Treatment or Protection Strategies
Good health management
Good health management practices help to provide fish with their optimal farming environment, at least in that location, for their best possible growth and productivity. Control of diseases is optimised by:
| -Selection of healthy fry | -Vaccination |
| -Quarantine of incoming animals | -Disease monitoring |
| -Appropriate stocking density | -Daily removal of dead and dying fish |
| -Good husbandry techniques | -Responsible use of chemicals and drugs |
| -Sanitation | -Regular changing of nets |
| -Proper control and biosecurity measures when diseases do occur | -Optimized feeding and use of high quality dry feed (no trash fish) |
| -Daily recording of mortality and morbidity | |
Disease treatment
Treatment of established bacterial infections with antibiotics has been extensively used for control. However, this approach is limited, since clinically infected fish do not eat well and, therefore, are difficult to treat. Also, a successful outcome is dependant on a rapid diagnosis and immediate treatment. Not all antibiotics can be used to treat all kind of diseases. For example, a lot of bacteria are resistant to most common antibiotics and no antibiotics are effective against viral infections. In addition, the use of antibiotics in food production should be minimized for the long-term health benefits of humans, animals and the environment.
Vaccination
Vaccines are preparations of inactivated antigens derived from pathogenic organisms that stimulate the immune system to increase the resistance to disease from subsequent infection by those pathogens. Vaccination does not replace other preventive measures but, when associated with appropriate farm management, it is the best strategy to prevent or ameliorate infectious diseases in aquaculture.
