease.
In freshwater, Piscinoodinium has a life cycle similar to Ich, since it needs a live fish to complete it's life cycle. A much smaller single-celled organism, Piscinoodinium is a dinoflagellate, that is, it has a whip like 'tail' that it uses for propulsion. It also uses that tail to help burrow into a fish's slime coat, where it feeds by eating the fish's fluids. It, too, encysts itself, constructing a tiny shell. To the human eye the cysts appear to be gold to rusty-colored dust.
Velvet is an insidious disease, and a lot tougher than Ich to detect and cure. It commonly attacks the inside of the gills first because of the soft tissue within, which irritates the fish, so if you see fish flashing, that is the fish quickly rubbing against ornaments or gravel, or seeming to gasp, you could have Piscinoodinium on your hands. The habit of attacking the inside of the gills first means initial diagnosis is difficult. By the time you see the dust on the fish itself the infestation is far along.
Its protozoan is also a lot faster than Ich, and a Velvet infestation can spread like wildfire. The tiny cysts drop and within a week, burst, and the millions of flagellate-equipped protozoans zoom around looking for a fish to infest. It also has chloroplasts, which means it can metabolize light to supplement their diet. Piscinoodinium anchors itself in its chosen spot, meaning a root-like extension is pushed into the outer flesh of the fish.
If you see your fish flashing, going off food, losing color, or gasping, turn out the tank and room lights and shine a flashlight on the affected fish, aiming toward the gills. This is best done at night, as the fish will be more calm. The beam of the flashlight will cause Piscinoodinium cysts to shine a bit. If the gills are swollen as well, it's a sure sign that you have a Piscinoodinium infestation. Vigilant attention to your fish is essential, as Piscinoodinium can overwhelm and kill a fish within three days.
As above, identifying a fish with Velvet is a great deal easier in quarantine.
Last edited by Fishalicious; 04-05-2009 at 07:10 PM.
Part 3
Darkness is the number one thing to do first when a Piscinoodinium infection is observed, meaning no aquarium or room lights on, and windows tightly shuttered. Pitch darkness stresses the protozoan a good deal, and when it uses up its starch reserves (within a day), it is very vulnerable to medication. In freshwater, what has been successful for me is equal amounts of formalin and Malachite Green. The formalin is available over the counter and is commonly 37 percent formaldehyde and the rest water, and Malachite Green is available in better pet stores and online. The affected fish is placed in a two-thirds full container of tank water, and a rapidly bubbling airstone is used. Equal amounts of the recommended dose of Malachite Green and formalin are warmed to the tank temperature and added to the container to fill it. The affected fish is placed in the container for no more than five minutes, then removed to isolation, and observed closely for the next several days, checking daily with darkness and flashlight to make sure the parasite is gone. If not, the procedure is repeated daily until it is.
Since the parasites are much shallower on the fish than Ich is, the osmotic change in the water with the medications kills them nearly instantly, though the fish may be a gasper the rest of its life due to the damage the parasite does to the gill tissue.
There are commercial medications that are purported to eliminate both Ich and Velvet which I wouldn't hesitate to use if the Piscinoodinium has spread to other fishes. As always, follow the instructions on the packages to the letter.
Needless to say the process should ONLY be done in a quarantine tank.
In marine, Amyloodinium is again a much faster species and it's life cycle is a good deal faster than marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), meaning it takes less time to spread and kill. First, the flagellate-equipped dinospore, which is the mature motile creature, finds a fish, and puts in an anchor, feeds on the fish, constructs a shell around itself, and becomes a trophont (the reproductive body). When mature, the trophont detaches and falls off, and more than 250 young dinosphores soon erupt from the detached trophont and searches for a fish to infect. And, as even a small infection has many thousands of trophonts, you can see just how quickly the parasite can spread and kill. Amyloodinium can wipe out a tank's population in a matter of three days. The dinosphores must find a fish to infect within a week. Some will die within 48 hours, some will last the whole seven days before dyeing.
Identifying the infection early is crucial. Fish acting in any way abnormally, like losing color and appetite, and perhaps also flashing, should be very promptly checked for the parasites, which again attack the gills and region around it, with pitch darkness and flashlight. Unlike the freshwater version, the marine parasite lacks chloroplasts, so extended periods of darkness affect it not a bit.
In marine, a cure is more problematic. The affected fish or fishes MUST be isolated and quarantined, if one doesn't quarantine new arrivals. The standard method is a freshwater dip with Methylene Blue added. However, the freshwater MUST be the EXACT same hardness, pH and temperature of the tank the fish comes from, since marine fish are far less adaptable to changes in pH and hardness freshwater fish are. Running an airstone is helpful, as it tends to mix the Methylene Blue with the water more effectively, and the airstone helps with gas exchange, keeping the Oxygen level high for the fish.
The container should have just enough marine salt added for 1.001 specific gravity, and Methylene Blue added at double strength, based on the amount of water in the container. The affected fish is placed in the dip, and removed promptly at three minutes. The cysts burst and the protozoans die virtually upon contact with the Methylene Blue-tinted water, since, like the freshwater species, the trophonts aren't buried deeply, thus are very susceptible to changes in osmotic pressure.
The fish is returned to isolation, and observed closely. The same darkness and flashlight can help you check if the fish is clear of the parasites. If not, the dip is repeated the next day, then every day until you are completely sure no infection remains.
The affected fish should spend at least three weeks alone in quarantine to recover and heal before return to its tank. If the infection is caught early enough, the prognosis is excellent, so if you see a marine fish flash, go off food or any of the above symptoms, check with darkness and flashlight immediately on that and every other fish in the tank.
Salt and Reef tanks that are kept in perfect Natural Sea Water (NSW) conditions and have regular maintenance make it relatively unlikely you'll run into Amyloodinium. Of course, the wise keeper quarantines new arrivals for at least a month to prevent introducing disease to precious marine fish. And as fast as Amyloodinium kills, prevention by quarantine is more than essential.
Also, those aquariums equipped with a UV sterilizer rarely if every run unto external disease protozoa like Velvet unless they add a fish infected by it to their tank.
A common disease found primarily among surgeon fish, though it can infect other marine fish, is the so-called Black Spot, which is caused by a species of sub-microscopic flatworms of the Genus Paravortex, a Genus full of parasitic flatworm species that infect several kinds of invertebrates as well as fish. Though Black Spot is a common parasite, it is much easier to eliminate than the more pernicious diseases of salt-water fishes if caught early. Nevertheless, given its ability to procreate in massive numbers, any Black Spot detected should be addressed by the fish keeper immediately.
The worms feed among the detritus in the substrate for some months before they are mature enough to seek out a fish to start their life cycle. The worms themselves are transparent. It's only when they start feeding on the fish do they turn black and can be detected, and they appear roughly the size of a grain of salt. The worms themselves can move, grazing on the fluids of the fish, which is why Black Spot can seem to move day to day.
After feeding on the fish for a week, the worm drops of back into the substrate, and within four days ruptures, sending out hundreds of its kind, where they feed on detritus until mature and the cycle starts over again, this time in much larger numbers of worms infecting fish.
Continued cycles of Paravortex can literally cover a fish to it's cost, so it is essential to treat a fish when a Black Spot is discovered as quickly as possible. The parasite can proliferate to the point the fish can become lethargic, go off feed and soon die. In large numbers, the eradication of the worms can open the fish to bacterial or fungal infections.
It is easy to pick up the spots on light-colored fish, so the thousands of yellow tangs in the hobby make it simple to see the disease on them. On dark-colored fish it is more challenging, so the infection usually progressives further until they are flashing off the substrate and objects to try and dislodge the parasites. A dark tank and dark room, and a bright halogen flashlight, can help you see the black spots on the affected darker-colored fish.
Treatment is relatively simple; a freshwater dip followed by a formalin* bath, at the dosage recommended on the package. Also, an air stone must be used in the treatment container, as formalin* can limit the amount of Oxygen the treatment water can hold. The freshwater must be exactly the same pH, temperature, hardness and chemical balance of the tank the fish comes from. Enough marine salt should used to raise the specific gravity to 1.001, the correct dosage of formalin is added, and the affected fish is placed into the container for no more than three minutes, then removed to quarantine.
This works because the change in osmotic pressure kills the worms almost instantly, since they can't adapt to the slightly salty freshwater, and the formalin makes sure any motile creatures are killed. The process needs to be repeated twice a week for two weeks to be sure of killing the parasite due to its extended reproduction. Of course, treatment must be done in a separate container, and the affected fish or fishes must be quarantined for at least four weeks. Partial water changes and vacuuming the quarantine tank daily will prevent any worms that survived the process are vacuumed up and disposed of before they drop off the fish and rupture, sending out copies.
A stressful process, but one that always works. Of course, the fewer the number of black spots the easier it is to eradicate. Remove all fish from the tank for at least a month to make sure any offspring of the worms are gone.
Clean tanks and top-shelf maintenance make it unlikely you'll run into Black Spot, and marine aquariums equipped with a UV sterilizer rarely run into motile diseases. Quarantine is all but essential in the Marine and Reef hobbies, since by no means do you want Black Spot or any other disease added to your show tank. Also, Neon Gobies and others of its Genus can pick the parasites right off a fish, so it's always handy to have a group of these fish on hand to destroy parasites before they can spread.
Last edited by Fishalicious; 04-05-2009 at 07:12 PM.
Part 4
Far more common than it used to be in freshwater tanks, is Flexibacter columnaris, commonly called columnaris in the hobby.
Errantly described as fungus on the internet and in some books, Flexibacter is a bacteria. The colonies of bacteria form into microscopic columns on the surface of an affected fish, thus earning the species, and common, name. These columns, especially around the mouth of an affected fish, can be thread-like, causing mistaken identification of the bacteria as a fungus, meaning treatments for fungus have no affect on the bacteria. Remember, fungus only appears on dead cells, like around an injury. If there is no injury, it is highly likely that you have columnaris on your hands
The protozoan that causes the disease looks rather like an Elm leaf under the microscope. The slipper-shaped microbe has cilia on it's ventral side for locomotion, and has an oval nucleus and two RNA vacuoles. F. columnaris is a borderline parasite, that is, it isn't essential for it to parasitize a fish for its to complete its life cycle, but at the natural, low levels they merely board on the fish and take very little, if any, fare, or be dormant in your substrate. There are possibly columnaris bacteria on your fish right now, part of the tens of thousands of species of bacteria on the slime coat of your fish. Healthy fish in healthy, stable tanks are basically immune to columnaris. It may be in your tank, but can stay dormant for years.
Symptoms are grayish to white lesions on the fish's body or fins. The lesions can be rimmed in red from the blood of the fish, and the lesions can turn completely red as the disease advances. The fish can appear covered in gray slime. Fins can degenerate to nothing. The fish can appear to gasp at the tank surface, flash off object, have clamped fins or be quite lethargic and go off food. Columnaris can be either external or internal, the latter with few visible signs. If untreated, a infected fish will die.
Hard, alkaline water and temperatures over 77 degrees make it ideal for the bacteria, and they can flourish to your aquarium fishes' ruin in such waters. Columnaris is responsible for the 'shimmying' of live-bearers, especially common in mollies. Soft, acidic tanks kept 77 degrees or under and properly maintained rarely run into the parasite.
The cause of the disease is exclusively that of the fish keeper. The bacteria is continually in most aquariums. It is only when water quality is poor, there are wide swings in pH, temperature or hardness, bullying of tankmates, crowding, high nitrate, low dissolved Oxygen and other stress factors make the bacteria surge in massive numbers and can kill fish. There are several strains of columnaris cropping up in the hobby, primarily arriving in the US from fish farm bred in Asia, some so virulent a fish can die in less than a day. It is beyond important to quarantine all new arrivals at least two weeks to prevent bringing one of those deadly strains into your show tank. Columnaris can easily kill every fish in your tank in days.
The cure involves improving conditions with twice daily partial water changes and vacuuming the substrate. Slowly lower the aquarium temperature to under 77 to slow the advance of the disease. Remove affected fish and place them in isolation. If the infection is external, antibacterial medications, particularly those with acriflavine, erythromycin, nitrofurazone or tetracycline in them can kill the bacteria on the fish. Follow dosage recommendations to the letter, and continue treatment for two weeks. Medicated foods containing oxytetracycline can help if the fish is still eating, and is the only way to eliminate internal infections; such food should be fed for at least two weeks, regardless if the fish seems to be healthy sooner. Light levels have no affect on the bacteria, since it lacks chloroplasts.
Needless to say treatment MUST be done in isolation, as anti-bacterial medications will kill the beneficial bacteria as well as those you are trying to eliminate, causing a giant ammonia surge that will kill all the fish in your tank. A treated fish should be in the most pristine, cycled tank quarantine tank possible and a rapidly bubbling air stone should be used to keep Oxygen levels high after the affected fish are treated. Commercial substances designed to improve the fish's slime coat should be added to help the fish heal from the ordeal, and help prevent infections of other diseases due to the compromised fish.
Well-maintained, thoroughly stable and clean aquariums rarely if ever run in to a columnaris attack, and wise keepers quarantine all new arrivals. The higher the water quality and stable the tank the less likely you'll have to deal with columnaris.
The marine counterpart of columnaris is Brooklynella hostilis, the so-called clown fish disease, though it can affect most aquarium-kept marine fish, and is one of the most dreaded diseases a marine keeper can experience in their tank.
The culprit is a ciliated protozoan and gets into your tank when you add a fish to your aquarium possessing it, which makes it extremely vital to quarantine all new arrivals a month. The symptoms of the disease is very similar to the freshwater version, but if anything, Brooklynella is if anything more resistant to cure and so rapidly pernicious a fish can be overwhelmed in days.
A fish affected by the disease can have paling in ever wider areas as the parasite multiplies as it feeds on the fish. In latter stages, the areas can turn gray and the fish's flesh can slough off. A Brooklynella infection weakens the fish and is always fatal if not promptly addressed. Sadly, poor water quality either in your tank, or along the fish's journey from the wild to your tank, causes the onset of the disease. Quarantine to keep it out of your main aquarium and top-shelf conditions within it will do leagues in prevented the spread of Brooklynella.
A cure is four-fold.
First, a freshwater dip is used. The fish is isolated in freshwater that has just enough marine salt in it for 1.001 specific gravity for up to 15 minutes, less if the fish shows distress. The freshwater must be the same temperature, pH and hardness of the tank the fish came from.
This if followed by a 15-minute bath in tank water with the recommended dose of formalin* in it the next day.
After the formalin* bath, the fish is returned to quarantine and an antibiotic medication (Acriflavine) added to the water at the recommended dose for two weeks, and a UV sterilizer is attached to take care of any motile parasites that can attack a weakened fish. The antibiotic is removed with fresh carbon in an external filter (no other media) and 50 percent daily water changes after the two weeks.
Fourth is keeping your tank in perfect shape, with regular partial water changes and the prompt removal of any debris.
If the fish is acting and eating normally after the above procedure it can be returned to the show tank at the end of a month.
Common on aquarium fish is Ichthyobodo necatrix, commonly called Costia.
In normal levels Ichthyobodo isn't dangerous, and is part of the soup of micro-organisms on the fish. The fish's natural defenses keep it in check. Only when water quality falls due to negligence of the fish keeper, the protozoan will explode with growth and can proliferate to the point it can kill the fish affected with it if not promptly addressed.
It can attack the gills, causing rapid breathing and perhaps gasping at the water surface. The fish can flash and rub itself on objects, the skin can appear cloudy and excess slime coat can be produced. In the latter stages the fins can be clamped and the fish is lethargic and can isolate itself or hover above on the substrate. At that point, it is unlikely the fish can be saved, but you can certainly try.
Thankfully, Costia is easily cured if caught early, and the prognosis is excellent. An infected fish is isolated in tank water, a rapidly bubbling airstone is used, and a commercial antibiotic medication is added per manufacturers direction. The fish is left in isolation for an hour, the removed to quarantine for at least two weeks. It is helpful to add a substance purported to restore a fish's slime (per directions) to help the fish recover.
Usually a single treatment is all it takes, but if the Ichthyobodo seems to make a comeback (doubtful if excellent water conditions are maintained), a 15-minute bath in tank water with Malachite Green and formalin* added will finish it off.
Whole tank treatments are ill advised, but long term prescribed levels of marine salt with chloramine-T added to help depress the bacteria can be used until the fish improve. I wouldn't recommend whole tank treatments, as healthy fish can be stressed by it, and open themselves to other diseases. Also, a mild antibiotic like chloramine-T will play havoc with your Nitrifying bacteria, though using it with the salt is very effective in helping the fish recover. Remember, a stable, cycled, established tank with regular maintenance will make it unlikely you'll ever have to deal with a Ichthyobodo plague.
Last edited by Fishalicious; 04-05-2009 at 07:15 PM.
Part 5
Not uncommon on fish is Trichodina, another sub-microscopic protist. Unlike most diseases, [i]Trichodina isn't by nature a parasite. It merely uses a fish for locomotion, and doesn't feed on the fish at all.
A circular creature, Trichodina attaches to the fish with a sucking disk (interlocking "teeth" forming the sucker) on it's ventral side. There is stays, using chloroplasts to feed itself. It's only poor water quality and sub-standard conditions that overwhelms the fish's control of it, can Trichodina become dangerous. The population explodes, and the millions of sucking disks irritate the fish, and they flash like mad attempting to dislodge them. The disks can cause tissue damage, and reddening can be in some areas. The damage the disks can do can open the fish to all sorts of infections.
Cures are few, but can be can be effective
What I've used is a an hour-long bath with tank water dosed with Potassium Permanganate.
A container equipped with a rapidly bubbling air stone is used, the affected fish or fishes are added, and the recommended dose of Potassium Permanganate is added. Usually only one treatment is required, but if by chance it isn't, it is repeated the next day.
After treatment, the fish are quarantined for two weeks, and a commercial slime coat restorer is used. Water quality, both in the quarantine and the main tank, must be top-shelf to avoid a repeat of the episode. Also, the damage the Trichodina can do can open the fish to other bacterial infections, so keep a close eye on the fish in quarantine and take steps if necessary with an antibiotic medication. Of course, this should only be done in an isolated container to avoid killing beneficial bacteria in your sponge filter.
Other treatments can be salt, but it's difficult to know how much salt is needed to kill Trichodina, and salt treatment is dangerous to some types of fish.
Baths in tank water with Malachite Green and formalin* added can work, and chloramine-T dosages is reported to be effective. In the latter two methods a rapidly bubbling airstone is mandated to keep Oxygen high for the fish, and of course the treatment water should be the same temperature, pH and hardness of the tank the fish comes from.
Heximita is another ciliated protozoan that uses a fish for its transport. It's only when a fish's health is compromised by water quality and/or poor diet does it become dangerous.
Mainly seen in mid to large-sized Cichlids, though it can attack lager gorami species as well, poor diet or poor water quality can both depress the fish's immune system, allowing Heximita to gain the upper hand and have a massive surge in population. Small pinholes can appear on the fish's forehead that get larger and larger, becoming pits, or holes if you will. If untreated, a Heximita attack can easily kill a fish.
A prompt improvement in water quality and a more varied high-quality diet is all that is necessary to reverse the effects of Heximita and allow the fish to heal. However, in a more advanced stage, a commercial antibiotic may be necessary to eliminate the infection. Needless to say, any antibiotic should only be used in another container of tank water, never in a main tank, to avoid destroying your bio bed of beneficial bacteria.
More common than once thought, and unfortunately incurable, is [i]Pleistophora hyphessobryconis[i], the so-called Neon Tetra Disease, our last disease.
This disease, a freshwater parasitic internal fungus, was first identified in Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi), thus the common name. It can infect all kinds of small schooling fish, and Cichlids such as Angelfish, but for some reason, Cardinal Tetras (P. axelrodi) seem highly resistant to it and rarely fall ill.
There are several species of Pleistophora in both freshwater and marine environments and all are parasitic. P. hyphessobryconis is by far the most common species that attacks aquarium fishes, and the marine version is exceedingly rare in the hobby.
The only way for a fish to become infected with Pleistophora is for them to eat something containing the fungus, like a dead fish, or biting another fish with the disease. Live tubifex worms harvested from filth, like that from a factory runoff, can have the fungus within them, though research indicates it is most prevalent in the Northeast US. Once in the fish's intestinal tract, the fungus dig through the walls, and encysts itself in the fish's muscles. Once there, the muscles start to die, causing the paling due to loss of color in the region. Lumps and bumps can appear on the body of the unfortunate fish. As the heart is also a muscle, the disease can kill in days.
Sorrily, the only course of action when this disease is identified is euthanasia. Freezing the affected fish is the most humane way.
As there is no cure, the best course is prevention. Remove all dead fish as quickly as you can. If you wish to feed live Tubifex, culture them yourself and get your start-up from a reliable supply house, or get frozen or freeze-dried examples. Like all diseases, prevention is your best defense. Buy your fish from clean, well-maintained shops. Quarantine all new arrivals at least two weeks. And keep your tank clean and stable, and do weekly partial water changes and regular vacuuming without fail.
These are all the diseases I've dealt with over 35 years in the hobby. Aside from freshwater Ich, most diseases are relatively rare and some exceedingly so, but I believe you should know about them and what to do if you run into any of them, because forewarned is forearmed. Of course, quarantine is essential to prevent deadly plagues in your main tank, and all treatments are much easier and quicker in containers other than your tank.
Fish Diseases: Diagnosis and Treatment, by Edward J. Noga, Blackwell Publishing, 2000 Edition.
*Formalin (Formaldehyde in solution) is proven to cause cancer, so use gloves and have good ventilation when handling and administering it.
Last edited by Fishalicious; 04-05-2009 at 07:16 PM.
Great stuff there, Dave!36 gallon bowfront - "Hector" the Dwarf Gourami, 3 Peppered Corydoras, "Big Eric" the Rubberlip Pleco, "Killwillie" the German Blue Ram, and 9 Rummynose Tetras, 1 true Siamese Algae Eater
20 gallon long; Planted & Aquascaped (Dwarf Hairgrass, Scarlet Temple, Lace Java Fern, Red Ludwigia) - Female German Blue Ram, 4 Oto's, 11 Neon Tetras
Amazing write-up! Should help a multitude of people!your friendly neighbourhood arowanaman!
Awesome write up!
awesome dave! Thanks for the write up!
Excellent article Dave. Thanks. Contact me on MSN sometime, I'd like to discuss some of treatment methods for Cryptocaryon.Considering a Marine Aquarium? A Breakdown of the Components, Live Rock, Cycling a Marine Tank
"The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The WILLINGNESS to learn is a choice." - Unknown


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Pitt plans to name chancellor todayFebruary 8, 2014 10:15 AM
The University of Pittsburgh trustees today are expected to vote to name a new chancellor, Patrick D. Gallagher, a top U.S. Department of Commerce official who holds a doctorate in physics from Pitt and was its 2013 April commencement speaker.
According to multiple sources Friday, the trustees will vote in a special meeting in favor of hiring Mr. Gallagher, 49, who is director of the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology. He will replace chancellor Mark Nordenberg, who in June announced he will step down on Aug. 1.
Mr. Nordenberg, former dean of the Pitt School of Law, will teach at Pitt and be involved in unspecified civic initiatives. When he leaves his post, he will have spent 37 years at Pitt, including 19 as chancellor.
The board has a special meeting at 9:30 a.m., a news conference will follow the meeting and a compensation committee meeting will take place at 4 p.m.
In a news release announcing Mr. Gallagher's choice as commencement speaker, Mr. Nordenberg said, "Dr. Gallagher is one of our truly distinguished and most nationally visible graduates.
"Among other things, he has been a champion of the mission of our nation's research universities in educating future generations of teachers, business leaders, physicians and scientists.
"As director of the National Institute for Standards and Technology, he also recognizes that research universities play a key role in the technological innovation and medical and scientific research that have helped fuel the economic growth of our nation."
In his 2013 commencement speech as posted by NIST, Mr. Gallagher said, "This is the city where my mother grew up, where my family was born, where I spent a lot of my childhood. In fact, I spent part of second grade here, met my wife here, developed by preferences in professional sports here."
Mr. Gallagher earned a master's degree in 1987 and a doctorate in 1991, both at Pitt, under the direction of James Maher, now-provost emeritus and the vice chair of the chancellor search committee.
In the commencement speech, Mr. Gallagher said he thought Mr. Maher, who attended his wedding, gave him an alarm clock as a wedding gift "which says something about me, I think."
Mr. Gallagher arrived at Pitt in 1986 after earning a bachelor's degree in physics and philosophy at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., in 1985 and after teaching high school math and science in Missouri.
After Pitt, Mr. Gallagher did postdoctoral work at Boston University and then was hired by NIST in 1993, initially as a research physicist and instrument scientist at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. He has been with NIST ever since, rising to his current position in 2009.
According to the NIST website, NIST, which has a $778 million annual budget, is charged with promoting American "innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology."
In October 2009, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation conducted a hearing on his nomination to the director post.
In his statement to the committee, Mr. Gallagher described himself this way: "I am a life-long scientist. I believe in the power of both basic research and of standardization to propel economic growth and improve our standards of living. I am committed to public service."
He noted his wife, Karen, and three sons and gave a Maryland address.
In his list of scientific journal articles provided to the committee, two are co-authored with Mr. Maher.
At the Senate hearing, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., noted Mr. Gallagher grew up with three sisters and his parents in Albuquerque and his scientific aptitude may have come from his father, who moved to New Mexico in the 1960s to work at Sandia National Laboratory.
"As a young man in Albuquerque, Dr. Gallagher developed a strong commitment to public service that continues to this day." He joined the volunteer organization Amigos de los Omaticas and spent summers working on public health and sanitation projects in Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico.
Mr. Udall called NIST an "often-unappreciated agency" but said "its work enhances our quality of life in many ways. Numerous products and services rely in some way on technology, measurement and standards provided by NIST."
He gave examples such as ATM machines, bulletproof vests and medical diagnostic tools, including X-rays and mammograms.
In his statement to the committee in 2009, Mr. Gallagher said, "Many of the technologies and measurements that we take for granted today are based on results of ground-breaking research at NIST and the transfer of technology and know-how into practice. Radio and telecommunications, radar, lasers, household smoke detectors and computers are a few examples from a very long list ...
"Today NIST is deeply engaged in some of the most urgent and critical challenges facing our country, including the smart grid, cybersecurity, electronic health records, climate change and promoting manufacturing in this country."
The 25-member search committee is headed by Eva Tansky Blum, who is executive vice president and director, community affairs, for PNC Bank and is chair and president of The PNC Foundation.
Pitt hired the executive search firm of Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates to assist with the search.
Education writer Eleanor Chute: firstname.lastname@example.com or 412-263-1955.
First Published February 8, 2014 2:30 AM


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|Our Environment We are stewards of wild places
|Topic Review (Newest First)
Unfortunately, I usually don't hear of these until after the court has ruled and the newpapers report on the outcome. I do know the federal courts have been changing water law and fish protection with ruling like this. And I'm sure the big reason we don't hear about them until after the ruling has happened is the groups like the CA and OR Granges that brought this suit on behalf of farmers, orchardist, and vinters don't want it out to the public until after the court rules.
I predict that since Hogan has now ruled twice against protection of wild fish, that there will be more suits filed in his court because the probability of him ruling against fish or environmental protection again is rather high. And since the 9th Circuit has already affirmed his first ruling on the coastal coho case, I see no way the 9th circuit will not also affirm this one if it is appealed because they will site the first case as justification in case law to back it.
Because of this, I honestly don't know how much the OR governor can do; but I do know the man has guts and feistyness based on his recent speech about the feds and federal courts.
Same Fish? Bulls#^* !
Just sent an E-mail to the Gov. How dose this crap happen? I have my fingers in a bunch of stuff in this State, Yet I seem to miss the important things untill it's to late. Thanks for the heads up anyway
Oregon residents and all those who love the fishing here, send an e-mail to the Gov urging him to look into this ruling. Go to www.governor.or.us and click on contact us. Let him know how important the fisheries here in Oregon are to you.
Hey man if you hear of anything else please pm me, thanks. I'm glad you were on top of this!
Judge says Klamath and Rogue wild and hatchery coho are same fish.
Yep, Judge Hogan (Remember him? he is the federal judge from Eugene, OR who ruled wild and hatchery coho were the same in an Oregon coastal river, which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld.) is at it again. He has now ruled that there is no genetic difference between wild and hatchery coho in the Klamath and Rogue river systems in a lawsuit that was brought by the California Grange and the Oregon Grange (the nice farm folks who would never dream of doing something that would harm fish).
Judge Hogan has granted NOAA-F's petition to let stand the wild coho protection in these river systems until NOAA-F finishes its review of 26 west coast salmon listings, which NOAA-F expects to be finished in June.
Remember how I spoke about the federal courts removing protection of fish and changing policies and application of law? This is another example of just that. Let's see, the fish have lost once before in Hogan's court; therefore, is anyone willing to bet the fish will lose again if another such case is filed in his court?
Nothing like precedent being set by his first ruling, the upholding of it by the 9th Circuit, and not this second ruling. And since the 9th Circuit upheld his first ruling on the coastal coho, it would stun me if the 9th Circuit would overturn this one if appealed. Welcome to fish management by the courts.
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World Longest Running C02 ExperimentPosted in Climate Change, Science with tags carbon, climate change, invasive species on November 4, 2010 by hoffmand
I just stumbled this article on the BBC, "The Worlds Longest Running Carbon Dioxide Experiment" about a climate change experiment being conducted on a saltmash marshland near the Chesapeake Bay. Scientists have been artificially simulating projected atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and observing the effects on marsh plants. What they have discovered is that CO2 makes some plants grow more quickly, meaning that increased concentrations of CO2 may actually allow marshlands to keep up with rising seal levels. Increased levels of Nitrogen in combination with higher CO2 however, seems to slow down growth levels.
What I found most interesting in this article, is the bit about invasive species like Phragmites australis. The article discusses the pros and cons of invasive species.
"Certain invasive species may degrade the marshland in terms of habitat, but their accelerated growth may help offset the effect of rising sea levels. If we better understand that trade-off we can decide whether to allow the plant to invade."
I have always been fascinated with this discussion and debate around invasive species. For a while, I thought they were terrible, but when I actually began to think about, I realized the "system," (Earth) is just doing what it need to survive. Who are we to try to keep a living, growing, finely tuned network of systems from changing? Are we anti invasive for own benefit or for the Earth? Honey bees were invasive way back when, and now they are as American as Apple pie right? But then again, what do I know!?
Let me know if you want to have a longer discussion. For the time being check out this book Timothy Lee Scott just wrote Invasive Plant Medicine: The Ecological Benefits and Healing Abilities of Invasives.


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Analgesic nephropathy involves damage to one or both kidneys caused by overexposure to mixtures of medications, especially over-the-counter pain remedies (analgesics).
Phenacetin nephritis; Nephropathy - analgesic
Analgesic nephropathy involves damage within the internal structures of the kidney. It is caused by long-term use of analgesics, especially over-the-counter (OTC) medications that contain phenacetin or acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen.
About 6 or more pills per day for 3 years increases the risk some for this problem. This frequently occurs as a result of self-medicating, often for some type of chronic pain.
Analgesic nephropathy occurs in about 4 out of 100,000 people, mostly women over 30. The rate has decreased significantly since phenacetin is no longer widely available in OTC preparations.
Risk factors include:
There may be no symptoms. Symptoms of chronic kidney disease are often present over time and may include:
A physical examination may show signs of
Blood pressure may be high. The doctor may hear abnormal heart or lung sounds when listening to the chest with a stethoscope. There may be signs of premature skin aging. There may be swelling, especially in the lower legs.
Lab tests may show red or white blood cells in the urine, with or without signs of infection. There may be small amounts of protein in the urine.
Tests that may be done include:
The primary goals of treatment are to prevent further damage and to treat any existing kidney failure. The health care provider may tell you to stop taking all suspect painkillers, particularly OTC medications.
Signs of kidney failure should be treated as appropriate. This may include diet changes, fluid restriction, dialysis or kidney transplant, or other treatments.
Counseling, behavioral modification, or similar interventions may help you develop alternative methods of controlling chronic pain.
Call your health care provider if you have signs of this condition, especially if there has been a history of use of painkillers.
Call your health care provider if blood or solid material is present in the urine, or if your urine output decreases.
The damage to the kidney may be acute and temporary, or chronic and long term.
Follow the directions of the health care provider when using medications, including OTC medications. Do not exceed the recommended dose of medications without the supervision of the health care provider.
In: Brenner BM, ed. Brenner: Brenner and Rector's the Kidney. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 30.<.p>
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Will lower prices lure you back to Whole Foods?
April 21, 2017, 11:26 a.m. by Robin Shreeves
Some wonder if lower prices will also mean fewer options.
NY to offer free college tuition ... with a catch
April 19, 2017, 8:21 a.m. by Jenn Savedge
The new Excelsior Scholarship Program will help some, but not all, New York students.
It costs how much to raise a child?
March 30, 2017, 12:04 p.m. by Jenn Savedge
Be prepared to spend big bucks on your child over the next 18 years. And that's even before they get to college.
What if you could earn a bonus for not living in a crazy expensive city?
March 27, 2017, 7:14 a.m. by Starre Vartan
One San Francisco-based tech company is offering a $10K option to those who move away from the city.
Do good while you shop with DoneGood
December 9, 2016, 7:33 a.m. by Sidney Stevens
Browser extension and app let you find socially responsible alternatives to whatever you're looking for.
How will the new overtime law affect you?
November 24, 2016, 1:23 p.m. by Jenn Savedge
Ruling scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 1 has been overturned.
10 reasons you don't need Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving meal kit
November 15, 2016, 3:28 p.m. by Robin Shreeves
Are there advantages to cooking the big dinner the traditional way?
11 ways to save money on medical expenses
November 15, 2016, 6:07 a.m. by Joanna Nesbit
Rising health insurance costs have many people worried about the financial impact.
Why is it that women work a month more than men every year?
October 27, 2016, 2:36 p.m. by Starre Vartan
Women in Iceland are walking out to protest inequality. Does that solve the problem?
7 products you should buy generic (and 3 you shouldn't)
October 26, 2016, 3:41 p.m. by Angela Nelson
Why do many of us choose to buy brand name products when the store brand is nearly identical?
10 ways today's college students can lower their student debt
October 25, 2016, 9:02 a.m. by Joanna Nesbit
The best strategy to minimize student loan debt is to search for affordable colleges. Yes, it's complicated, but here's what to know.
How to protect yourself against medical ID theft
October 18, 2016, 1:11 p.m. by Joanna Nesbit
Plus, how to find out if your medical information has already been stolen.
Will that be cash or credit?
October 17, 2016, 7:20 a.m. by Joanna Nesbit
Cash can keep you out of debt, but credit and debit cards are so convenient. Here are 8 times to definitely use one over the other.
The 'hole' of Lake Berryessa is a life-saver
What looks like a terrifying hole to the underworld is much more benign.
What's so dangerous about Jacob's Well?
A central Texas getaway lures daredevils and those simply wanting to cool off.
Antarctica's 'lost meteorites'
Antarctica is oddly barren of iron-based meteorites. What could have happened to them?
The mystery of Devil's Kettle Falls
2 waterfalls send half of a river on its way to Lake Superior. Where did the other half go?
Why are humpback whales rescuing orcas?
Scientists are baffled at this seemingly altruistic behavior.


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General Studies A.A.Apply Now
The General Studies program is designed to expose students to broad areas of human knowledge - the humanities and fine arts, the natural sciences and mathematics, and the social sciences. Students work closely with an advisor to tailor a specific program according to their needs and interests. This advising is of particular value to students who may be uncertain of the major they wish to pursue when they enter the College. General Studies students are well prepared to pursue a baccalaureate degree or to take advantage of specialized training offered by future employers.
Course Catalog
View our program course requirements as published in the College Catalog: General Studies A.A.
Transfer Agreements
Below is a list of transfer agreements we have established (for our General Studies A.A. Program) with four-year colleges & universities to provide a seamless transfer of credits.
Programs also offered online are denoted by asterisk.*
- Bellevue University*
- Buffalo State College
- Burlington College
- Cazenovia College
- Excelsior College *
- Niagara University
- St John Fisher College
- St John Fisher College
- St John Fisher College
- SUNY Canton
- SUNY Canton
- The College of St. Rose
- The College of St. Rose
- The College of St. Rose
- The College of St. Rose
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Online General Studies A.A. Degree
The General Studies A.A. degree program is internet accessible and may be completed entirely online. Learn how!
Apply online now for our Online Learning - Learn more about Online Learning


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Dressage Arenas
Narrow Your Results
These elegant and easily visible metal Dressage Letters let you set up a competition-quality dressage ring anywhere. Set of 8, each 27"H.
Take this set of easy-to-read Dressage Training Cones anywhere you need them. Made of lightweight and durable PVC with bold dressage letters. 8 cones, each 12 1/4"H.
The Burlingham Sports Wellington Dressage Arena is portable and easy to assemble. Pre-measured, ribbed rails in 100% UV-resistant PVC are durable and won't sag. Supports for this dressage arena in 100% UV-stabilized polyethylene withstand year-round use, high winds and all weather conditions. Shipped freight prepaid; call for quote.
The Practice Arena Board is a two-sided dry erase board. The large arena is on one side, and the small arena is on the other, so you can practice your next dressage tests until you have them down cold.


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I like him, but he gets injured a lot
He's sticking around until his contract expires anyway, and he is for the most part replaceable....no big issue with him as long as he keeps the ball off the turf. That's how someone in his position loses his job,
Lamar Miller has already shown me way more than DT in regards to pure talent and DT is the definition of run of the mill. Just nothing special whatsoever.
"I'm no longer concerned with the things I don't have, I'm just living for love and laughs."
Of those carries he rushed 11 times for 18 yards when down and distance was less than 2 yards.
Additionally he had another 15 carries for 24 yards within the opponents 10 yard line.
So 26 carries for 42 yards in situtations where you don't expect the average gain.
That is 26 of 91 carries (28.5% of the time).
Takeaway those carries and DT average goes from 3.6 up to 4.35 yards per carry
By comparison Reggie Bush had 227 carries
Of those carries he rushed 23 times for 85 yards when down and distance was less than 2 yards.
Additionally he had another 7 carries for 14 yards within the opponents 10 yard line.
So 30 carries for 99 yards in situtations where you don't expect the average gain.
That is 30 of 227 carries (13.2% of the time).
Takeaway those carries and RB average goes from 4.3 up to 4.5 yards per carry
There is that good enough proof for you?
Like you said keep him around until his contract expires and then move on or resign if he improves.
In the first game against the Jets Reggie got hurt and missed most of the game, right? Thomas had 19 carries for 69 yards...3.6 ypc. Those 19 carries weren't all goal line carries or would you like to make everyone believe they were. Against Cincy Reggie got pulled for fumbling, Thomas had 10 carries for 29 yards...were all of those at the goal line? In the second game against the Jets he had 15 carries for 42 yards...2.8 ypc.
Are you really going to try and say that most of the 256 carries Thomas had were near the goal line when he only scored 4 TDs on the season...if that's true then he's a woefully ineffective goal line RB. Either way he's not very good.


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Web Stories
Summer theater season runs June 12-Aug. 10
Thursdays through Sundays, June 14 through Aug. 10, various times · Hamilton-Murray Theater.
Posted June 9, 2008; 04:42 p.m.
Princeton Summer Theater is celebrating its 40th anniversary of bringing live shows to audiences of all ages with a lineup of productions ranging from plays by Tom Stoppard and Noel Coward to new interpretations of children's classics. The shows will run Thursdays through Sundays, June 14 through Aug. 10, at the Hamilton-Murray Theater.
Princeton Summer Theater is a summer stock company of young professionals and students from Princeton and other colleges interested in pursuing careers in theater and drama.
Mainstage performances will include:
- "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard," June 12-22.
- "Bus Stop" by William Inge, June 26-July 6.
- "An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestly, July 10-27.
- "Blithe Spirit" by Noel Coward, July 31-Aug. 10.
For all evening shows and Sunday matinees, tickets are $20 for general admission and $16 for senior citizens. For Saturday matinees, tickets are $16 for general admission and $14 for senior citizens. Season tickets are available.
Princeton Summer Theater also will present the following classic children's tales:
- "The Princess and the Porcupine" by Ed Munk, July 3-12.
- "Snow White" by Marjorie Sokoloff, July 24-Aug. 2.
Princeton Summer Theater also offers a series of education theater workshops for young performers. Every Friday afternoon from June 27 through Aug. 8, company members lead classes to help children ages 7 to 12 get the most out of the theater. The cost is $30 per workshop, or $135 for all six workshops.
For more information or to make reservations, call (609) 258-7062 or visit the theater's website.