Disinfection efficacy on cyst viability of Artemia franciscana (Crustacea), Hexarthra fennica (Rotifera) and Fabrea salina (Ciliophora)

A.C. Pati, G. Belmonte-2003

Marine Biology, 142(5): 895-904

Abstract:

Resting stages (cysts) of Artemia franciscana, Hexarthra fennica and Fabrea salina were exposed for two periods (acute and chronic exposures) to different concentrations of five aquaculture disinfectants (formalin, sodium hypochlorite, potassium permanganate, organic iodine, copper sulphate). The effects of chemical treatments were ranked according to their action on cyst hatching: total inhibition (no cyst hatching), heavy inhibition (significant decrease of cyst hatching), alteration of hatching synchrony, and occurrence of anomalous hatching (death of emerging individuals or birth of malformed organisms). Resting-stage viability was not completely impaired by disinfectant exposures at the ordinary doses used in aquaculture, so that usual treatments are possibly ineffective against the protist and metazoan cysts potentially present in breeding systems. On the other hand, the high resistance shown by cysts suggests the possibility of using these chemicals in live-feed disinfection.

(Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Lecce--ECOTEKNE, 73100, Lecce, Italy)

home