Major diseases of aquaculture species

Major diseases of aquaculture species

As mentioned earlier, there are several diseases that an aquaculturist may have to deal with, particularly in semi-intensive and intensive systems of culture. Some of the major diseases are briefly described in this section and the reader should refer to treatises on fish diseases listed in the Reference section for more comprehensive descriptions of these as well as other diseases observed in aquaculture facilities. In Part II, reference will be made to diseases that are relevant to major groups of cultured species. As in the case of other aspects of aquaculture like nutrition, feed technology and reproduction, most of the existing information relates to a small number of species, such as salmon and trout, common carp, channel catfish and eel. Several diseases have been observed in species cultured in marine and brackish-water environments in recent times, but aetiological information on many of them is still incomplete. The known major diseases in aquaculture are caused by infection by pathogens of viral, bacterial, fungal or protozoan origin. Many of them have no known methods of therapy, and prophylaxis is the only control measure. There are also many diseases caused by parasitic copepods and helminthes.