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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #366310
Research Project: Genetics, Breeding and Reproductive Physiology to Enhance Production of Catfish

Location: Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit

Title: Anaesthetizing Female Channel Catfish Brooders using a Portable Electrosedation System

Author
item KELLEY, ANITA - Auburn University
item Chatakondi, Nagaraj

Submitted to: NWAC (National Warmwater Aquaculture Center) Aquaculture Newsletter
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/1/2019
Publication Date: 11/14/2019
Citation: Kelley, A.M., Chatakondi, N.G. 2019. Anaesthetizing Female Channel Catfish Brooders using a Portable Electrosedation System. NWAC (National Warmwater Aquaculture Center) Aquaculture Newsletter. 16(1):4-5.

Interpretive Summary: Handling stress is inevitable under aquaculture settings; hence sedatives are used to routinely used. Tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222) is the only FDA approved anesthetic extensively used in all facets of catfish aquaculture. Under practical conditions, fish are often exposed to higher concentrations of anesthetic and held longer duration than required resulting in increased stress response making the fish vulnerable to disease and post-sedation mortality. Effective portable electrosedation system (PES) settings to sedate mature channel catfish were evaluated under hatchery conditions. The best PES setting was compared with MS-222 sedation to compare reproductive performance for possible application in hybrid catfish hatcheries. Dose and duration of sedation by PES is precisely controlled for routine applications. PES can quickly and effectively sedate fish, with no discharge or accumulation of sedative, lower stress response for possible reduced post-spawning mortalities of valuable broodfish in hybrid catfish hatcheries. The findings are important to commercial catfish aquaculture because PES incurs minimal costs for routine use and has a potential to replace FDA approved chemical sedative.

Technical Abstract: This study examined a portable electrosedation system (PES), which uses electricity to immobilize fish. We determined four settings of PES to sedate mature Channel Catfish. PES at 100 volts, 25% duty cycle at 30 Hz and shocking the fish for 4 seconds was the best setting for keeping fish sedated through the egg stripping process (5-6 min). Channel catfish females sedated using MS-222 took anywhere from 56 to 108 seconds to recover from sedation. Time to recovery from the sedation was the same for those fish sedated with the PES or MS-222. PES treated fish had a similar stress response to fish sedated with MS-222. Additionally, no physical damage occurred in the fish subjected to electrosedation. The most important aspect of this study was the comparison of the effect of the PES and MS-222 on spawning, hatch, and fry per pound of body weight in female channel catfish. There were no differences between MS-222 and the PES.