Prevalence of Argulus foliaceus and Fungal Infections in Some Ornamental Fishes [Discus (Symphysodon discus), Dwarf Gourami (Trichogaster lalius) and Guppy (Poecilia reticulata)] in Isfahan City of Iran

Abstract

SummaryThis study was aimed to determine the prevalence Argulus foliaceus and some fungal diseases of ornamental fishes (discus, dwarf gourami and guppy) in Isfahan, Iran. The 90 ornamental fish from 2 pet fish supply store in Isfahan city of Iran were randomly selected. The study demonstrated that only 2 out of those 90 samples were infested with A. foliaceus. The highest infestation rate was in Dwarf gourami (Trichogaster lalius) (23.31%), and the lowest infestation rate was in Guppy (Poecilia reticulata) (6.66%). A total of 90 fishes of 3 species were examined. The contaminant fungal species were identified as Acremonium sp., Aspergillus sp., Alternaria sp., Penicillium sp., and Saprolegnia sp.. Fungal infection was observed in discus, dwarf gourami and guppy. According to the presented study, it is clear that A. foliaceus can act as a potential risk factor for natural ecosystems and native fish population of Iran and other countries. Keywords

Life in the fast lane: Temperature, density and host species impact survival and growth of the fish ectoparasite Argulus foliaceus

“…Another key factor contributing to the success of A. foliaceus is their broad host range; they are found on practically all fish species within their natural habitat, alongside successfully infecting novel, unnatural hosts including ornamentals such as goldfish, koi and guppies (Walker et al 2007;Momeni Shahraki et al 2014;Mirzaei and Khovand 2015). Despite a difference in growth rate, A. foliaceus successfully infected and survived on both natural, native stickleback hosts and novel guppy hosts.…”

“…To investigate any additional impact of host species and infection density on A. foliaceus growth, sticklebacks and ornamental guppies were selected as two extremes. Sticklebacks are a temperate, natural host found in most waterbodies across the UK, versus guppies, a tropical fish and one of the most popular pet species with reports of A. foliaceus infection in aquaculture/pet trade (Walker et al 2007;Momeni Shahraki et al 2014;Maceda-Veiga et al 2016). For experimental work sticklebacks and guppies acclimatised to 19 °C were infected with one individual of A. foliaceus per 7.4 mm of host standard length (based on maximum non-lethal infection density of 5 parasites per stickleback: Stewart et al 2017; N = 10 fish per host species, N = 3 -5 parasites per fish).…”