Fish Quarantine: Current Practices in Public Zoos and Aquaria

Abstract

The primary goal of quarantine is to reduce the risk of introducing infectious diseases into established collections. Fish quarantine is inherently complex because of the variety of species, environmental requirements, and facilities. To examine current practices, questionnaires were submitted to 60 public zoos and aquaria, predominantly in North America. Questions reviewed system type (closed, flow-through), quarantine length, diagnostics, treatments, and cleaning and disinfection. Forty-two of the 60 institutions responded. Most institutions had separate quarantine protocols for freshwater teleosts, marine teleosts, and elasmobranchs. Ninety-five percent of institutions had a minimum quarantine period of 30 days or more. Sixty-four percent of institutions used isolated areas for some or all of their fish quarantine. Twenty-five percent had designated fish quarantine staff. All institutions used regular visual examinations to assess animal health. Fifty-four percent of the institutions carried out routine hands-on diagnostics on some fish; this was more common for elasmobranchs than teleosts. All institutions carried out necropsies on mortalities. Fifteen percent of institutions performed histopathology on almost all fresh mortalities; 54% percent performed histopathology on less than 10% of mortalities. Prophylactic treatments were common in closed systems, in particular, formalin immersion for teleosts, freshwater dips and copper sulfate immersion for marine teleosts, and praziquantel immersion for marine teleosts and elasmobranchs. Institutions using dips generally did so at the start or end of quarantine. Fenbendazole- and praziquantel-medicated foods were used commonly in teleosts, but dosages varied greatly. Cleaning and disinfection of systems and equipment increased in response to known pathogens. These results can be used to compare and discuss fish quarantine practices at display facilities in order to improve quarantine success.

Cryopreservation in fish: current status and pathways to quality assurance and quality control in repository development

“…water quality, transportation time) and placing the fish in isolated areas for several days (e.g. 2 weeks) before collecting spermatozoa can help minimise and identify disease outbreaks (Hadfield and Clayton 2011), increasing the odds of obtaining high-quality, uncontaminated spermatozoa. When the number of fish available is higher than needed or when there is no need to collect spermatozoa from all captured fish, selection criteria should be pre-established to avoid overrepresentation in the repository collection of particular segments of the overall fish population (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2011).…”

Experimental Assessment of the Efficacy of Five Veterinary Broad-Spectrum Anthelmintics to Control the Intestinal Capillariasis in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

“…Twenty milliliters of the BSN suspension was poured into a clean 100-mL glass measuring cylinder and then known amounts of drugs (i.e., nominal concentrations) required for each treatment were added, that is, 20 lL fen (25 mg mL -1 ), 20 lL alb (25 mg mL -1 ), 25 mg meb, and 12.5 mg pra to achieve a final concentration of 25 lg mL -1 , 25 lg mL -1 , 1.25 mg mL -1 , and 0.625 mg mL -1 of drug, respectively. The BSN suspension was incubated with the drugs for 1 h 32 at 28°C with an air supply to keep the BSN alive 13 and to keep drug particulates in suspension (available to BSN).…”

“…49 Public aquaria also frequently use drug bioencapsulation for quarantine measures. 13 Recently, Maley et al 14 cited an efficacious therapy to control capillariasis in zebrafish using a dewormer soaked in BSN. The therapy is attractive because of (1) the direct administration of drug to BSN and (2) a rapid enrichment process (as a vital point in commercial hatcheries 50 ).…”

“…1 Fish quarantine is inherently complex because of the variety of species, environmental requirements, and facilities. 13 Therefore, in addition to the development of prevention methods and health monitoring programs to detect infectious agents, a correct therapy to control infestations (in particular in low-cost static systems) dramatically is of direct importance.…”

The effect of Yucca schidigera liquid extract on water quality and survival of Pacific Red Snapper Lutjanus peru during acclimatization

“…There are some reports focused to look for strategies in increasing the production levels, such as the use of floating sea-cages for growing them up, but utilising wild juvenile populations that are captured in specific areas along the Coastal Pacific open-waters (Castillo-Vargasmachuca et al 2012). As part of its culture practices, the determination of effective prophylactic protocols represents a very important aspect, especially when fish are caught in the wild and transported to laboratory conditions (Hadfield and Clayton 2011). Normally, wild Lutjanus peru juvenile are collected using different fishing methods such as gillnet, seine and trawling nets.…”