Spot and Treat Diseases and Infection in Catfish
Catfish surfer from fungal, bacteria and parasitic infections. You need to spot and treat diseases, symptoms that manifests in different ways. Here are a few diseases and infections you might encounter while fish farming.
Cornybacteriosis symptoms are swelling of the head and bulging of the eyes. The treatments of this condition are OTC antibiotics like tetracycline and penicillin.
Fin rut is when the fish start having rugged and decaying skin. The farmer can use antibiotics on fin and tail and also check the ponds PH level.
Fish TB is a serious condition manifested by skin defects, weight loss, discoloration, loss in color, and inactivity, the illness is highly contagious, so remove the sick fish, get medication and disinfect the pond.
Fungus can cause cataract in the eye, sluggishness, loss of appetite, and bulging eyes. Other related conditions associated with fungus are white cotton like patches, excess mucus and reddish discoloration.
Chinodonella causes peeling skin and strained breadth including gill damage. Catfish can get Tumors which are swelling or distention of internal organs.
Catfish can get fungal infections because of the habitat they live. Fungal infections are not as deadly as bacteria infections but cause the fish a great deal of discomfort.
The infection can affect the growth rate, feeding and quality of your fish if not checked. Diseases and Infection in Catfish will manifest in different ways. the fish might have erratic behvior, darting movement, pale skin, red eyes.
1 Erratic behavior are signs of fungal infection
2 Darting and swimming erratically
3 Cotton like stuff on its body
4 Visible tufts on skin, eyes and mouth
How to Spot Bacteria Infection in Catfish
Catfish is prone to three types of infection namely bacteria infection, fungal infection and parasitic infections. All of the above if not treated and cause massive loss of stock.
Although catfish is very rugged they like any living thing can infected by many diseases. The type of infection we will deal with today is bacteria infection in catfish.
There a various types of bacteria infections which cause illness and damage to the fish. You can spot them if you are observant because many have physical manifestation on the fish.
Here are something’s you can watch out for.
Loss of color; if your catfish looks odd among the stock then there is something wrong. A rapid loss of color could indicate bacteria infection.
Bloated body; the fish body might become bloated and reddish if infected.
Cloudy eyes; Cloudy eyes is a sure sign of bacteria infection
Abscesses and open sores; Open sore might be caused by bacteria or when the fish is bitten or attacked by other fish. Catfish are carnivores and they can kill each other out of dominance or when hungry.
Inflammation; Reddening and inflammation of the skin, fins or internal organs are another sure sign that the fish needs help.
Inactivity; catfish are by nature very active except after a heavy meal when they tend to float about languidly. A dull inactive fish over a period of three day might have an infection.
Difficulty breathing; difficulty in breathing indicates two things either the fish has a lung infection or the water is dirty and polluted.
Red streak; Red streak through out the body is a bad sign of infection and should be treated promptly.
Bulgy eyes; fish normally have either flat or bulgy eyes however if the eyes look to pronounced the fish is fighting an eye infection. This may affect the growth rate of the fish because they use sight to locate food.
Signs of bacteria infection are bulgy eyes, inflammation and reddening of the skin. Others are inactivity, cloudy eyes, bloated body, abscesses and sores including loss of color.
10 challenges facing catfish farmer
A comprehensive list of 21 Catfish Diseases
Catfish have many diseases but luckily many are treatable when detected early. Farmers should know the various types of diseases catfish get and apply proper treatment.
Many catfish diseases can be treated by the use of over the counter antibiotics, parasite medications and proper pond maintenance.
Here are a list of diseases and some symptoms.
1 Ulcers-sluggishness lack of appetite
2 Tumors-swelling both internal and external
3 Swim bladder disease-difficulty in swimming
4 Gold Dust disease- spots and weight loss
5 Inflammation- reddened skin and abnormal behavior
6 Bulgy eye disease- bulgy eyes
7 Difficulty in swimming- air in the swim bladder
8 Constipation. Abnormally long feces and swollen abdomen
9 Ammonia poisoning – characterized by reddish gills struggling to breadth
10 Black spot, red spots, cloudy eyes- May diseases cause these symptoms
11 Trichodia parasite- red patches on skin
12 Leech, brown lice- scratching, small worms on the fishes body
13 Hole in head disease-
14 Skin flukes, blood flagellates
15 Anchor worms- small string worms, brownish skin
16 True fungus-white cotton patches
17 Mouth and body fungus-excess mucus, white patches
18 Cataracts-fungus on the fishes eye
19 Fish tuberculosis- weight loss, skin infection, loss in color
20 Fin rot- decaying fin
21 Swollen abdomen, grayish white skin
