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NEWPORT - Oregon State University has created one of the nation's very few Extension programs to assist the pet fish industry and hobbyists, a response to a surging interest in tropical and other ornamental fish that's being complicated by an extreme scarcity of experts in this field.

The new Ornamental Aquatic Animal Health Program is one of only two or three in the United States to offer such services. It's led by Dr. Tim Miller-Morgan, an Extension Sea Grant veterinarian and assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center.

The program's activities are rapidly expanding, ranging from individual advice to people about their sick guppy to work with the ornamental fish industry, research on disease management issues, consultation with retailers and veterinarians, and creation of new educational and outreach programs.

About 13 million people in the U.S. now have some type of ornamental fish in their homes and there's also a rapid increase in the larger, more expensive koi fish ponds in trendy home settings that has spurred the need for more knowledgeable experts, Miller-Morgan said.

"In the U.S. there have always been many people who keep tropical and other ornamental fish, and now we're just seeing an explosion of interest in outdoor ponds and the koi industry," Miller-Morgan said. "These water features are increasingly being found in many middle and upper-income homes, costing anywhere from $20,000 to $1 million, and it's not unusual at all for people to pay $500 to several thousand dollars for a single attractive fish.

"But with all of this interest in ornamental fish and aquariums, we haven't really seen a corresponding increase in training, Extension and educational programs to help individual hobbyists, retail store owners, and others learn what they need to know about fish care, health, reproduction, and many other topics," he said. "That's what we're trying to address."

An average veterinarian might get "three or four hours" of training about fish health in a four-year educational program, Miller-Morgan said, so there's also room for improvement in that arena.

Among the components of Miller-Morgan's activities or the new program:

• Individual hobbyists, retailers and others can contact Miller-Morgan directly for advice on ornamental fish questions, problems or concerns, at 541-867-0265 or tim.miller-morgan@oregonstate.edu
• "A Sea Grant Extension website with information on ornamental fish issues, links, signup for a free e-mail fish health newsletter, and other programs is at http://seagrant.orst.edu/extension/aquarium.html.
• "Seminars are regularly scheduled for fish hobbyists and clubs across Oregon, Washington and Idaho;
• "Weekend "wet labs" done on-site at various locations can help teach people about proper care, handling, examination and disease diagnosis with their ornamental fish;
• "Continuing education is being developed for practicing veterinarians who want to improve their expertise in the field of ornamental fish and use that knowledge to expand their private practices;
• "Training opportunities for retailers and wholesalers are being developed;
• "A "train-the-trainer" program is under way for koi enthusiasts, helping to improve the level of expertise in that growing segment of the ornamental fish industry.

"We've already accomplished quite a bit but there's still a lot of work to do in improving the level of health care and treatment for ornamental fish in the Pacific Northwest," Miller-Morgan said. "One thing we'd like to do is create a significant aquatic component in fish medicine here in OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine. It would be a natural fit and growth area for the college."

This year, the college added six hours of pet fish medicine coursework that's available to third-year veterinary students and a complete ornamental fish medicine course for fourth-year veterinary students.

There are also immediate research needs, Miller-Morgan said. About 98 percent of the more than 800 species of saltwater fish commonly featured in aquariums are caught in the wild, and 50-80 percent mortality rates are fairly common in that portion of the industry.

"We're hoping to characterize the health problems that are causing these high mortality rates and significantly improve the health care practices in this industry," Miller-Morgan said. "This would help the industry economically and also put much less pressure on the marine resource for these fish. We think a reasonable goal for mortality with wild-caught fish might be less than 10 percent, which would be a huge improvement over where the industry is at right now."

Some estimates indicate that ornamental fish represent one of the fastest growing hobbies in the nation, with more than $2 billion per year spent in this area, and the ponds and water feature sector of the industry is growing at 35 percent a year.