Abstract
Flexibacter columnaris was isolated from 13 culturedOreochromis niloticus showing respiratory disorders. The isolates developed typical swarming rhizoid colonies on Cytophaga agar medium. Antibiotic sensitivity test revealed the susceptibility ofF. columnaris isolated to oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol and erythromycin. A marked difference in the pathogenicity of seven tested isolates was observed: two were highly virulent, one was moderately virulent and four were avirulent. No experimental infection could be induced with the highly virulent isolates except after injuring one of the natural barriers of the fish body. The severity of the disease and the increased median death time shortened by keeping infected fishes with injured gills in water containing ammonia.
In naturally infectedO. niloticus, the disease became chronic as indicated by the presence of excessive proliferative and necrotic changes. On the other hand, severe dilatation of branchial blood vessel, oedema and round cell infiltration proved that, the disease among experimentally infected tilapias was acute.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acar JF & Goldstein FW (1986) Disk susceptibility test. In: Lorian V (Ed) Antibiotic in Laboratory Medicine. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore
Alyan SA, Amin NE, Abdallah IS, Easa M El-S, Imam EA, Rizk MH & Alawy T (1985) Monogenetic trematode from gills ofSarotherodon niloticus in Upper Egypt. J. Egypt. Vet. Med. Assoc. 45: 117–126
Amend DF (1970) Myxobacterial infections of salmonids: prevention and treatment. In: Symposium of Diseases of fish and shellfish. Spec. Publ. Am. Fish. Soc. 5: 258–265
Anacker RL & Ordal EJ (1959) Studies of the myxobacteriumChondrococcus columnaris. I. Serological typing. J. Bacteriol. 78: 25–32
Avault JW, Shell EW & Smitherman RO (1968) Procedures for overwintering tilapia. FAO Fish. Rep. 44: 343–345
Balarin JD & Hatton Y (1979) Tilapia: A guide to their biology and culture in Africa (pp 1–79) University of Stirling Press
Bergey's manual of determinative bacteriology. 8th ed. Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore
Bullock GL, Conroy DA & Snieszko SF (1971) Bacterial diseases of fishes. Book 2A. In: Sniesako SF & Axelrod HR (Eds) Diseases of Fish (p 151) T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Neptune City, New Jersey
Buxton A & Fraser M (1977) Animal Microbiology (pp 327–336) Oxford London-Edinburgh-Melbourne
Cruickshank R, Duguid JP, Marmion BP & Swain RH (1975) Textbook of Medical Microbiology. 12th edn. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh-London-New York
Davis HS (1953) Culture and disease of game fishes. Berkeley, University of California Press
Faisal M, Abd Elhamid H, Torky HA, Soliman MK & Avu Elwafaa N (1984) Distribution of Aeromonas hydrophila in organs and blood of naturally and experimentaly infectedAeromonas hydrophila in organs and blood of naturally and experimently infectedOreochrmomis niloticus. J. Egypt. Vet. Med. Assoc. 44: 11–20
Faisal M, Ashmawy KI & Rizk MH (1985) A contribution on Dactylogyrosis among some freshwater fishes in Egypt. J. Egypt. Vet. Med. Assoc. 45: 95–105
Fijan N (1969) Antibiotic additive for the isolation ofChondrococcus columnaris from fish. Appl. Microbiol. 17: 333–339
Fish FF & Rucker RR (1943) Columnaris as a disease of cold water fishes. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 73: 32
Kumar D, Suresh K, Dey RK & Mishra BK (1986) Stress mediated columnaris disease in rohu,Labeo rohita (Hamiton). J. Fish. Dis. 9: 87–89
Lewis DH (1973) Predominant Aerobic Bacteria of Fish and Shellfish. Texas A and M University, p 102
Munro ALS (1982) The pathogenesis of bacterial diseases of fishes. In: Roberts RJ (Ed) Microbial Diseases of Fish (pp 131–141) Academic Press, London
Pacha RE & Ordal EJ (1963) Epidemiology of columnaris disease in salmon. Bacteriol. Proc. 63: 3
Pacha RE & Ordal EJ (1967) Histopathology of experimental columnaris in young salmon. J. Comp. Path. 77: 419–423
Pacha RE & Porter S (1968) Characteristics if isolated myxobacteria from the surface of fresh water fish. App. Microbiol. 16: 1901–1906
Popp W (1980) Bakterien als Erreger infektiöser Fishkrankheiten. In: Reichenbach-Kilnke H-H (Ed) Krankheiten und Schädigungen der Fische (pp 106–134) Gustav Fischer Verlag. Stuttgart-New York
Richards RH, Roberts RJ & Schlotfeldt HJ (1985) Bakterielle Erkrankungen der Knochenfische. In: Roberts RJ & Schotfeldt HJ (Eds) (pp 174–220) Grundlagen der Fischpathologie. Verlag Paul Parey Berlin-Hamburg
Roberts RJ & Sommerville LE (1982) Diseases of Tilapia. In: Pullin RSV & McConnel L (Eds) The Biology and Culture of Tilapias (pp 247–263) ICLARM Conference Proceedings 7. International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, Manila, Philippines
Schäperclaus (1979) Fischkrankheiten. 4th edn. Akademie Verlag, Berlin
Sniesko SF (1981) Bacterial gill disease of freshwater fishes. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish Disease Leaflet 62: pp 11
Sniesko SF & Bullock GL (1976) Columnaris disease of fishes (p 10) U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish Diseases Leaflet 45
Soliman MK (1984) Some ecological factors and their relations to the development and elimination of Aeromonosis in fish. Master of Vet. Sci., University of Alexandria.
Spangenberg R (1975) Orientierende Untersuchungen über das Vorkommen von Myxobakterien bei der Kiemennekrose des Karpfens. Z. Binnenfisch. DDR 22: 121–127
Treagan L & Pulliam L (1982) Medical Microbiology Procedures. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, pp 235
Wakabayashi H, Kira K & Egusa S (1970) Studies on columnaris disease of pond-cultured eels. II. The relation between gill disease andChondrococcus columnaris. Bull. Jap. Soc. Fish. 36: 147–155
Walters WR & Plumb JA (1980) Environmental stress and bacterial infection in channel catfish.Ictalurus punctatus Rafinesque. J. Fish. Biol. 17: 177–185
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Amin, N.E., Abdallah, I.S., Faisal, M. et al. Columnaris infection among cultured Nile tilapiaOreochromis niloticus . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 54, 509–520 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00588387
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00588387