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Comparison of Tank Treatments with Copper Sulfate and Potassium Permanganate for Sunshine Bass with Ichthyobodosis
Author(s) -
Mitchell Andrew J.,
Darwish Ahmed,
Fuller Adam
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of aquatic animal health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.507
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1548-8667
pISSN - 0899-7659
DOI - 10.1577/h07-048.1
Subject(s) - bass (fish) , biology , potassium permanganate , zoology , catfish , morone , infestation , ichthyophthirius multifiliis , parasite hosting , copper sulfate , fishery , toxicology , fish <actinopterygii> , botany , chemistry , copper , organic chemistry , world wide web , computer science
The biflagellated, single‐celled parasite Ichthyobodo necator can cause significant losses among fish populations, particularly those cultured in tanks. Treatments of KMnO 4 and CuSO 4 were evaluated against a naturally occurring I. necator infestation on sunshine bass (female white bass Morone chrysops × male striped bass M. saxatilis ) raised in tanks. Four‐hour static treatments with 3 mg of KMnO 4 /L of water (2.5 mg/L above the determined KMnO 4 demand) or 2 mg of CuSO 4 /L of water (total alkalinity = 207 mg/L; total hardness = 95 mg/L) were randomly applied to 4 tanks/treatment (23 fish/tank); the same treatments were reapplied 2 d later. Four tanks were used as positive controls. By 2 d posttreatment (after the second treatment), only 17.4% of the untreated control fish survived, and a sample of the remaining fish was heavily infested with I. necator . All remaining control fish were dead by 5 d posttreatment. The KMnO 4 treatment significantly curtailed the initial mortality (survival = 92.4%) and slightly reduced the high parasite loads at 2 d posttreatment. However, fish mortalities increased dramatically over the next 3 d (survival at 5 d posttreatment = 37.5%), and parasite loads from sampled fish remained high. The CuSO 4 treatment was effective in significantly lowering the parasite load (almost eliminating I. necator ) and maintaining a high fish survival (87.5%) by 5 d posttreatment. The findings in this study clearly demonstrate that CuSO 4 is a viable treatment for ichthyobodosis in tanks.