Vets Who Will Treat Fish

Very useful to know. The link is now saved!

The nearest to me is 40 miles away, the cost of diesel to get there and back is more than my fish cost to buy. But the list is still useful to know for anyone who does have expensive fish eg discus or some of the L number plecs.

Absolutely - very helpful.  It's not just a matter of cost, though - a fishkeeper may be very attached to their pet fish and prepared to spend whatever it takes to get the fish on the road to recovery (as I was with my pet goldfish who was absolutely an equal member of the family). 

My experience of phoning a standard vet was horrific - despite me agreeing to pay several hundred pounds for an emergency call-out, they weren't prepared to "come out for a fish" (which I subsequently discovered I couldn't challenge them on as there's a kind-of loophole in what animals they can treat ie fish aren't included).  A vet with aquatic expertise (and on this list) was very helpful and prepared to treat my goldfish but said I would need to bring him in (although I don't think that he would have survived the journey).  I sought aquatic veterinary advice from www.justanswer.com and was most impressed - they were invaluable on that occasion and other subsequent occasions.

I suspect the main reason most vets won't treat fish is that they know that the chances of a positive outcome are small. I doubt if many vets would say "it's just a fish". By the time that a fish is looking sick enough for people to consider veterinary treatment, the condition is usually too far advanced to be curable. A good vet will recognise this and advise people not to waste their money and that euthanasia is the only sensible option.