Evaluation of an ultrafiltration membrane for the removal of fish viruses and bacteria in aquaculture water

Abstract

Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes are used to successfully remove waterborne virus and bacteria from wastewater and drinking water. However, UF membrane application in aquaculture water treatment is limited. In this study we evaluate the performance of a capillary polyethersulfone UF membrane to remove two benchmark waterborne fish pathogens: i) the infectious pancreatic necrosis virus - IPNV, which is an unenveloped icosahedral virus, and ii) the bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida, which is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic bacilli. Moreover, the UF membrane bench-scale unit was tested at two temperatures according to salmonid aquaculture: low (4 - 7°C) and high (16 - 19°C). Sterilised natural seawater was spiked with laboratory cultured pathogens, the water was filtrated, and the membrane permeate collected. Both pathogen solution and permeate were evaluated using a cell culture method to estimate the colony-forming units (CFU/ml) for bacteria presence, a median tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50/ml) assay for virus presence, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for both bacteria and virus presence. The membrane permeate was negative for both virus and bacteria for all analysis and for both low and high temperatures. The results from this bench-scale study are encouraging for the application of UF membrane technology in aquaculture water treatment to prevent virus and bacteria outbreaks. Further studies should validate this UF membrane technology results in commercial aquaculture conditions.

Sustainable Water Use in a Fruit Processing Plant: Evaluation of Microbiological and Physicochemical Properties of Wash Water after Application of a Modular Water Recovery System

“…A study by Hembach et al reported a decrease of an average of 5 log units in the number of both facultative bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in the water tested, which originated from a wastewater treatment plant [47]. An in-vitro study by Mota et al, indicated that the usage of ultrafiltration membranes effectively removed fish pathogens, including viruses, which may find wider application in aquaculture [48]. These results confirm the high effectiveness of the use of ultrafiltration membranes.…”