Bacterial load reduction of live prey for fish larval feeding using Ox-Aquaculture©

Reduction of the bacterial load in live prey is paramount to achieving efficient microbiological control during fish larval rearing. Several methods have been tested using physical and chemical disinfection procedures. Nevertheless, chemicals are difficult to deal with because of the frequent problems encountered when disposing of their residual products and because of the sensitivity of the live prey. Hydrogen peroxide is a good disinfectant that has been used for a long time in other fields of research and decomposes in non-toxic products. However, it has not been applied for disinfection in aquaculture until recent years. The effects of a hydrogen peroxide-based product, Ox-Aquaculture (c), on rotifers and Artemia nauplii survival and on their associated microbial population have been tested in the present study, a disinfection protocol is proposed, and its effects on live prey fatty acids composition after enrichment were checked. More than 80% survival and a 90% reduction of total heterotrophic bacteria and Vibrionaceae were obtained in rotifers exposed for 15 min to 40 mg L-1 of the product. In the case of Artemia nauplii, 90% survival and 94.5% reduction of heterotrophic bacteria were obtained after 5 min exposure to 8000 mg L-1 with a further 82.8% reduction of Vibrionaceae. No differences in the fatty acid composition of the live prey were detected after disinfection with hydrogen peroxide. No oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids was observed. A short time exposure and easy removal of the product from the treated live prey make hydrogen peroxide an interesting chemical for industrial application.