Fish health management in aquaculture.

Abstract

Fish health management has become an integral continuous operation for preventing sudden outbreak of epizootics that occur due to environmental deterioration, improper feeding, overcrowding, etc. Sound status and normal functioning of all bodily organs denote healthy condition while any deviation from the normal functioning of one or of several organs due to adverse factor(s) is termed as diseased condition. For normal functioning, every individual requires a set of parameters within the physiologically acceptable limit of the species cultured. Any adverse fluctuation in these parameters either singly or cumulatively puts stress or predisposes to ill health, disease or even cause mortality. In the aquatic ecosystem, host (fish), pathogen & the environment are in balance state. Disease develops when there is an imbalance in these components caused by any stressors. Therefore, disease occurs if the balance between various stress producing factors e.g., adverse genotypic and physiological properties of fish, malnutrition, adverse ecological parameters and- action 'of pathogens and parasites and the susceptible fish is lost shifting the balance adversely towards the susceptible fish.