The preventive program in fish farming

Consultant veterinarian/ Amer Shafiq Abdel Qader, specializing in fish and poultry diseases

1. Use quicklime (calcium oxide), to sterilize clay ponds before breeding, by spreading 500 kg per Acres so that it covers the floor of the pond and leaving it for ten days. Then add water to a height of 30 cm and leave it for another ten days, then fill the pond to be ready to receive the new batch of fish.
2. It is recommended to spread hydrated lime during the breeding process. Calcium hydroxide at a rate of at least 40 kg per Acres every month throughout the breeding period, taking into account the increase in the percentage of oxygen when using this material.
3. Periodic testing of the pH of water.
4. Maintaining the cleanliness of the fish ponds by removing dead fish periodically and not allowing them to rot in the water as much as possible.
5. Providing the best conditions for rearing and using the best types of fodder from reliable sources that have a long history in this, while providing a good water source.
6. Avoid intensive breeding above the permissible capacity.
7. Try as much as possible to reduce organic materials and the abundance of algae, especially when the temperature is high.
8. Providing good nutrition in terms of quantity and quality.
9. Clean the nets periodically for floating farms .
10. Do not give dry food in very large quantities.
11. Make sure that the feed is rich in vitamins and not fat or salt. It should not contain more than 2% salt.
12. The amount of food allocated daily must be adhered to, according to a mathematical equation designated for that purpose.
13. Reduce or stop feeding when the weather is very hot or cold.
14. It is preferable not to give feed once a daily, but rather twice or more.
15. The intestines and liver must be examined from time to time so that we can detect the infection early.
16. The necessity of replacing dry concentrated food with fresh food from time to time.
17. Giving a treatment feed at the beginning of the spring season once every three days.
18. When there is suspicion that the water is contaminated with sewage or other water, one must quickly notify the relevant departments.
19. In suspicion of the existence of an epidemic disease through the presence of large numbers of deaths, you must not waste time and quickly inform the veterinary departments to take the necessary action.
20. It is known that fish are rarely infected with one disease, but rather the infection is usually complex and complicated as a result of bacterial and fungal interactions and immune deficiency.
21. Do not allow wild birds to approach the ponds.
22. It is recommended when the water pH drops to 4.5, to add 125 kg of calcium carbonate and not to use slaked lime in this case at all.