Recommended practices for disease prevention in prawn and shrimp hatcheries

Disease in prawn is any abnormal condition which may affect adversely the appearance, growth, and function of the animal. It may or may not result in mortalities. Disease outbreaks occur commonly in different culture systems such as hatcheries and grow-out ponds. Disease develops through the interaction of the prawn (the host), the causal agent (the pathogen), and the environment. In the presence of a susceptible host, a pathogen and predisposing environmental conditions (poor water quality, inadequate food, frequent handling, overstocking), disease is very likely to occur. Improved environmental conditions, healthy prawns and absence of disease agents would therefore lessen the chance of a disease outbreak. The causal agents may be pathogenic organisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, helminths, microcrustaceans) or nonpathogenic adverse environmental conditions (extreme temperatures, low oxygen levels, chemical poisons). Living disease agents cause infectious disease which generally result in gradual mortalities. Non-living disease agents cause non-infectious diseases that result in sudden mass mortalities. The environment determines the balance between the prawn as host and the disease agent. Microorganisms are always present in the water and some of them cause disease only when the prawn has been weakened through exposure to stressful environmental conditions. Hatchery personnel should realize that they themselves could transmit disease through their contaminated hands, clothing, and footwear. Equipment such as water pumps, blowers, pipes, and materials such as scoop nets, water hoses, pails, glasswares are also possible carriers of disease agents. Spawners, live natural food like diatoms, rotifers and brine shrimp, and artificial diets could also be vehicles of disease transmission. The prawn culturist, thus, must be able to manage the environment and make it favorable for the prawn. Hatchery management should, therefore, include operation procedures that will reduce the possibility of disease development during larval rearing. This manual recommends practices for disease prevention to prawn hatchery operators and technicians

Dietary manipulation to control the chronic soft-shell syndrome in tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon Fabricius.

Penaeus monodon collected from brackishwater ponds in Iloilo, Philippines, were induced to become soft-shelled in the laboratory for 3-4 weeks. Eight isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets containing 0:0; 0:1; 1:0; 1:0.2; 1:1; 1:2; 0.2:1; and 2:1 ratios of Ca to P were fed to the soft-shelled prawn. Shell quality, survival and growth of prawn were observed biweekly. Prawn fed a diet with 1:1 Ca to P ratio (Diet 5) gave the best response in terms of weight gain (62%) and recovery from soft-shelling (89%). Soft-shelled prawn fed Ca-P-deficient diet did not improve in shell quality. Survival ranged from 50 to 100%, ans was significantly low with prawn fed the Ca- or P- deficient diets. The highest levels of both Ca and P occurred in the exoskeleton of normal prawn. The increased levels of these minerals in the exoskeleton in soft-shelled prawn indicated impaired mobilization of these mineral elements from the former to the latter for use in formation and hardening of shell

Formalin as an alternative to trifluralin as prophylaxis against fungal infection in mud crab Scylla serrata (Forsskål) larvae

The toxicity of formalin and trifluralin to the larval stages of the mud crab Scylla serrata was compared in a static bioassay. Prophylactic doses of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 μg L−1 formalin and 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 μg L−1 trifluralin were used. Toxicity was assessed on the basis of survival of larvae after 24, 48, 72 and 96 h exposure to the test chemicals and metamorphosis to the next larval stage. Result shows that larval survival in all stages was significantly reduced at concentrations of 20 and 25 μg L−1 formalin whereas larvae were able to tolerate all trifluralin treatments. However, larvae became more tolerant to high formalin concentrations as the larval stage progressed. Survival was better at 5, 10 and 15 μg L−1 formalin and in all trifluralin treatments than the control in almost all the larval stages. Faster metamorphosis was observed at 5 and 10 μg L−1 formalin and 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 μg L−1 trifluralin concentrations. Doses of formalin and trifluralin obtained from the toxicity experiments were applied as prophylaxis to newly hatched larvae in white plastic basins. Prophylactic doses of 5 and 10 μg L−1 formalin and 0.05 and 0.1 μg L−1 trifluralin applied every other day were found to be effective in enhancing survival and larval development to megalopa compared with control. However, no megalopae survived to crab instar in all formalin treatments. Although the use of fungicides in rearing systems resulted in higher survival compared with controls, other strategies (i.e. maintenance of good water quality and hygienic practices in the hatchery) should be further investigated as an alternative to the use of chemicals in hatcheries

Pathogenicity of Vibrio splendidus strains associated with turbot larvae, Scophthalmus maximus

International audienceTurbot larvae were challenged with eight strains of Vibrio splendidus isolated from diseased larvae, plus a ninth strain pathogenic to scallop larvae (A515; Nicolas et al. 1996). Six strains caused heavy mortality but the scallop pathogen and the other two strains did not. All the strains shared a large number of phenotypic traits, and an attempt was made to relate virulence to genotype and phenotype. Five of the six pathogenic strains were very similar, as shown by RAPD fingerprinting and phenotypic characteristics. The relatedness of the other strains was intermediate between the main pathogenic group and V. splendidus ATCC 33125, but the DNA-DNA homology between the pathogenic group and the reference strain was still high (78% of reassociation rate). The non-pathogenic isolates may be a useful tool for determining the possible virulence factors, as all the isolates differed by few characteristics