There are many kinds of catfish diseases, so when cultivating, you should carefully observe the status of the catfish every day, and if you find something wrong, you should immediately isolate it. A good fish farming environment and nutrient-rich floating fish feed are very important for catfish, which can improve catfish health and prevent disease.
CCVD is caused by a herpesvirus. It is known to affect Blue and Channel catfish.The disease mainly occurs in fish that are less than one year old (fry andfingerlings) or smaller than 15 cm in length. CCVD is thought to mainly spread vertically, from brood stock to young fish via the egg. Horizontal transmission of the disease also occurs directly from the virus shed in water, and from the virus carried by animal vectors.The disease is also strongly influenced by environmental stressors. Mortality rates are highest where water temperature exceeds 27C and declines with a reduction in temperature.
Enteric septicemia of catfish disease is caused by pathogen Edwardsiella ictaluri. It is one of the most serious diseases of catfish. A highly infectious bacterial disease, the Ictaluridae, Plotosidae, Clariidae, Siluridae, Pangasiidae, Ariidae and ictalurids famillies of catfish are affected. The disease affects all size classes of catfish including market size fish, and causes high mortality. Enteric septicemia of catfish outbreaks occur when water temperature is between 20 and 30°C. The symptoms of ESC include red and white ulcers; red spots under their heads or belly regions; and red pimples at the cranial foramen between the eyes that can from a “hole-in-head” condition
Caused by a bacteria known as Flexibactum columnaris.It is most prevalent during warm months when waters range from 77 to 90 degrees Farenheit. When the bacteria attach to gill surfaces, they spread rapidly, causing necrosis. Common symptoms include lesions on the skin and gills that are yellow-brown in color. Advanced lesions may have centralized ulcers. Acculumated growth of the columnaris bacteria can sometimes be found in the mouths of infected fish. Reduction of stress levels among the fish population is the most effective method of prevention. Treatment involves treating the water with chemicals deemed legally safe for food fish. Potassium permanganate is commonly used for water treatment.
Motile aeromonad septicemia (MAS), caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila, is an emerging disease threatening the catfish industry. Aeromonad hydrophila is a mesophilic, rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium. The pathogen is able to infect a large number of hosts including amphibians, reptiles, avians, and mammals, especially fish species.
This new strain is able to cause disease in healthy fish during the summer when temperatures are high. Farmers should consider it a dangerous new disease and make every effort to make sure not to bring in onto their farms. The main routes of infection would be harvest equipment and infected fish. It is important that everybody is careful because your best protection is to make sure that your neighbor s farm does not get infected. If you do bring the bacteria onto your farm, it will be hard to eradicate. It is very likely that all types and strains of Aeromonas bacteria are able to live free in the environment, and they are part of the bacteria community seen on the skin and in the gut of healthy fish.
Stress caused by sudden changes in temperature or chronic heat stimuli above normal optimum can disturb cellular homeostasis and lead to severe retardation in growth and development, and even death. In the freshwater systems, the general effects of climate change on environmental variables will likely be increased water temperature, decreased dissolved oxygen and the increased toxicity of pollutants. Therefore, as it worsens over time, global climate change will become a more significant stressor for fish living in natural or artificial systems. Water temperature is a major seasonal environmental factor that can also undergo daily fluctuations and short erratic lows and highs.
Each species of the aquatic ectotherms has evolved physiologically to live within a specific range of environmental variation, and existence outside of that range can be stressful or fatal The acclimation temperature (both constant and cyclic), magnitude and direction of the temperature shift, frequency of temperature change and rate of temperature change can have important effects on the their life history. A variety of physiological functions such as growth, metabolism, reproduction success, food consumption, and the capacity to maintain internal homeostasis capacity of aquatic species will be affected in response to temperature fluctuation.
During cooler months, an overabundance of ammonia can occur in ponds. This spurns a feeding frenzy among ammonia-eating bacteria, which produce a waste material called nitrite. At elevated levels, nitrite can infiltrate the gills of catfish, resulting in the oxidation of hemoglobin in red blood cells. The resulting compound, methemoglobin, cannot carry oxygen and can therefore induce suffocation. Infected catfish may have blood that ranges in color from reddish to deep brown, depending on saturation level. Brown blood disease is easily prevented by maintaining adequate chloride levels (at least 60 ppm during fall months) in the water supply. This can be done with the addition of salt (NaCl).
Proliferative branchial disease is caused by a myxospore parasite that causes severe swelling of the gills with broken gill cartilage. Most cases of PGD will occur between March and May, when the ideal water temperature (61 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) for the disease to occur. Mortality is usually high and may exceed 50%. The high mortality is due to severe swelling of the gills, making it difficult for the fish to extract enough dissolved oxygen from the water. This basically suffocates the fish.