It's a sad week here in the tank--we're struggling with some EMS. We've had a bit die off each day from the bottom of our tank--sadly it is something that happens with Salmon in a tank. I learned that some years EMS is more severe than others. What is EMS? Well, according to the DNR site:
"EMS is a pathology caused by a vitamin B12 (thiamine) deficiency in the adult salmon. The adults pass this syndrome on to the eggs and the fry may suffer some mortality as a result. Symptoms of EMS include spinning and lying on their side on the bottom. Some portion of your fish may act this way for the first couple weeks after they swim up. It usually is a small portion (less than 20%). Once the fry start feeding they will get all they thiamine they need from the food.
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From: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10369_50075-191097--,00.html
"What to do if your fish have EMS: It is unlikely the fish will survive long enough to begin feeding to get the thiamine they need and recover. You can choose to keep the fish in the tank until they perish or remove them immediately after determining they have the deficiency."
http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/MIDNR-619935
So, what does it look like?
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| See this fish swimming at odd angles? That's one of our "twisted sisters". |
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No, they're not dead (yet) they just lay on their side, chilling, and I hope they can feed. However, when they take off to explore they swim in spirals--kind of difficult to eat food that way. So, unfortunately, we've had about 20 of our friends who do this die. We're down to about 150 fish now from our eggs...
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Can you spot the fish on these videos that are showing the signs of EMS?
