Abstract
| Fungal diseases are very common in freshwater fishes. Aspergillosis is a fungal disease
of fish. This study was designed to examine a fungal infection in silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys
molitrix. The infected fish showed clinical signs such as: eroded gills, damaged fins and lesions
all over the body. The fish specimens showed mild to severe infection. The infection caused by
fungus was confirmed by isolating the pathogenic fungus from affected skin, gills, fins, heart,
liver, kidney and intestine of fish and culturing it on four different culture media; Malt extract
agar (MEA), Corn meal agar (CMA), Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) and Potato dextrose
agar (PDA). The inoculated culture plates were incubated for 5-8 days at 28-32 o
C. The fungal
growth in the form of colonies of different shapes and colour appeared in agar plates. Four
Aspergillus spp.; Aspergillus terreus (8.40%), A. flavus (17.06%), A. fumigatus (24.02%) and A. niger
(50.52%) were isolated from fish. Aspergillus niger showed high infection and it was recorded
on all 200 fish samples. Fins were the most affected parts with 39.10% infection. Intestine
was the least affected part with 6.59% infection. The major reason of aspergillosis in silver
carp is the use of unhealthy and unhygienic feed given to silver carp reared in earthern ponds.
Due to aspergillosis fish may not be recommended for human consumption. If proper health
management practices are adopted on fish rearing facilities, then the chances of incidence of
aspergillosis in silver carp may be minimized.
Saira Saleemi, Abdul Nasir Khalid, Zafar Iqbal. (2020) Morphological and Pathological Effects of Aspergillosis in Silver Carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Punjab University Journal of Zoology, Volume 35, Issue 1.
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