Fish Health

 

Disease no doubt is one of the obstacles in developing aquaculture. Certainly, there are no aquaculture facilities that are free from the threat of disease outbreaks. A better understanding of revealing interactions between aquaculture commodities-pathogens-the environment is necessary for those who will work in this field in order to reduce the impact caused by the presence of pathogens in the aquatic environment. We focus on providing knowledge related to diseases in aquaculture, prevention management, and treatment, by considering aspects of food safety. Besides that, we also develop science in the specific studies such as; fish vaccines, probiotics, phytopharmacy, immunostimulant, biocontrol, and fish parasitology.

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1. Development of fish vaccines

The fishes have a competent immune system that capable to develop specific immunity against certain pathogens. We work a lot with pathogenic bacteria that cause fish diseases such as Aeromonas hydrophilla and Streptococcus agalactiae to achieve a high level of protection for the broodstock or fish offspring. Vaccination is a way to protect the fish and prevent losses due to the disease outbreak. This picture shows that the antigen of Streptococcus agalactiae in both solo and combination have different level protection, and tend to decrease as the fish cultivation period increased. This information is taken from our study to reveal the efficacy of several antigens for tilapia juvenile vaccination.

Vaksin A = whole-cell antigen, Vaksin B = ECP, Vaksin C = whole-cell+ECP

Source: Dr. Sukenda

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2. Development of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics

In utilizing microbes that support aquaculture purposes, the use of probiotics has become a common activity carried out by fish farmers. We select and develop probiotic bacteria and prebiotic ingredients to strengthen the benefits of probiotics in aquaculture. This series of studies has been applied to commodities of freshwater fish and white shrimp.

3. Herbs for aquaculture.

As it has been proven that some plants have medical effects on humans, the same possibility is also explored for aquaculture purposes. In the aquaculture industry itself, the use of these plants has begun to increase and some products have begun to be marketed. Some of the plants that we studied have the effect of protecting and restoring the immune system of fish exposed to pathogens. Most of the utilization is still in the form of simplicia, although we have also extracted it.

4. Development of immunostimulants

Immunostimulants are ingredients that can increase the immune response against disease attacks. We examine several ingredients that have stimulating effects on the immune system of shrimp and fish such as seaweed extracts and chitosan

5. Research pathogenic biocontrol in aquaculture.

In contrast to other studies, biocontrol is an ecological approach to suppress the possibility of disease outbreaks in aquaculture facilities. We examined the use of freshwater clams to reduce the abundance of pathogenic bacteria such as Aeromonas hydrophilla in the water column.

6. Collection and identification of fish parasites

Although fish parasites do not result in large economic losses such as fish disease, their presence and wound caused by the parasitic attack mechanism becomes an entry portal for other pathogens to infect. We routinely collect parasites from fish with special cases and we also have conducted fish parasitic training under the supervision of PD Dr.rer.nat.habil.Sonja Kleinertz from DAAD representative (Germany)