05 JUN 2019

Worried About Shrimp Disease? Stop Stressing

Out Your Animals
Written by Zach Stein

Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD
 Every year, disease is the number one issue on shrimp farmer’s minds (although low prices are
creeping up there). It is the source of the largest losses of shrimp on the farm and farmers are always
looking to stay just one step ahead of the latest disease.

There are a number of ways to lower the likelihood of disease on the farm – from better genetics to
biosecurity – but today we want to write about one way that every single farmer can help protect their
shrimp from disease – by reducing their stress levels.

Stress – the Bringer of Disease and Killer of Shrimp

Stressed shrimp are far more likely to fall to a disease than non-stressed animals. Whether it be
Whitespot, EMS, or EHP, the more fluctuations a shrimp endures in its environment, the lower its
defenses will be should it comes across a pathogen.

While there is not a pandemic like there was with EMS in 2012, disease is having a major impact on
the industry, primarily with Whitespot and EMS in Thailand, India, and Vietnam. Some estimate that
over 50% of India’s potential harvest fell to Whitespot.

While parts of the solution to disease are further up the supply chain in genetics and SPF hatcheries
and broodstock, part of it is in farm management as well and keeping your shrimp as happy and
healthy as possible.

Some Ways to Avoid Stress in Your Shrimp

What will stress out your shrimp? The answer is simple – anything that fluctuates. Shrimp thrive in
constient and die in variable environments. So here are somethings that farmers around the world are

Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD
 doing to keep their pond environments more consistent:

Shade Cloths. We are seeing more intensive farms uses shade cloths to cover the ponds. Not only
will your staff thank you for keeping them out of the hot sun, but it will help keep your animals in a
more controlled temperature.
Better Aeration. Fluctuations in dissolved oxygen are some of the most intense for your shrimp.
While some drop in dissolved oxygen at night is unavoidable, you can install enough HP of
aeration to keep this at a minimum and ensure high surface area exposure of your pond’s water to
the environment.
Zero Water Exchange. This is a new practice being tried both in intensive farms in Asia and
extensive in LatAm. Instead of bringing in new water and flushing out old, used water is recycled
through a reservoir where it can be treated. New water (to replace what has evaporated) is treated
in a reservoir as well before entering the farm, thus working as much as possible to keep
environmental pathogens out of the farm.
Water Filtration. For more of a capital investment, farms are installing high quality water filters to
take a step further in keeping out environmental pathogens.
Greenhouses. Another high cost capital investment that only really applies in super high density
farms, greenhouses help keep rain out of the ponds which has two major benefits when it comes
to shrimp stress. The first is keeping salinity levels more constant and the second is avoiding the
acoustic stress of the rain hitting the water, which drives the shrimp to the bottom of the pond
where more of their filth has accumulated
Pond Sludge Draining. Commonly called a shrimp toilet, this paired with a pattern of aerators to
create a “swirling” current in the pond will help “flush” the excess sludge that builds up at the
bottom of the pond. The goal is a clean pond bottom where pathogens cannot take root and grow
to infect your water.
Better Water Quality Monitoring. Finally, you can do all of this, but still see unpredictable changes
in water quality which stress your shrimp out. Until now, continuous tracking of water quality has
been very expensive and hard to maintain over time. We are working on that with Osmobot, a new
kind of water quality sensor that costs 90% less than existing options and is built to be maintained
by you and your staff.

Conclusion
Looking to reduce fluctuations in the environment of your shrimp pond and thus the stress of your
animals? It may take some cash up front, but the savings in boosting your survival rates can be huge
in the long run.

Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD
 Fields marked with an * are required
Enter your email address

Sign me up

I've read and understood the *

Privacy policy

RECENT POSTS:

30 Oct 2019
Artificial Intelligence + Shrimp Farming – Osmobot Update

23 Oct 2019
Why Are Shrimp Ponds Different Colors and What this Means for Your Pond

16 Oct 2019
When Dissolved Oxygen Drops, When do Farmers Take Action in Latin American Ponds?

09 Oct 2019

Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD
 Shrimp vs. Prawns. What’s the Difference?

Connect with us
Tweets by @OsmoBot
OsmoBot
Building the future of @OsmoBot

aquaculture Even very low levels of

ammonia can lead to animal
CAREERS stress in fish and shrimp
ponds. See why and what
FAQ you can do here:
BLOG ow.ly/i5Gj50wp5Dv

PRIVACY POLICY

Ammonia Stress in P…
Ammonia usually does…
osmobot.com

Nov 20, 2019

Embed View on Twitter

Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD
 Osmo Systems © 2018

Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD