Have finally decided to get up off my dead A*S and get a microscope. I just lost one of my favorite fish, beautiful Japanese Ranchu, to Gyrodactulus (flukes). Other than being listless (she was a very mellow fish to begin with) for a few days she showed none of the more obvious signs (flashing, gasping at surface, etc.). Only when she quit eating and I noticed her gills were flared, did I begin to really worry. I took the fish and drove a couple of hours to my best, and closest, available goldfish mentor who confirmed with a single skin scrape what my problem was. I left my Ranchu there for treatment and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, she got treatment but never got to the rehabilitation stage - darned uncooperative Goldfish. In the end, she died that night. I am really devastated, as this was a beautiful, sweet fish - she is missed terribly.

The moral of the story is that had I been in a position to perform a skin scape myself, and examine it under a microscope, my Ranchu would still be with me.

So, please recommend an instrument that is of sufficient quality and magnification to enable me to avoid having to repeat this most unfortunate scenario with another of my little friends. My friend recommended that I get one that can go up to 400X. She has had her 'scope for many many years, and isn't familiar with what may be out there on the market, today.

400x is a good level. Many things you don't even need that strong of a scope to see, or can tell what they are by how they move, but 400x is nice to have when you need a closer look.

You don't have to spend a lot on a microscope - even some of the kiddie ones will work just fine for your occasional use purposes, and can even be better quality than second hand professional/educational scopes that will often have taken a beating from frequent use and mistreatment.

Happy....I'm wondering, where is a good place to look for a microscope? I'm skittish about the whole thing, but it seems worth while to own one.
Kristin

I actually just picked up three new scopes at the Science Surplus stores here in Chicago (I use 'em in the greenhouse). I paid $20. for them. They are in good order and only need new light bulbs. This type of store is a VERY good place to look.

I don't have any place specific to recommend. Local stores in your area may have them and you can find decent ones in "toy" shops usually. You can find them in abundance online - both the "kiddie" and more advanced models. If you're looking for a new one, they're often cheaper online. They have internet surplus sites and lab equipment auctions, but I would steer away from buying used unless you can be sure it hasn't been abused. Old university/school scopes often aren't treated with great care and the quality suffers. If you're willing to spend the $$ for a more sophisticated model, two eyepieces (binocular), a (non incandescent) light, iris diaphragm, and mechanical stage are really nice things to have for the frequent user. Like I said, though, kiddie scopes will do the job just fine for the occasional user, and 400x is a great magnificatiion. Don't bother with a 1000x power scope - it's worthless unless you do oil immersion. Also don't feel the need to spend more money for the bells and whistles - they're not necessary for occasional use, just nice to have. Figure out your budget and work from there. If you're skittish or unsure of what you're buying, it might be better to start with an inexpensive or "kiddie" scope, get the hang of using it and then determine whether you want the extra features.

how do you do a scraping?

Thank you all.

Trying the Internet sources first - lab auctions, ebay, etc. It's not a budgetary issue - the one fish I lost cost more than most of the microscopes I have been looking at - they are in the $250-$400 range.

I expect to use the instrument only occasionally (weekly as a precaution and when specific circumstances demand it). I was more worried that I may simply not get a microscope with the specifications that I really need, just due to lack of knowledge.

Naturally, like anyone, I am not interested in "bells and whistles" that do not answer a specific need relative to keeping Goldfish.

I did not even imagine - when we bought that first little Petsmart Oranda - that it would lead me back into the "life sciences" to the degree that it has.

Thanks again - the quest continues.

Ok, quest over. We purchased a microscope and are now acting like children with a new toy. Of course we must resist the temptation to examine the fish without a reason to do so.

By taking a scraping from the fish - you actually use the cover slip (plastic is better than glass for a cover strip) to remove a section of the slime coat by actually skimming the cover slip down the side of the fish (from gills toward tail). For obvious reasons you do not want to be doing this unless you are actually "looking for a problem". Once you have accumulated a sample of the slime coat from the fish, onto the cover slip, you then place the cover slip onto the glass slide trapping your sample of slime coat between the cover slip and the slide, itself.

Then the fun begins - trying to focus the microscope on something (bacteria, etc.) that "you hope is not there to begin with"!.

Thank goodness we have our Maltese dogs to experiment on with the microscope - so we can leave those poor (healthy) fish alone. Our first real work for the microscope was to determine if we would use a young male to breed one of our girls that just came "in season". Normally, we would have simply gone with one of the older males, as we would assume the youngster (13 mo. old) might not be mature enough, yet. Since we generally artificially inseminate the females, anyway, we "collected" the young male and examined the "collection" under the microscope for sperm count and motility. Without going into more detail, we used the young dog for this breeding. Now we are thinking about using our "fish microscope" for all kinds of canine-related uses.

But, back to the fish. Of course, it does no good to find something in the microscope and not have a clue what one may be looking at - or looking for. So, for now, we have ordered Noga's book on Fish Disease. If anyone can suggest a better book, I would be interested.

And, by the way - you can see our Maltese at Divine Maltese.

Hi,

I am looking for a Microscope too! I hope you don't mind me asking what type of scope did you get and from who? Thanks!

Hi Ed. Where in the Southeast are you located ? We are in Louisiana.

One brand I remember looking for was Celestron - as it was recommended by another Goldfish fancier - relatively inexpensive and readily available.

We simply searched on Ebay until we found one with the features we were looking for. The one we got was a generic brand, manufactured in China, and I cannot remember the brand name. I am at work and the 'scope is at home. If I recall correctly - it was about $250.

Anyway, ours' is of a binocular construction (dual eyepieces for viewing) and came with two sets of opticals for the eyepieces - 10x wide and 12.5x .

It also came with 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x objectives. By combining the magnification power of the viewing lenses and the objectives - you have quite a possible range of total magnification - from 40x up to 1250x.

The illumination is a halogen light and there is a diaphram that holds a colored filter
- ours' came with three filters (red, blue, and yellow as I recall). Do I really need the filters ? I can't anser, we are still at the novice end of the "learning curve".

I have been told this set-up may actually be "overkill" as most of the microscopic "critters" that one will be looking for can bee readily spotted at 40x and viewed quite well at 100x.

Meanwhile, all the fish will be spending a lot of time hiding at the farthest reaches of their tank, away from my wife, as she persists in her quest of finding something on the fish to view under the microscope. I will stay quite content to feed them.

Seriously, though, I do feel that this was a wise investment and will provide us with a proper tool for diagnosing problems with the fish.

Good luck and let me know what you decide to do. Perhaps we can "pull each other along" in the world of microbiology.