Innovative Techniques in the Mass Production of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes in the Phillipines II. Diseases

Very low production levels among freshwater ornamental fish producers in the Philippines are caused by disease outbreaks.  The diseases come from a variety of reasons. The best way to prevent this is to maintain a healthy environment in the tanks at all times to avoid stress that is a predisposing condition for disease occurrence. Stress maybe due to temperature variation, poor water quality, high stocking density, insufficient or excess or unsuitable supply of food and other poor environmental conditions.  To prevent diseases, these conditions should be addressed.

The ornamental fish breeder should be able to distinguish the difference between the healthy and unhealthy fish at the onset in order to remedial measures and prevent mass mortality.   Healthy fishes generally have clean body, erect fins, bright body color, bright eyed, faster movement if frightened and skin and fins are in intact conditions. The common clinical symptoms shows by unhealthy fishes are irregular swimming movement, jumping of the fish, rubbing of the body against any rough substrate, surfacing on water, gasping air, refusal of feed and excessive mucus secretion etc. Abdominal swelling or cyst formation also indicates some internal disorder of fish.

Because humans do not consume them, freshwater ornamental fishes can be treated with antibiotics and chemicals that are banned for use to food fishes. 

Here are the most common freshwater ornamental fish Diseases and its Control

A.  Parasitic Diseases

	Causal Organism	Symptoms	Treatment
Ich or white spot disease	Ichthyophthirius multifiliis	Tiny spots or nodules covering the body, fins and gills	Prolong Bath : Malachite green ( .05-1.0ppm) ,10day Flush  Malachite green (0.5ppm) + Formalin (100ppm) for 1-3hours alternate days
Blue slime disease	Costia necatrix	Slimy bluish-white appearance of the skin	Short Bath : NaCl : 1.5-2.5% Long Bath : NaCl : 0.7-1.0% Short Bath : Formalin: 100ppm Short Bath : NaCl : 1.5-2.5% solution Long Bath: KMnO4 :1g/l for 1 h.
Velvet disease	Oodinium spp	Dusty appearance of yellow or rust colour on gills and skin.
Gyrodactylosis and Dactylogyrosis	Gyrodactylus sp & Dactylogyrus sp.	Skin becomes spotted, necrotic and dark, covered with bluish grey mucus Layer in Gyrodactylus infection. Fish become restless, swim restlessly and gasp air, gills spotted in Dactylogyrus infection.
Lernaeosis	Lernaea sp.	Fish become restless and rub against side and bottom of and tank due to irritation; visible thread like structure.

B.  Fungal Diseases

	Causal Organism	Symptoms	Treatment
Cotton wool disease	Saprolegnia and Achyla	Affected areas of the skin covered with cotton wool like deposits with grey- white patches, hyphae filamentous extended out in the water.	Long Bath : Acriflavine : stock solution 0.001% solution - 10ml of stock soln. added to tank.

C.  Bacterial Diseases

	Causal Organism	Symptoms	Treatment
Dropsy	Aeromonas hydrophila	Accumulation of water in the body cavity or in scale pockets; scale become loose; abdomen swollen.	Long Bath: KMnO4 : 1g/100l  for 1 hour.
Fin and tail rot	Pseudomonas sp.	Disintegration of fin and Tail by appearing a white lime on the outer margin of the fin, droppings of fin occurs tail become torn, rays become fragile.	Long Bath : Tetracycline : 10-20mg/lt 2-3 hours. Oxytetracycline 3-5mg/l
Skin ulcer disease	Psuedomonas aeroginosa	Presence of skin ulcers and hemorrhagic patchy lesions all over the body	Long  Bath: Tetracycline : 10-20mg/lt 2-3 hours. Oxytetracycline 3-5mg/l