Comparison of Tank Treatments with Copper Sulfate and Potassium Permanganate for Sunshine Bass with Ichthyobodosis

摘要

The biflagellated, single-celled parasite Ichthyobodo necator can cause significant losses among fish populations, particularly those cultured in tanks. Treatments of KMnO[/sub] and CuSO[/sub] were evaluated against a naturally occurring I. necator infestation on sunshine bass (female white bass Morone chrysops male striped bass M. saxatilis) raised in tanks. Four-hour static treatments with 3 mg of KMnO[/sub]/L of water (2.5 mg/L above the determined KMnO[/sub] demand) or 2 mg of CuSO[/sub]/L of water (total alkalinity = 207 mg/L; total hardness = 95 mg/L) were randomly applied to 4 tanks/treatment (23 fish/tank); the same treatments were reapplied 2 d later. Four tanks were used as positive controls. By 2 d posttreatment (after the second treatment), only 17.4% of the untreated control fish survived, and a sample of the remaining fish was heavily infested with I. necator. All remaining control fish were dead by 5 d posttreatment. The KMnO[/sub] treatment significantly curtailed the initial mortality (survival = 92.4%) and slightly reduced the high parasite loads at 2 d posttreatment. However, fish mortalities increased dramatically over the next 3 d (survival at 5 d posttreatment = 37.5%), and parasite loads from sampled fish remained high. The CuSO[/sub] treatment was effective in significantly lowering the parasite load (almost eliminating I. necator) and maintaining a high fish survival (87.5%) by 5 d posttreatment. The findings in this study clearly demonstrate that CuSO[/sub] is a viable treatment for ichthyobodosis in tanks.