Pathogen Control

- You could place a filter to prevent entry of wild water that brings the possibility of disease. This step can also control the entry of snails, parasite, Argulus and Lernaea.

- You can add lime to your pond (should be done when dried). This will kill pathogens and kept the pond bed from getting sour. Lime rates used are 865 kg for 1 hectare pond.

- New batch of fish should be treated with formalin (200 ppm for 10-20 minutes) before releasing them into the pool. This can remove the parasites on the fish.

- If there are facilities, keep the treated fish in tanks / small pond for 2 weeks to ensure that fish do not have any diseases.

- Do not mix small fish together with large fish as this can cause primer disease.

Stress factors

To control fish diseases, stress factors that are causing it should be noted as follows;


Temperature

The fishes bodily temperature are depending on environment conditions (water), thus, temperature is an important factor. If temperature changes occur quickly, the fishes will experience shock and this will cause them to be weak. Shallow pond water is not appropriate. Water will warm quickly during mid-day and will cool faster when it rains suddenly. New batch of fishes should be float in the pond before releasing them. Please read here .


Resources and Water Quality

Pond water should not contain organic pollutants, it should be more than 4ppm of oxygen content, ammonia content does not exceed 0.02 ppm and its pH between 6.5 - 9.0.


Handling

Handling is important in any operation, rough handling could wound your fishes. Wounds that can provide opportunities for pathogens and diseases to attacks them.


Crowd Factor

Too many fish in one pond could also cause congestion. Congestion factors will further increase the ammonia content in your pond thus decreasing the water quality. In addition, fish also experience stress.


Food

Fish food, especially for breeding purpose are composed of natural food , phytoplankton, zooplankton and other food supplements. Food should be given preferably 2 times a day, in the morning and evening. Be careful when feeding your fishes, feeding excessively will cause decreased water quality.


Pond Features

To control and prevent fish disease from contaminating all of your pond, each pond should have a separate inlet and outlet flow.

Diseases caused by VIRUS

Viruses are organisms which are more refined than bacterias and it can not be viewed under normal microscope. Virus diseases often occurs with bacterial diseases and clinical signs, treatment and control methods are almost the same as bacterial diseases.

Diseases caused by BACTERIA

There are bacterias in the waters and all around the system. When stress factors exist, bacteria can cause disease to your fishes.


Signs of disease


- The body of the fish becomes reddish if not controlled, the reddish mark will spread throughout the body and eventually becomes ulcer

- Fishes will lost its appetite

- Sometimes the eyes and belly will get swollen

- Death of fish caused by bacterias are usually high and simultaneous


Treatment


Use Furanace 0.05ppm until recover

Diseases caused by FUNGI

1. Saprolegniasis

This disease occurs when the fishes experienced stress (secondary disease) such as congestion in the fish tank, cage or pond, water quality deterioration, wound on the body caused by parasites or coarseness during handling.


Signs of disease

- Saprolegniasis fungi will look like cotton on the body of the affected fish

- There are signs of redness around the fungi

- It attacks the area around wound and fish eggs


Treatment

1. Methylene blue 2 ppm - Continue until recover

2. Potassium permanganate 10 ppm for 90 minutes

Disease caused by ENDOPARASITE (internal parasites)

So far, there are no major problem caused by Endoparasite. Endoparasite that cause disease are:


1. Trematoda Digenetic

These parasites invades the eye and causes swelling in that area. The central cornea will appear gray. White spots appear in the pupil (Worm larvae Displostumum Spatheum). It eats fish lens causing blindness.


2. Nematodes (roundworms) and Cestodes (tapeworms)

Tape Worms and Ring Worms invade the stomach, muscles, bladder, intestines and the eyes. Fishes will lose weight and look lean. Therefore, infected fish cannot be use for spawning. These worms do not cause high mortality of fish and if death occurs, it is not simultaneous.


Treatment

There is no satisfactory treatment. Therefore, it is recommended to prevent and control these parasites by removing snails carrying the parasite from your pond.

Lernaesis (Anchor Worm)

Caused by the parasites Lernaea Sp. Commonly infecting Grass Carp, Javanese Carp, Kissing Gourami, Giant Carp, Large Headed Carp and Common Carp. These parasite invades the body (outer surface) of the fish by sucking the bodily fluids thus causing tissue damages to the head, eyes, tail and fins.

Signs Of Disease

- There are red signs on the body

- Usually small fishes will die and large fishes will experience a lack of weight.


Treatment

1. Sodium chloride (salt) from 8 ppm to 11 ppm for 10-15 minutes. Once every week for 4 weeks.

2. Dipterex 0.25 ppm once in every week for 4 weeks consecutively.

Argulosis (fish lice)

Caused by parasite Argulus. Argulus are plate-shaped and greenish in color. It measures 7mm in diameter. Argulus can be seen with the naked eye on the body of the fish. This disease usually attacks Grass carp, Giant Carp, Common Carp, Kissing Gourami (Temakang) and Large Headed Carp. This parasite invades the outside of the body by sucking blood on the head and tail fin just like a vampire.

Signs Of Disease

- Fish becomes thin due to loss of body fluid sucked by the parasite.

- There are traces of blood on the body where the parasite are staying.

- Deaths will occur if the number of parasite are too high.


Treatment

1. Potassium permanganate 10 ppm for 30 minutes max.

2. Dipterex (Masoten or Trichlorfon) 0.25 ppm once in every week for 2 weeks


Fish ponds (Earth Pond) affected by this disease must be dried and limed at the rate of 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

Gyrodactylosis

The causative agent for gyrodactylosis is Gyrodactylus salaris (a small parasitic flatworm). Usually attacks Marble Goby and Common Carp. This parasite invades on the body surface only. Important: fishes with disease may show one or more of the signs below, but disease may still be present in the absence of any signs. On the pond or tank level, you may see the fishes scrubbing (rubbing against objects in response to skin irritation) and flashing (darting and twisting of fish and erratic swimming).


Signs Of Disease

Same with white spots disease


Treatment

Similar to treatment for Dactylogyrosis.