Fish Health

Management
Dr. Abuom
Introduction
• Blue economy
• Fresh water vs ocean fish
Challenges
• Training
• Interest
• Conflict between professions
• Climate change
• Culture
• Environmental degradation and Pollution
• Market access
• Biodiversity loss and poaching
Introduction
• Fish health management - term used in aquaculture to describe
management practices designed to prevent fish disease.
“Once fish get sick it can be difficult to salvage them”
• Successful fish health management begins with prevention of disease
rather than treatment.
• Prevention of fish disease is accomplished through good
water quality management, nutrition and sanitation.
NB.
• Fish is constantly bathed in potential pathogens
• Bacteria
• Fungi and
• Parasites.
• Even use of sterilisation technology (ie, ultraviolet sterilisers,
ozonation) does not eliminate all potential pathogens from the
environment.
• Sub-optimal water quality, poor nutrition or immune system
suppression generally associated with stressful conditions allow these
potential pathogens to cause disease.
Medicaments
• Provide a means of buying time for fish and enabling them to
overcome opportunistic infections, but are no substitute for proper
animal husbandry.
Dx
• Daily observation of fish behaviour and feeding activity
• Allows early detection of problems when they do occur so that a diagnosis
can be made many become sick.
• If treatment is indicated, it will be most successful if it is
implemented early in the course of the disease while the fish are still
in good condition.
Importance
• Disease is a substantial source of monetary loss to aquaculturists.
• Production costs are increased by fish disease outbreaks because of
• the investment lost in dead fish
• cost of treatment, and
• decreased growth during convalescence.
Intensive vs Extensive production
systems
1. Nature –less awareness of fish disease problems because sick
animals are quickly removed from the population by predators.
2. Fish are much less crowded in natural systems than in captivity.
3. Parasites and bacteria may be of minimal significance under natural
conditions
4. These can cause substantial problems when animals are crowded
and stressed under culture conditions.
Epidemiological triad
• Disease rarely results from
simple contact between

D
the fish and a potential
pathogen.
• Environmental problems,
such as poor water quality,
or other stressors often
contribute to the outbreak
of disease. isease
Approaches to diagnosis
1. Observation of changes in Behaviour
• Flashing
• not eating
• clamped fins
• heavy respiration
• self-isolation
• gasping at the surface or water return
• jumping
2. Water testing and inspection of system to determine water quality
3. Physical examination: This can be carried out in the pond or tank or
the ‘patient’ can be placed in a shallow bowl and examined for fin
erosion, cuts, lesions, reddening of the skin, raised scales, larger
parasites such as lice or anchor-worm, swollen gills or damaged gills
(indicated by trailing mucus or an operculum which does not fully
close), swellings, lumps or growths.
4. For a fuller investigation, they can be removed from the water and
lightly anaesthetized for easier handling.
A closer examination can then be made, especially of the hard-to-see
areas underneath and at the base of fins.
Additionally the gills can be examined and skin, gill and fin biopsies can
be taken for microscopic examination. Where there are body ulcers,
bacterial samples can be taken and sent for investigation.
5. Surgical examination is also extremely rare and, at present, has a
poor success rate.
Blood sampling, which is an important diagnostic tool s still poorly
developed.
Blood sampling techniques are relatively difficult and not enough
research has been carried out as to what would be normal ‘baseline’
figures for various species and the relevance of variations in blood
counts.
Complications/Challenges
• If detected early enough most simple problems can be easily and speedily resolved.
• If the condition is advanced this can lead to stress and a depressed immune
system, possibly leading to secondary infections.
• Other body functions such as wound healing and digestion etc are also affected by stress.
These slow respose to treatment.
• Some conditions, particularly severe parasite infestations, can cause severe
secondary damage to skin, fins and gills. This in turn may result in secondary
infections such as such as ulcers or fin-rot, or excess mucus production and cell
hyperplasia.
• This secondary damage may influence the treatment regime to be used, or indeed, affect the
treatment priority. For example, a parasite infestation affecting the gills may restrict the use
of an anti-parasite treatment containing formalin because of the risk of further irritation of
the gills.
Complications/Challenges (cont. )
• Some pathogens (Costia (Ichthyobodo); are very quick to take advantage of
sick and stressed individuals. This can cause additional stress and
complications.
• A typical example of such complications would be a serious infestation of gill
flukes, Dactylogyrus. The irritating presence of these parasites could lead to
excess mucus production.
• The increased mucus layer would give the parasite some protection from treatments.
Irritation may also cause gill hyperplasia leading to swollen gills, resulting in a reduced
respiratory surface, which in turn would create respiratory difficulties and more yet
more stress.
• Many treatments, for example formalin, might make this situation worse.
• In the longer-term, unless the situation was resolved gill-rot or bacterial gill disease
may occur.
4 treatment methods
1. Tank or pond treatments:
• The advantages are less stress and no handling.
• Disadvantages
• are that biological filtration may be affected,
• Treatment dosages can be difficult to calculate unless the exact water volume is
known
• Variances in water composition; particularly pH, hardness, and organic load may
interfere or affect the chemical activity of the treatment
• Some treatments, for example antibiotics, cannot be applied via the pond
• Overdoses or situations where there is a bad reaction can be difficult to remedy,
particularly in large ponds
• Treatment costs can be high in large ponds
2. Bath treatments

• They can be easily calculated.

• Higher doses can be used (for shorter periods)
• Filtration is not affected
• Less interference with treatment reaction
• If there is a bad reaction, it is easy to remove the ‘patient’
• Disadvantage is the need for handling and except in the case of short
treatment periods, a relatively large treatment tank may be needed if
several fish are treated at the same time.
3. Food top dressing – usually
antibiotics
• Advantage: no stress or handling
• Disadvantages include: it can be very difficult to calculate doses or
target specific individuals
• Treatment may wash off the food
• Very sick fish may not eat
4. Individual treatments. e.g. wound
dressing or injections.

• The obvious disadvantage is the need to handle and possible

anaesthetize individuals. Can be time-consuming when several are to
be caught and treated.
• Advantages are that treatment is directed and targeted at a specific
individual and is usually far more effective, particularly in bacterial
infections
Treatment limitations
• The presence of water limits the range and type of treatments can be
used, which goes part the way to explain why so little research is
carried out into metabolic and physiological disorders that are
routinely treated and managed in other animals.
• Even if these disorders could be diagnosed it would be impossible to
give a life-time of treatment that may consist of pills, lotions,
medicines or injections.
Further reading/videos
• https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=challenges+in+commercial+aquaculture&&view=
detail&mid=A6E034FA745197D33E21A6E034FA745197D33E21&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2
Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dchallenges%2Bin%2Bcommercial%2Baquaculture%26FORM%
3DHDRSC3
• https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=challenges+in+commercial+aquaculture&&view=
detail&mid=92F8550FEBCFD1BC85D892F8550FEBCFD1BC85D8&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%
2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dchallenges%2Bin%2Bcommercial%2Baquaculture%26FORM
%3DHDRSC3
• https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=challenges+in+commercial+aquaculture&&view=
detail&mid=AAF8C531FF67D4A193C6AAF8C531FF67D4A193C6&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%
2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dchallenges%2Bin%2Bcommercial%2Baquaculture%26FORM
%3DHDRSC3
• https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-aquaculture-op
portunity/
• https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=challenges+in+commercial+aquaculture+in+africa&&view=detail&mid=38CF083CB1F93
28951AF38CF083CB1F9328951AF&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq
%3Dchallenges%2520in%2520commercial%2520aquaculture%2520in%2520africa%26qs
%3Dn%26form%3DQBVRMH%26%3D%2525eManage%2520Your%2520Search
• The end.