Cyanide caught fish

[Chris Sims]

Not to appear lazy, but it does seem the search feature doesn't work. I wonder if we have some good resources about this posted somewhere ?

And a question if I may: is there really a way to tell if our fish were caught this way ?

I have almost 20yrs experience on the commercial side and have done everything from buy wholesale, transship, and direct import BUT, I have 0 firsthand knowledge as to whether and how much of our marine fish are cyanide caught.

I've always kinda just had the mentality that "sure, many fish are", and "be diligent as a consumer (watch a fish for a few weeks before buying/introducing him to your own)", and "hey if the fish has a shorter than average lifespan, it could be from internal damage caused by cyanide fishing".

But I recently purchased a few nice angels, and 3 very nice acanthurus, all of which did exceedingly well for 4 straight weeks. And then, bam, pretty much all of them decline within a few days. This is a large tank with established fish and pristine water quality. It reminded me that there out-of-our-control factors.

This is what came up in my first google search, hardly the answers I'm looking for.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com...-saltwater-tropical-fish-cyanide-coral-reefs/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cyanide-fishing/

https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?5563/Cyanide-an-easy-but-deadly-way-to-catch-fish

 

[Chris Sims]

interesting...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-we-ever-have-cyanide-free-aquarium-fish-180963255/

 

[billdogg]

One would hope that the practice has become less frequent. A very recent experience, however, would suggest otherwise. Last Saturday, I bought 5 damsels from my very good LFS. Brought them home, acclimated them as I always have, and placed them into QT. 3 days later they were all dead. Not a mark on them. No sign whatsoever of any disease. The YWG that I got at the same time is still in there and looking fine. I can only assume that it was something in the way they were caught that caused their demise. I'll be going to the LFS today, where I am certain that the owner will make good on my purchase, but then his profits go down and make his staying open that much harder.

 

[HumbleFish]

Its not a for-sure way of telling, but if a new fish suddenly dies perform a necropsy and look at the internal organs. If they look damaged or black, something toxic entered their body at some point. However, the caveat here is that ammonia can cause damage to internal organs as well.

 

[Chris Sims]

yeah agreed.

seems like a topic not much talked about, and of little interest to hobbyists though.

probably because there isn't much we can do about it, and no one wants to pay more for net-caught fish.

sad

 

[HumbleFish]

yeah agreed.

seems like a topic not much talked about, and of little interest to hobbyists though.

probably because there isn't much we can do about it, and no one wants to pay more for net-caught fish.

sad

Most (if not all) countries have laws which prohibit the use of cyanide to collect fish. However, laws are only effective if enforced. My understanding is the collection of fish in Australia is tightly regulated, so chances of buying a cyanide caught fish from there are low. However, fish collected from other parts of the world... :eek1: