Parasitic infections in freshwater ornamental fish in Sri Lanka

Abstract

) and 1 nematode (Capillaria spp.) were identified. Parasites were found in fish from 23 of the 26 farms with an overall prevalence of parasitism in 45.3% of fish. The variation in farm prevalence among different parasites was significant (p < 0.01). Fish infection rates with monogenean trematodes, protozoans, copepod crustaceans, digenean trematodes and nematodes were 28.3, 18.4, 4.8, 0.8 and 0.4%, respectively. In all, 50 out of 590 (50/590) guppies were infected with Tetrahymena, compared with 13/930 for all other species, which is a statistically significant result (p < 0.01). Similarly, 13/44 and 18/44 carp were infected with Argulus foliaceus and Lernaea cyprinacea, compared with 7/1476 and 15/1476, respectively, for all other species combined (p < 0.01). Capillaria spp. was found only in guppies (4/590) and angel fish (3/92) while Centrocestus spp. was found in goldfish (12/153) only.

Parasitic fauna of eight species of ornamental freshwater fish species from the middle Negro River in the Brazilian Amazon Region

“…Moreover, Monogenea has high host specificity. Gyrodactylids are viviparous and dactylogyrids are oviparous, but have a monoxenic life cycle that makes it more likely that they will become infected under propitious environmental conditions (THILAKARATNE et al, 2003;THATCHER, 2006). EF: examined fish; P (%): Prevalence; MI: mean intensity, followed by standard deviation (SD) and range in parentheses.…”

“…However, both parasites had low infection rates. Infection due to Tetrahymena species (KIM et al, 2002;LEIBOWITZ;ARIAV;ZILBERG, 2005) and P. pilullare (THILAKARATNE et al, 2003;PIAZZA et al, 2006) are influenced by poor water quality and high content of organic matter. Many tropical and temperate-region fish are susceptible to P. pilullare, because this parasite is nonspecific.…”

“…However, one point that must be highlighted is the difference in fish susceptibility or innate immunity that may occur, depending on the fish species. In this study, the degree of parasitism due to trichodinids was similar to what has been reported for Xiphophorus maculatus, cultured in southern Brazil (PIAZZA et al, 2006) and Hyphessobrycon sp., cultured in Sri Lanka (THILAKARATNE et al, 2003). Therefore, knowledge of ornamental fish health is important for avoiding diseases.…”

Prevalence of Argulus foliaceus in ornamental fishes [goldfish (Carassius auratus) and Koi (Cyprinus carpio)] in Kerman, southeast of Iran

“…Besides the damage and stress caused by A. foliaceus itself, one of the main worries for fish Producers is the associated secondary infestation that can result from infestations with this ectoparasite (Noaman et al 2010). Many researches have been done on prevalence of A. foliaceus but the reseaches on prevalence of this ectoparasite in Iran are scanty (Al-Dulaimi 2010; Buchmann and Bresciani 1997;Ebrahimzadeh Mousavi et al 2011;Harrison et al 2006;Noaman et al 2010;Pazooki et al 2007;Thilakaratne et al 2003;Yildiz and Kumantas 2002). Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence A. foliaceus of ornamental fishes (Goldfish and Koi) of Kerman, southeast of Iran.…”

“…The genus Argulus (Crustacea: Branchiura), or fish louse, are common parasites of freshwater fish (Klinger and Floyd 1998;Thilakaratne et al 2003). Many of the species are parasitic on marine fishes, and about 15 spp.…”