Muhammad Fiaz Qamar
University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Pakistan
Title: Epidemiological trends of fungal infections in fresh water fishes
Biography
Biography: Muhammad Fiaz Qamar
Abstract
The prevalence of fungus was studied in relation to different months, among different species of fish, infected organs, species of fungus itself and different sampling sites. A total of five fresh water farms were randomly selected from Lahore and its surroundings; 80 fishes were sampled from each farm. These fishes were carefully examined externally with the help of a magnifying glass. The fungal infected scales and other parts were removed with the help of a scalpel and inoculated on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SAD). The colonies of fungus were identified on the basis of physical characters of colony, their color, shape, growth pattern, structure of sexual organs, spores size, their arrangement and septate wall. The identified species of fungus were; Aspergillus spp. (49.25%), Fusarium spp. (28.3%), Mucor spp. (8.9%), Penicillium spp (23.8%), Alternaria spp. (31.3%) and Rhizopus spp. (11.9%). The prevalence of fungal infection in different species of fishes was Hypophaimichthys molitrix (21%), Labeo rohita (19%), Cirrhinus mirrigala (16%) and Channa marulius (11%). The most infected site was caudal fin (25%) head (16.41%), abdomen (10.44%), gills (8.95%), and eyes (3.125%) in the descending order. Month wise prevalence of fungal infection had also been observed. The highest infection (25.67%) was observed in July, 2012. The prevalence percentage was in following order: June[KC1] (18.1%), April (25%), May (23.08%), March (15.3%) and February (9.72%). The fungal infection in different sampling sites was also estimated. Farm A was proved to be highly infected with a percentage of 25 whereas Farm C appeared to have least number of infected fishes (8.75%). However, no significant difference was calculated when Chi square test was applied (P>0.05). This study showed that most of fungi isolated were considered as the natural mycoflora of fish. Most of the fungi isolated were also responsible for the production of aflatoxins. The difference of fungal infections might be linked to environmental factors (Temp, pH, and Organic matter), maintenance and cleanliness of fresh water bodies.