Download Drugs and Treatments (1)

Drugs in Aquaculture
Dr. Craig Kasper
Drugs/chemicals used in
aquaculture
Feed additives (Sulfonamides)
– Sulfamerazine (fish grade) and Romet-30
• Effective for bacterial infections
• 220 mg/kg fish for 14 days.
• Some treatments recommend 3 days, fewer side-effects.
– Toxicity may occur •
•
•
•
Kidney damage (drug crystal formation in renal tubules)
Clinical signs – bloating/dropsy (stomach full of water)
Trout very suceptable.
Commercial availability in feed has limited many
problems
Drugs/chemicals used in
aquaculture
Sulfonamides (continued)
– Sulfamerazine (fish grade)
• No longer available
– Romet-30
• Suggested dose (furunculosis) – 50mg/kg
fish/day for 5 to 7 days
• Also effective for ESC
• Still used in the catfish industry.
Drugs/chemicals used in
aquaculture
Terramycin (oxytetracycline) – TM50
– Generally drug of choice in aquaculture
– Recommended dose – 55-83mg/Kg fish/day for 10
days
– Effective against gram neg. bacteria (BKD?)
• ERM, Furunculosis, CWD, etc.
– Requires withdrawal period of at least 21 days.
– Should not be fed on prophylactic basis!
• Resistance to oxytetracycline can occur in most
bacterial fish pathogens (Meyer and Schnick 1989)
Drugs/chemicals used in
aquaculture
Therapeutants added to water
– Methods
• Static bath – most reliable for raceways/tanks/troughs
• Constant flow – safe and can be used in most situations
when fish reared in running water
• Prolonged – lower doseage, but constant emersion.
– Chemicals
• Formalin
– Most widely used agent in fish culture
– (solution contains 37% formaldehyde in water)
Drugs/chemicals used in aquaculture
• Chemicals (cont.)
– Quaternary Ammonium compounds
• Benzalkonium chloride/Hyamine
• Antibacterial, toxic!!! 48 hr LD50 at 1.12 g (catfish)
• Now only limited use in food fish
– Potassium Permanganate
• Strong oxidizing agent
• Great for fungus!!
Drugs/chemicals used in aquaculture
• Chemicals (cont.)
– Copper Sulfate (<6.4 mg copper/L water)
– Also called Cutrine
• Algaecide/bactericide/parasiticide
• Effective on scaled fish, but can cause problems with
scaleless fish (catfish).
• Can produce kidney necrosis, destruction of hematopoietic
tissue, increased liver fat and inhibition of digestive
enzymes.
– NaCl (salt) (uniodized!!)
•
•
•
•
Most overlooked treatment
Can be very effective
Was classified as a drug until recently.
3% recommended if possible (10-30 min)
Always the legal stuff....
What else is good?
• Some options are not “drugs,” per se, but
natural products that haven’t been applied
to fish (at least not in any scientific
method.)
• Many products in traditional
medicine/herbs, etc. can and are used for
fish health!
GRAS (generally regarded as safe)
• Spices/flavorings: basil, garlic, salt, fennel
• Essential oils: from the above spices/plants.
• Natural solvent-free extracts: peach kernal
(persic oil)
• Many others haven’t even been considered