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Study on amyloodiniosis outbreak in captive-bred percula clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and improved control regimens

Journal of Parasitic Diseases volume 46, pages 1103–1109 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

The amyloodiniosis outbreak was documented with high mortality of percula clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and subsequently, various therapeutics were evaluated to control the infection. The affected fish exhibited symptoms such as discoloration of the skin and jerky movement with severe respiratory stress. Microscopic examination of the gill and body surface of the infested moribund fish showed the presence of brown coloured spherical shaped trophonts with the size range of 150–300 µM. Copper sulphate (10 ppm) and hydroxychloroquine phosphate (10 ppm) treatment with 14 days of continuous bath showed 76 ± 5.3 and 66 ± 4.3% survival rates. However, formalin (10 ppm) and malachite green (10 ppm) treated groups showed a survival of 41 ± 1.7 and 32.7 ± 1.2% respectively. The present results suggest that, use of copper sulphate to treat amyloodiniosis in clownfish will relatively more effective than other treatment options. The findings will be helpful to mitigate amyloodiniosis in marine finfish aquaculture, particularly marine ornamentals.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Prof. Ruth Francis-Floyd, College of Veterinary Medicine and Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, USA for his contribution to the identification part. Extending the gratitude to Mangrove Cell & Mangrove Foundation, Government of Maharashtra for the financial support. Thanks to the Director, ICAR—National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow for the encouragement.

Funding

This study was financially supported by Mangrove Cell & Mangrove Foundation, Government of Maharashtra, India (Grant number: F.No.1/42/2020-Admin./Mangrove).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226002, India

    Nagarajan Balachandran Dhayanithi, Arun Sudhagar, Thipramalai Thangappan Ajith Kumar & Kuldeep Kumar Lal

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  1. Nagarajan Balachandran Dhayanithi
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  2. Arun Sudhagar
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  3. Thipramalai Thangappan Ajith Kumar
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  4. Kuldeep Kumar Lal
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NBD contributed to conduct experiments, analysis of data and writing manuscript. AS supported for experimental design and manuscript revision. TTA contributed for the implementation of works and editing manuscript. KKL overall conceptualization. All authors have approved this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Thipramalai Thangappan Ajith Kumar.

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Dhayanithi, N.B., Sudhagar, A., Kumar, T.T.A. et al. Study on amyloodiniosis outbreak in captive-bred percula clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and improved control regimens. J Parasit Dis 46, 1103–1109 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-022-01530-1

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