Random and systematic sampling error when hooking fish to monitor skin fluke (Benedenia seriolae) and gill fluke (Zeuxapta seriolae) burden in Australian farmed yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi).

The Australian farmed yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi, YTK) industry monitor skin fluke (Benedenia seriolae) and gill fluke (Zeuxapta seriolae) burden by pooling the fluke count of 10 hooked YTK. The random and systematic error of this sampling strategy was evaluated to assess potential impact on treatment decisions. Fluke abundance (fluke count per fish) in a study cage (estimated 30,502 fish) was assessed five times using the current sampling protocol and its repeatability was estimated the repeatability coefficient (CR) and the coefficient of variation (CV). Individual body weight, fork length, fluke abundance, prevalence, intensity (fluke count per infested fish) and density (fluke count per Kg of fish) were compared between 100 hooked and 100 seined YTK (assumed representative of the entire population) to estimate potential selection bias. Depending on the fluke species and age category, CR (expected difference in parasite count between 2 sampling iterations) ranged from 0.78 to 114 flukes per fish. Capturing YTK by hooking increased the selection of fish of a weight and length in the lowest 5th percentile of the cage (RR = 5.75, 95% CI: 2.06-16.03, P-value = 0.0001). These lower end YTK had on average an extra 31 juveniles and 6 adults Z. seriolae per Kg of fish and an extra 3 juvenile and 0.4 adult B. seriolae per Kg of fish, compared to the rest of the cage population (P-value < 0.05). Hooking YTK on the edge of the study cage biases sampling towards the smallest and most heavily infested fish in the population, resulting in poor repeatability (more variability amongst sampled fish) and an overestimation of parasite burden in the population. In this particular commercial situation these finding supported that health management program, where the finding of an underestimation of parasite burden could provide a production impact on the study population. In instances where fish populations and parasite burdens are more homogenous, sampling error may be less severe. Sampling error when capturing fish from sea cage is difficult to predict. The amplitude and direction of this error should be investigated for a given cultured fish species across a range of parasite burden and fish profile scenarios.

Effects of immunostimulants on ranched southern bluefin tuna Thunnus maccoyii: immune response, health and performance.

Ranched southern bluefin tuna Thunnus maccoyii were fed baitfishes supplemented with vitamins (predominantly E and C) or vitamins and immunostimulants, nucleotides and ß-glucans, over 12 weeks after transfer and monitored for enhancement in immune response, health and performance through their 19 week grow-out period. Fish from two different tows were sampled separately at three different sampling points: at transfer to grow-out pontoons, at 8 weeks post-transfer and at harvest, 19 weeks post-transfer. Lysozyme activity was enhanced during vitamin supplementation compared to control fish. Performance (i.e. survival, condition index and crude fat), health (i.e. blood plasma variables including pH, osmolality, cortisol, lactate and glucose) and alternative complement activity were not commonly improved through diet supplementation. There were some tow-specific improvements in performance through vitamin supplementation including survival, selected parasite prevalence and intensity, and alternative complement activity. Immunostimulant supplementation also showed a tow-specific improvement in plasma cortisol level. Tow-specific responses may suggest that life history, previous health condition and husbandry can affect the success of vitamin and immunostimulant enhancement of immune response, health and performance of ranched T. maccoyii.

Case-control study of epidemic mortality and Cardicola forsteri-associated disease in farmed southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) of South Australia.

Cardicola forsteri is a blood fluke that is highly prevalent among cultured southern bluefin tuna (SBT), Thunnus maccoyii, in South Australia. The role of C forsteri in annual SBT mortality outbreaks, which peak 6 to 12 weeks poststocking, is unknown. The objective of this study was to identify lesions unique to cultured SBT that died during a mortality event in 2009 and to determine the significance of C forsteri-associated lesions. Cultured SBT were sampled from 4 pontoons of a single site in Spencer Gulf that experienced a mortality epidemic that spanned 5 to 14 weeks poststocking. Study SBT comprised 7 that died during peak mortality, 27 that did not die, and 10 wild-caught (noncultured) SBT. All cultured SBT had branchitis and myocarditis due to C forsteri, whereas no life stages of C forsteri were histologically identified in any wild-caught SBT. Mortality was associated with the presence of severe branchitis (P<.005), and the odds of severe branchitis were 90 times greater for SBT that died than for SBT that were live caught during peak mortality (95% confidence interval, 5 to 1,684). In SBT that had died, no lesions other than those associated with C forsteri were of sufficient severity or physiologic significance to account for death. Other lesions common among cultured SBT included systemic granulocytic perivascular infiltrate, granulocytic gastric infiltrate, hepatic lipidosis, visceral granulomas, and branchial parasitic infestation. This study shows for the first time that a substantial proportion of poststocking mortality in cultured SBT is strongly associated with severe branchitis caused by C forsteri.