Comparison of host protection against parasite Ich between channel catfish and hybrid catfish.

What is it about?

The hybrid catfish exhibit many commercially desirable characteristics, including faster growth, better feed conversion and resistance to some diseases. In this study, we compared immune response and host protection between channel catfish and hybrid catfish by putting channel catfish and hybrid catfish in the same tanks and subjected to the same treatment, including vaccination methods, parasite challenge concentration, and water quality to evaluate fish immune protection against the parasite.

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Why is it important?

After being challenged with live theronts, the immunized channel catfish and hybrid catfish were not infected or were infected with a low number of the parasites (< 50 trophonts per fish). The immunized fish showed a significantly higher survival (90-100%) than non-immunized controls (0%). Hybrid catfish could develop the same strong immune protection against Ich as its parent channel catfish. These study results will help selecting disease resistant fish to Ich.