UC Davis & Dr. Scott Weber

[ellen]

Hmph. Since you guys apparently closed the thread I was just getting into, I will start a similar one.

Dealers may be excited by the prospect of KHV testing at UC Davis.

As a hobbyist, I was excited when Dr. Weber told me he would like to have a clinic-type set-up where fish owners could bring their fish to UC Davis for diagnosis/treatment. It would be in conjunction with possibly first having a koi business person knowledgeable in koi health (scrape n scope) and pond health/water quality come to your house so that the vet clinic wasn't wasting their time telling you that you need to treat your pond with Prazi.

As someone who has felt ripped off by a $500 housecall "koi vet" (no names or specifics will be mentioned here), I would be thrilled to bag my fish and bring it to Davis.

I have a koi that I am worried is getting a tumor. Just knowing that the possibility exists (or may soon exist) that I can get it operated on (or at least have a competent post-mortem done) eases my mind slightly.

[aquitori]

Thanks for giving us the info. Sorry to here you got ripped off..$500 you could have bought a new koi with that money.

[JasPR]

I know Scott personally and he is a highly competent fish vet and very very knowledgeable- one hellava nice guy as well. He was THE vet at the Boston Aquarium and also at the Camden aquarium in New Jersey. I couldn't recommend a better guy to perform this service. JR

[Fishbreeder]

Just a note....

$500 for a house call, a rip off????

Depends on what came of it. If the result was sick fish made well, bad water made good, a keeper better informed than before, no rip off in my mind.

I work as a consulting biologist, you want me at your lake, backyard pond, irrigation canal, drinking water plant, hydroelectric plant, fish hatchery, floodwater retarding structure, reservoir, golf course water feature, river pumping station, etc. etc. its gonna cost a whole bill, a big one, $1000. Twice the $500 charge, plus expenses. And I'm not even a vet.

You got real trouble with your water resource, your fish, your drinking water plant, your power plant, etc. $1000 is CHEAP.

Now, saying that, my vet charges me $50 for a farm visit. The vet will admit to knowing nothing about fish, but must see "the patient" prior to prescribing any meds. I need vets, for drug dealers, not for anthing else. I know maybe three vets, none in Texas, that are competent to work with fish. The rest are good folks, but they work on dogs, cats, cows and horses, and know nothing of fish.

Now, a vet that actually has training and expertise in fish, that might be worth paying $500 for.

A story and I'm outa here. This guy had this Afrtican puffer fish. It was sick and he called me. I aksed him how long he'd been keeping this type fish, 10 years. went on to explain he obviously knew more about Africam Puffer fish than I did. Then to the bottom line...."How much are you willing to spend to try and save your fish, no gaurantees??"

Fella says $500. I tell him with that budget we've a fighting chance. I hire a vet (Sunday night house call) and we go to see this fish. It was obvioulsy suffering from a bacterial infection. Water was good, fish was bad. Bottom line, we saved the fish and I charged $500. $125 went to the vet, $375 to me.

Customer was so pleased he built a koi pond and stocked it with koi from my farm.

$500 rip off? Ask that guy.

Brett

[KoiCop]

Too funny, Brett. Thanks for starting my day off with a good chuckle.

[MikeM]

Brett, we live in an economy based on mass production and thin profit margins. I'd be afraid to ask the return on investment of a koi farm! Even physicians process patients as if on an assembly line. Custom-made goods, customized service ... these are comparatively costly. When a vet makes a house call to serve one animal (fish or beast), the owner only notices the 45 minutes the vet is present. The time to get there, the time to travel back, the wear & tear on the vehicle, the office support that makes the house call possible... none of that is tangible. It creates a real challenge for service providers to be perceived as providing value for the compensation paid. It is really tough if there is a $500 charge for working to save a $20 koi. Not so tough if the $500 charge saves a $5,000 koi. But what if the koi dies anyway? ... We use a vet for our 4 cats who operates a mobile service, making a circuit of house calls each day. No time spent by me driving back 'n forth, or sitting in the waiting room forever. And, my wife (allergic to dogs) does not get headaches rendering her non-functional for the day. It's a luxury in some ways, but so affordable in other ways. Still, each time I see one of the vet bills, I think 'That much?'... and I know better.