Pathological alterations due to motile Aeromonas infection in red swordtail fish (Xiphophorus helleri).

A herd of red swordtail fish (Xiphophorus helleri) was reared in outdoor concrete ponds and suffered from occasional mortality. Moribund fishes showing abdominal dropsy and fin rots were sent for diagnosis. Gross necropsy findings showed enlargement of liver, spleen, and kidney in concurrence with congestion, and a severe accumulation of peritoneal fluid. Histopathological findings revealed an alteration of hepatocytes, with a severe diffuse accumulation of fat vacuoles in the cytoplasm. In the trunk kidney, severe accumulation of mononuclear cells together with cloudy swelling of the renal tubular epithelium was observed. From internal organs of the fish motile Aeromonas spp. were identified. The pathological findings might be associated with a long-term infection of affected fish fostered by common stressors such as improper feeding and poor pond environment condition (water temperature). Effective therapeutic measures comprised an advancement of keeping conditions and appropriate feeding to improve the health status in combination with the application of antibiotic substances.

A study of sequential histopathology of Trypanoplasma borreli (Protozoa: Kinetoplastida) in susceptible common carp Cyprinus carpio.

The tissue response of common carp Cyprinus carpio to the kinetoplastid blood parasite Trypanoplasma borreli Laveran & Mesnil, 1901 was investigated during a laboratory infection of a highly susceptible carp line. With the development of the parasitaemia an increased proliferation of the lymphoid renal interstitial tissue was induced, which resulted in a progressive depression and deterioration of renal tubules. In heavily infected carp at Days 20 to 28 post inoculation (PI), a tubulonephrosis, a glomerulitis caused by a massive accumulation of leukocytes in glomerular capillaries, and large numbers of trypanoplasms in blood vessels and renal interstitium were observed. Corresponding with rising T. borreli numbers in the peripheral blood, splenic lymphocytes showed increasing proliferation rates, and the capillaries of the liver, gills, heart and intestine were infiltrated with lymphocytes and trypanoplasms. In heavily infected carp, congestion of liver sinusoids, focal necroses of hepatic tissue, extensive accumulations of erythrocytes in the spleen and in the blood marked anaemia were observed. These carp often showed abdominal distension, exophthalmus and swimming disorders described as 'sleeping sickness of carp'. Proliferation of cells from the interstitial lymphoid tissue of the kidney, which bears a close resemblance to the bone marrow of higher vertebrates, is considered a normal immune response of fish to antigen challenge. We here describe the unique case of a severe but ineffective immune reaction which results in the destruction of excretory renal structures. This has to be considered a severe disturbance of osmoregulation in affected carp, which, together with a decrease in oxygen uptake due to anaemia, is likely a major cause of death in these carp.