Optimizing Disinfection Measures in Aquaculture
What you need to know if...
You want to ensure that disinfection measures effectively prevent disease outbreaks while not impairing the biofilter function.
Disinfecting water in aquaculture facilities, especially in RAS facilities, is crucial for the successful operation of your facility for several reasons. A wide variety of physical or chemical methods are used for this purpose. For intensive aquaculture, especially RAS, chemical-saving methods such as UV irradiation or ozone fumigation are suitable.
Disinfection serves to prevent disease and protect animal health, as well as the stability of the aquaculture system as a whole. Monitoring the efficiency of disinfection measures by testing the microbial load of the water as part of a biosecurity strategy is not a luxury here, but a key measure to ensure animal health, system function and economic stability.
Disease prevention: Water transmits bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens. High germ counts increase the risk of infections and epidemics, which can lead to massive losses.
Protection of animal health: Pathogenic germs, e.g. Aeromonas or Vibrio, can cause stress, skin and gill damage in fish. Good water quality reduces stress and strengthens the animals' immune system.
Stability of the aquaculture system: In RAS systems, there must be a balance between the biofilter microbiome and pathogen control measures. Excessive microbial contamination leads to reduced biofilter performance and disruption of nitrogen degradation.
Profitability: Disease outbreaks mean high losses, additional treatment costs and production downtimes. Prevention is more cost-effective than emergency measures.
Biosecurity and legal requirements: Many countries require regular hygiene measures to prevent epidemics.
The rapid detection of the bacterial status of the water is at all times an indispensable component of a holistic biosecurity strategy. Both at the start of an aquaculture facility, after maintenance (biofilter change) and in daily routine monitoring.
The microbiological composition of the water in aquaculture can be checked in various ways. Classic culture methods such as plating on nutrient media are widespread. They are time-consuming and material-intensive, deliver very late and also inaccurate results.
In dynamically, exponentially developing bacterial populations, early detection of a faulty development is, however, enormously important in order to initiate countermeasures efficiently, cost-effectively and in good time.
Other methods such as dip slides or molecular biological techniques are faster, but less accurate or require expert knowledge and a well-organized laboratory environment.
The rapid, cost-effective and reliable quantification of the total cell count by means of flow cytometry is suitable for routine use and can even be used in an on-line process. The microorganisms are labeled with fluorescent dyes and the fluorescence intensity of the cells is measured. This process can be used in an off- or at-line process or directly fully automated on-line integrated into a circulating system. As a result, a large number of individual samples can be measured in a short time with few resources.
With the Sysmex Partec reagents CyStain™ BacCount Total and CyStain™ BacCount Viable, the total amount of bacteria and their viability in the water sample is analyzed quickly and easily. In combination with a Sysmex Partec flow cytometer for industrial application, possibly in conjunction with an autoloader, and the specially developed quality control procedures with automatic result analysis and report generation, the water is monitored in a standardized manner.
The combination with the on-line unit OC-300 allows the integration of the measurement on-line in the system and thus a complete monitoring. This is particularly helpful when commissioning a system, in high-risk situations or monitoring during an incident.
Uncontrolled growth of microorganisms is detected early and the associated risks are minimized!
#SPGinside
When time plays a role …
Problems & Solutions
Contamination can lead to a health risk or ineffective process flows, and classic tests often take days.
Our solutions detect problems early, reduce waiting times and minimize errors through automated reports.
