Diagnosis of Toxic Stress Induced Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in Juvenile Clarias gariepinus; Not as Easy as it Seems

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Abstract

The unknown cause of mass kills in juvenile Clarias gariepinus was investigated using different markers as a prerequisite to provide a solution for disease outbreaks. Thus, the following analyses were conducted; namely, hematology and serum biochemical analyses, stress biomarkers detection and quantification, water quality test, elemental quantification from pond soil sampled, quantitative and qualitative phytochemical analyses of stem bark of the Mangifera indica tree in the farm vicinity, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), identification of chemical constituents of essential oils in the latex, toxicological and microbiological analyses of the pond water, feed samples and visceral from necropsied juveniles were also conducted. The isolate obtained was identified using 16S rDNA gene sequence. There were significant changes in hematological and biochemical parameters. The water quality parameters showed significantly higher (P<0.05) turbidity, ammonia, and dissolved salts. The water also showed significantly higher (P<0.05) heavy metals and evidence of organic pollutants from the Mangifera indica latex that might have contaminated the pond water. The isolated bacterium was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It was concluded that the high mortality observed might be due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection sequel to compromised immunity due to toxicants exposure. It is suggested that sites of fish farms should be properly surveyed 

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics