Isolation and identification of fish pathogens from freshwater fish (puntius binotatus)

Abstract

A study was carried out to isolate and identify pathogenic bacteria from diseased fish of Menderang River, Sungkai, Perak. Fish lesions, kidneys of infected and healthy fish, and water samples l'vere inoculated on nutrient agar (NA), modified Rimler-Shott agar (mRS), MacConkey agar (MCA) and thiosulphate-citrate bile sucrose agar (TCBS). Thirty strains were successfully isolated and identified using biochemical test. Fourteen isolates were identified as Aeromonas sp, fourteen as Staphylococcus sp. and two isolates belonged to Enterobacter group. Six out of 14 Aeromonas isolates were identified using API 20NE kit. Two were identified as Aeromonas hydrophila, one as Aeromonas caviae, and three as Aeromonas sp. All isolates were screened for their hemolytic activity. Twenty isolates showed fJ-hemolytic activity, 3 isolates a-hemolytic and 6 were nonhemolytic.