Whale Shark dies in Osaka

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sshindell

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Popular whale shark dies mysteriously

Aquarium divers transfer the whale shark, Yu-chan, into a container to be transported to the Marine Biological Research Institute for treatment.OSAKA -- A popular whale shark at an aquarium here died late Sunday while being treated at a research institute in Kochi Prefecture, aquarium officials said.

The cause of the death of the 5.4-meter-long female whale shark, named Yu-chan, is unknown, according to officials. The fish is believed to be 12 to 13 years old.

Yu-chan, which was kept at Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in Minato-ku, was transferred to the Marine Biological Research Institute in Tosashimizu on May 7 for treatment after it couldn't hold its food.

The whale shark was caught in a fishing net off Tosashimizu in July 1998. It had been kept at the aquarium for 2,505 days since June 2000.

A male whale shark, Kai-kun, has been on display at the aquarium since last Thursday. (Mainichi)
 
I think its time that the whale shark community looks into the idea that there may have been some issues with contaminated Mysis shrimp entering the fish food chain. We all know about the issue concerning the dog and cat food melamine contaminant and now I hear that some of the Human consumption seafood may have been exposed to the same chemical. If it can get inside my seafood buffet..... then it can get into Ralph as well.
Just where o where does the Mysis shrimp we feed our fish and the GA aquarium as well ....come from ?
I also read the article in Coral magazine concerning the extremely high levels of Vibrio in most brands of Brine shrimp!
Now I know the three or so places brine shrimp are collected, and if American collectors cant keep the shrimp fresh... then whats to expect third world collectors from doing any better?
Whats to say that the Whale sharks didnt get a similarly bad batch of pet food from either of these two events?

Just imagine being force feed rotten melamine laced shrimp through a PVC pipe until your insides burst!
 
keeping an animal as big as a whale shark in a aquarium is very hard. could it be possible that these animals wernt ment for captivity. i always thought how they could keep a animal that big.
 
It is not the mysis shrimp - they are fed krill, squid, silversides, and other assorted critters. On top of that, the other whale sharks in captivity are fine. It is just the cycle of life - things die sometimes, and we try to figure it out when it does. When something big dies, it causes a big stir, but some whale sharks have been kept in captivity for over twelve years. Who hasn't had something inexplicably die in their tank?
 
Does the Georgia Aquarium now have the most whale sharks in captivity in the world, again?
 
kjessop;41632 wrote: Does the Georgia Aquarium now have the most whale sharks in captivity in the world, again?
Click to expand...

I think okinawa also has three on display (i believe one since 1994). This june, though, the aquarium will have the most on display in the world.

In case you hadn't seen this:
a>
 
SShindell;41621 wrote: It is not the mysis shrimp - they are fed krill, squid, silversides, and other assorted critters.
Click to expand...
Both my cats eat the same cat food last Year.........One vomited a lot (saved his life)and the other younger cat died. Both eat the Malamine contaminated Pet food .
You now have two big fish die and Norton swimming around with his head out of the water not eating , forty-thousand bat fish died, 150-thousand golden pilot fish MIA and then a known household pet food industry contamination during the same time the GA lost a lot of fish.
I still stand by the idea it might be a good idea look into the possibility of tainted pet fish food and where what we feed our fish comes from ....
 
Kalkbreath;41721 wrote: Both my cats eat the same cat food last Year.........One vomited a lot (saved his life)and the other younger cat died. Both eat the Malamine contaminated Pet food .
You now have two big fish die and Norton swimming around with his head out of the water not eating , forty-thousand bat fish died, 150-thousand golden pilot fish MIA and then a known household pet food industry contamination during the same time the GA lost a lot of fish.
I still stand by the idea it might be a good idea look into the possibility of tainted pet fish food and where what we feed our fish comes from ....
Click to expand...

I think you have a bunch of numbers that are pretty far off......and Gaspar was a mammal, not a fish, and came sick..., and the animals at GAI are all fed non-packaged fresh or frozen food. The Travali were removed alive and sent to other facilities (there were a total of 70,000 at one time, and too many survived). The bat fish had hole in the head disease from before GAI opened.

Sorry about your cat....
 
I just swam with 3 today....they were 1 foot in front of me.. so cool!!
 
Oops - you may be right - sorry.

I prepare the food every Sunday, and it is restaurant grade food. There are no pre-prepared items (other than some minor items for the fresh water fish). The girls are eating fine with the same food, so I don't think anyone is looking at a possible contaminant. They are pursuing other possibilities that have shown good promise with Norton (who still has grown a significant amount).

Maybe Todd is the contaminant? Watch it - Alice and Tracie might get frisky with you!
 
Kalkbreath;41595 wrote: I think its time that the whale shark community looks into the idea that there may have been some issues with contaminated Mysis shrimp entering the fish food chain. We all know about the issue concerning the dog and cat food melamine contaminant and now I hear that some of the Human consumption seafood may have been exposed to the same chemical. If it can get inside my seafood buffet..... then it can get into Ralph as well.
Just where o where does the Mysis shrimp we feed our fish and the GA aquarium as well ....come from ?
I also read the article in Coral magazine concerning the extremely high levels of Vibrio in most brands of Brine shrimp!
Now I know the three or so places brine shrimp are collected, and if American collectors cant keep the shrimp fresh... then whats to expect third world collectors from doing any better?
Whats to say that the Whale sharks didnt get a similarly bad batch of pet food from either of these two events?

Just imagine being force feed rotten melamine laced shrimp through a PVC pipe until your insides burst!
Click to expand...



I wouldn't worry about Vibrio in the msyis since many marine organisms use members of this genus, namely Vibrio fischeri, for tasks such as bioluminecense. The only harmful Vibrio bacteria that I can think of off hand is Vibrio cholerae which only lives in fresh water. I'd be more worried about something like a parasite or complications due to captivity than I would about vibrio bacteria on the whale sharks' food. Just a thought.
 
Again, they are fed boiled salt water krill, and thawed frozen squid, and siversides, not fresh water mysis shrimp for their regular diet.
 
SShindell;41744 wrote:

Maybe Todd is the contaminant? Watch it - Alice and Tracie might get frisky with you!
Click to expand...


You would think, wouldn't you:lol2: However, there is a Queensland Grouper...about 400 pounds, a girl of course...even fish are attracted to me ;)

Now I am nowhere near 400 anymore....but she was chasing me everywhere..The safety diver had to chase it with the stick to keep it away from me.....even underwater I can keep the girls away!!! :lol2:
 
I don't want to cause a scene , but who are we fooling here?
Cant solve problems if we pretend there isn't any.

* I dont remember ever seeing food grade krill or silver sides and I hope I never do.

* you cant cook out the effects of Melamine. You can however feed it to pigs or chickens then eat them according to the USDA. (Wink)

* also remember seeing Pro Salt advertisements stating that "Ralph and Norton eat Pro Salt Krill? Was this an out right lie on the behalf of Pro salt?

*As was high lighted in Coral Magazine Nov 2006 Vibrio metschnikovii and Aeromonas hydrophila were two of the most commonly found not nice pathogenic items found in the five most popular aquarium frozen fish foods. Study conducted by the Institute of microbiology at the collage of veterinary Medicine Hanover Germany.

*I happened to see the forty-thousand bat fish myself during ARC visist after the Aquarium opened.

*There were also 300 thousand golden traveli and only half that on opening day.

* I don't know how many red snapper there were to begin (20thousand) with but I dont see very many left.

* Norton is very sick and has been since Ralph got sick. Yes animals die now and again. Two fish getting sick at the same time is not a random act of nature. (And what is a Marine leach pray tell?)
 
Sorry to disappoint you Jeff, while your passion is admirable, your your figures are not at all accurate. I have been at GAI every week for a total of 400 hours, and there were never the numbers you mentioned. You saw the bat fish (with me, it was the 1 hour ARC tour that GAI gave ARC), but there were never 40,000. There were never 300,000 Travali - they came in as fingerlings and the survival rate was much higher than expected, not lower, so many had to be removed (there were about 70,000, and feeding them was effecting water quality). The Travali did not die of disease. The whale sharks eat frozen krill from Osaka (and you are right, it is not served in restaurants, but the very strict rules of cleanliness and freshness are the same or better than the requirements in restaurants). The red snapper (never 20,000) did have a multitude of diseases at the opening, again you saw that on the tour a year ago. Norton and Ralph stopped eating at the same time many months ago, and many people have tried to figure it out, and there has been some recent successes. Your comment about force feeding was out of line - these are very competent, caring biologists doing their best, not out to make any animal suffer.
 
Bravo Steve:thumbs::thumbs: four thumbs up.....I am sick and tired of all the Whale Shark naysayers of this world......

Less we forget, these sharks were DEAD!!! caught for FOOD.....


My god people....the sharks are fine, if they aren't the most advanced biologists in the world are there to care for them......

It's not like everywhere in the world has them, it's called LEARNING!!!

Give it a break naysayers...
 
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