Efficacy of selected oral chemotherapeutants against Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ciliophora: Ophyroglenidae) infecting rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss.

ABSTRACT

The chemotherapeutic efficacy of 6 in-feed compounds against Ichthyophthirius multifiliis Fouquet, 1876 was assessed using experimental infections of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum) fingerlings. Trial doses of 104 ppm amprolium hydrochloride or 65 ppm clopidol fed to fish for 10 d prior to infection significantly reduced the number of trophonts establishing in trout fingerlings by 62.0 and 35.2% respectively. In-feed treatments of infected trout with either 63 or 75 ppm amprolium hydrochloride, 92 ppm clopidol, or 38, 43 or 47 ppm salinomycin sodium for 10 d also significantly reduced the number of surviving trophonts by 77.6 and 32.2% for amprolium, 20.1% for clopidol and 80.2, 71.9 and 93.3% respectively for salinomycin sodium.