There is a growing commercial interest in the ¢sh, Puntius ¢lamentosus, in the ornamental ¢sh trade in India and elsewhere. The trade is, however, hampered by severe mortalities during transport of the ¢sh owing to insu⁄cient data available on the use of anaesthetics. To resolve this problem, we evaluated the e⁄cacy of two anaesthetics, MS-222 and benzocaine, in sedating P. ¢lamentosus in simulated transportation experiments and used stress response parameters such as cortisol and blood glucose levels to perform assessments. We observed that MS-222 at 40 mg L À 1 and benzocaine at 20 mg L À 1 were su⁄cient to induce sedation for 48 h. Above these concentrations, both the anaesthetics adversely a¡ected the ¢sh and resulted in mortalities. Both anaesthetics signi¢cantly lowered the blood cortisol and glucose levels compared with the unsedated controls. Importantly, the anaesthetics treatment signi¢cantly lowered the post-transport mortality in the ¢sh. The results of the study show that MS-222 and benzocaine could be used as sedatives to alleviate transport-related stress in P. ¢lamentosus to improve their post-transport survival and hence reduce economic loss.

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Trade in the Indian tiger barb Puntius filamentosus as an ornamental fish is gaining popularity, but growth of this trade is hindered by mortalities during transport. We studied the capability of two anesthetics, tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222) at 40 mg/L and benzocaine at 20 mg/L, to reduce stress in fish during transport and thereby maintain water quality. Both anesthetics significantly (P , 0.05) slowed the deterioration in dissolved oxygen, total ammonia, carbon dioxide, and pH in the transport water. This was reflected in the cumulative mortality during simulated transportation, wherein the anesthetic-treated groups showed a significantly lower mortality rate (MS-222 group: 8.4%; benzocaine group: 9%) compared with the control group without anesthetic (15.3%). The study showed that the use of MS-222 and benzocaine in ornamental fish transportation reduces the deterioration in water quality and ensures a better transport environment and reduced stress for the fish, resulting in improved survival during transport.

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