Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

Non-infectious disease
 Disease caused by
 Environmental
problem
 Nutritional
deficiency
 Genetic
disorder

Environmental disease
Asphyxiation
 Cause : oxygen deficiency in water
 Time : early morning commonly but O2
deficiency occurs at any time
 cloudy weather
 death of an algal bloom
 pond turnover
 Oxygen requirement:
varies species to species
most fish >5 mg/L (suitable), <0.5 mg/L (lethal)
trout >8 mg/L (suitable), 3 mg/L (lethal)

Causes of low DO
- algal bloom and bulk respiration
- algal die offs and consequent
decomposition
- addition of rotting/decomposing
organic - matter
- high temperature
Symptoms
 Fish comes to the
surface
 Gulps air
 Gathers at water inlet
 Fish dies with mouth open, opercula wide

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 Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

Treatment and control

 Aeration by beating water, swimming, boating
 Mechanical aeration (Aerator, Blower)
 Water exchange (out bottom deoxygenated water and in fresh cool oxygenated water)
 Adjustment of temp.
 Stop fertilizing

Gas Bubble Disease

 Causes
- super-saturation of oxygen in water
- phytoplankton bloom
 >110 saturation problematic, >140 saturation fish
kill
 In eye, skin, fin (non-fatal) and sometimes in
heart, liver and brain also (fatal)
 Problem: eye blindness due to damage of lens
and retina, bacterial secondary infection due to
disruption of bubble
Symptoms
 Development of large external
gas filled bubbles in the eye,
fin, lip
 Visible externally
 Lose balance due to large gas
filled bubbles
 Fish swims at an angle of 450
with head pointing downward
However, fish remains active
and feed also
Treatment and control
 Add fresh water or water
exchange
 Remove excess green algae
 Stop adding nitrogenous
fertilizer
 Remove the fish from ponds and keep in the new ponds with appropriate oxygen level
(saturation) at that temp.
Temperature
 Fish are poikilotherms. Effects
 Temperature sensitive and prone to Alterations in temperature affects
disease  Metabolic rate and consequent
 Every species has optimum range for excreted metabolites
temperature eg. carps : 28-320C  Oxygen production and consumption
 Cold water species : 10-200C  Growth
0
 Warm water species : 20-28 C  Gets thermal shock and also death
(temperate) when there is sudden change in
0
 Warm water species : 28-35 C temperature by 3-40C because fish
(tropical) can’t tolerate this difference and
 Beyond this range fish get stressed  Importantly, defensive mechanisms
and antibody formation
Management and control
 Should not place fish in too cold or hot water

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 Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

 Follow proper stocking procedure

 Provide shade in hot weather
 Cut off vegetation around in cold weather
 Water exchange
Hydrogen Ion concentration
 pH suitable range for fish: 6.5-9
 Fish gets stressed/died beyond these range
 pH 4 – acidic death point, pH 11 – alkaline death point
 Many toxic substances becomes more toxic at high or low pH levels
 Growth and reproduction ceases beyond optimum range
 Irritation of skin and gill at low pH
 Gill damage at low pH
 Cornea and lens damage at high pH
Nutritional diseases
 develops as a result of
- deficiency (undernutrition)
- excess (overnutrition)
- imbalance of nutrients present in their food
- Disease signs develop only when supply of vitamins and minerals falls below critical level
Disease caused nutritional deficiency

Cracked head
 Cause: Vitamin C deficiency
 Signs
 Cracked head
 hemorrhage beneath head
 deformed body
 Loss of appetite
 Treatment
 1 g/kg of feed for 5-7 days
Aflatoxicosis
 Caused by aflatoxin, a kind of mycotoxin
 produced by fungi Aspergillus flavus and
Aspergillus parasiticus
 Found in oil seed crops eg. Cotton seed,
peanut meal, corn, wheat, soybean, fish
meal, feed (main source of infection to fish)
 Gets infected when feed contaminated with
aflatoxin is eaten by the fish
 Fry are more susceptible than adults
Factors that increase the production of aflatoxins in feeds
 environmental temperatures > 27°C (80°F)
 humidity levels > 62%
 moisture levels in the feed > 14%
 Improper storage

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 Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

 AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 are direct contaminants of grains and finished feeds such
as cottonseed, peanut meal, and corn, wheat, sunflower, soybean, fish meal
 Cancer causing agent
Symptoms
 pale gills
 impaired blood clotting
 anemia
 poor growth rates
 decreased immune system
 might cause liver and kidney tumor
 increased mortality may also be observed
Management and control
 Purchase of recently prepared (see date of
manufacture) and properly stored feed
(mentioned below)
 Debris must be removed from feed
ingredients
 Complete fish feeds should be stored in an air-conditioned room
 Feed should be stored off the ground, on platform and at least one foot away from any
walls (to avoid condensation)
 Avoid using feeds that appear discolored, lump together, and smell musty
 Separate or discard contaminated feed and avoid feeding it to fry, fish
 Clean feed storage bins and automatic feeders regularly
 Add a toxin inactivator to the stored feeds
 Constant monitoring for aflatoxins in the feed will reduce the risk of aflatoxicity in fish
Mechanical trauma
 Trauma leads to fracture, hemorrhage, infection and sometimes death too.
 Caused by injuries to any portion of the body from a blow, crush, cut, or penetrating
wound
 Often occurs during netting, transport, handling
 Breaks epidermal and dermal layers and allows invasion of pathogen
Prophylactic measures
 Test and slaughter
 examine the fish
 if infection in fish is found of no control
 then kill entire population and dispose them so that the disease will not be
transmitted to others
 burn and deep bury the carcasses
 effective for absolute control
 Applied in whirling disease
Sanitation of aquaculture equipments Quarantine and restriction of
 Parasites and pathogens enter the movement
hatcheries and farm through carriers,  needs when fish are moved from
utensils, feed, water etc. suspected or infected geographical
 Hands should be washed with areas to no-infected geographical
disinfectants area
 Tools, transport appliances, nets,  Quarantine involves holding fish in
gears should be cleaned and detention until the incubation period
disinfected with disinfectants is over
 Common disinfectants: chlorine,  restriction of movement involves
calcium oxide, sodium hydroxide, restricting entire movement of fish
salt, potassium permanganate between 2 geographical areas

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 Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

 needs strict legislative regulation to  Needs cooperation among

control intercontinental, interstate stakeholders
movement of fish  in Nepal, quarantine exists, active in
paper work
Curative measures
 Dip  Flush  Systemic
 Bath  Swabbing  Parenteral
Dip

 Mix the required amount of drug in a measured volume of water

 Fish are taken out of culture system in a net and submerge in it for certain period
of time
 Return fish to the culture system
 short treatment (<15 minutes) for small number of fish
 High concentration of drug
 Small volume of water
 External treatment used for surface infections and ectoparasitic infestations.
 Ineffective for systemic infections
 Eg. salt
Bath
 Prolonged treatment
 Calculate volume of water
and drug and mix
 Fish are allowed to remain
in disinfectant mixed water for
long time (<24 hrs.)
 Effective and more precise
 Done in small holding
facilities like trough, tank, pond,
raceway but water exchange
should be shut off during
treatment period
 Fish suffering with
respiratory distress becomes
anoxic during treatment period
 At the end, disinfectant
should be flushed out of the
system which might be time consuming
 Eg. Salt/formalin bath

Indefinite bath
 Drug is applied to the culture system at low concentration for indefinite period
 No water exchange
 Drug is allowed to dissipate gradually
 Suitable for pond treatment

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 Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

Flush
 Done in raceway, trough, tank, pond etc.
having direct flow through system
 Similar to dip but fish are not
handled/removed from culture system
 A high concentration of disinfectant is
flushed in from upper end and fish are exposed to
drugs and flush out from lower end of the culture
system

Swabbing
 Topical treatments are less practical and applies
only to treat open sore in broodfish
 involves application of drugs in high
concentration
 For better convenience it is desirable to
immobilize the big-sized fish prior to swab
application.
 Swabbing with antibiotics and disinfectant can be
effective
 Involves handling and exposure to anesthetics
 Stressful to fish
 Eg. Acriflavin, iodine
Parenteral
 Can be effective
 but applicable to only high value fish such as broodfish and ornamental fish
 Because needs individual fish injection
 Intramuscular and intraperitoneal
 Mass treatment is impractical
Systemic
 Mixing drugs in feed and feeding fish
 Problems: leaching of drugs
 Short shelf life mainly of sinking pellets, loss of drugs to bottom before eaten by
fish
 Fate of water soluble antibiotics?
 Diseased fish may not consume fish
 Unpalatability due to drug itself
Precautions
 Indiscriminate feeding of low levels of antibiotics will remove only those bacteria
most sensitive to the drug and can lead to the development of drug resistant strains.
Therefore treatment with antibiotics should be only at prime need.
 It is better to stop feeding 1–2 days prior to medication through feed. Never treat
the fish within 4 hours after feeding.
 Always watch for signs of stress a unexpected toxicity.
 Monitor D.O. levels before and during treatment.
 Calculations for dilutions of the drug should always be rechecked.
 Antibiotics such as Terramycin which is a water soluble and may leach out of the
feed unless preventive steps are taken. It is best to suspend such drugs in oil when
preparing medicated feed. The daily ration of feed can then be coated with oil/antibiotic
mixture.

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 Fish Diseases, B. V. Sc. & A.H. 7th Sem.

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