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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #219919
Title: Comparison of tank treatments with copper sulfate and potassium permanganate for sunshine bass with ichthyobodosis

Author
item Mitchell, Andrew
item Darwish, Ahmed
item Fuller, Adam

Submitted to: Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/2/2008
Publication Date: 12/1/2008
Citation: Mitchell, A.J., Darwish, A.M., Fuller, S.A. 2008. Comparison of tank treatments with copper sulfate and potassium permanganate for sunshine bass with ichthyobodosis. Journal of Aquatic Animal Health. 20:202-206.

Interpretive Summary: Ichthyobodo nectator is a single celled parasite that can cause significant losses among fish populations, particularly those cultured in tanks. It often occurs in groups of crowded young fish that have been stressed by conditions such as poor water quality, malnutrition, or low water flow. Four hour treatments of copper sulfate (2 mg/L) or potassium permanganate (3 mg/L) were tested against a naturally occurring I. nectator infestation on sunshine bass. Both treatments were applied twice with one day between treatments. Five days after medication, fish survival in the copper sulfate treatment was 87.5%, the potassium permanganate treatment was 37.5%, and the non-treated group was 0%. Surviving fish treated with potassium permanganate maintained high levels of I. nectator while the parasite was almost eliminated from the copper sulfate treated fish. Twelve days after the second treatment, six more potassium permanganate treated fish had died while only one more copper sulfate treated fish died. No further mortalities were observed through 19 days post-treatment. In this study, copper sulfate was shown to be an effective treatment against an infestation of I. nectator on sunshine bass.

Technical Abstract: The biflagellated single-cell parasite Ichthyobodo nectator can cause significant losses among fish populations, particularly those cultured in tanks. Potassium permanganate and CuSO4 treatments were evaluated against a naturally-occurring I. nectator infestation on sunshine bass raised in tanks. Four-h static treatments of 3 mg/L KMnO4 (2.5 mg/L above the determined KMnO4 demand) and 2 mg/L CuSO4 (total alkalinity was 207 mg/L and total hardness was 95 mg/L) were randomly applied to 4 tanks each (23 fish/tank); the same treatments were re-applied 2 days later. Four tanks remained as positive controls (PC). By 2-days posttreatment (after the second treatment), only 17.4% of the PC fish survived and a sample of some of the remaining fish were found heavily infested with I. nectator. All remaining PC fish were dead by 5-days posttreatment. The KMnO4 treatment significantly curtailed the initial mortality (92.4% survival) and slightly reduced the high parasite loads at 2-days posttreatment. However, fish mortalities increased dramatically over the next 3 days, lowering survival to 37.5%, and parasite loads from sampled fish remained high. The CuSO4 treatment was effective in significantly lowering the parasite load (almost eliminating I. nectator) and maintaining a high fish survival (87.5%) by 5-d posttreatment. The findings in this study clearly demonstrate that CuSO4 is a viable treatment for ichthyobodosis in tanks.