Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EVALUATION OF SOME ANESTHETICS FOR USE IN HUSBANDRY AND TRANSPORTATION OF ANGELFISH, PTEROPHYLLUM SCALARE (SCHULTZE, 1823)

S.V. Jadhav, G.S. Ghode, D.I. Pathan, H.S. Dhaker, P. K. Pandey and H.D. Joshi

Abstract

In modern aquaculture, anesthetics play an important role in reducing handling stress and mortality. However, dose of an anesthetic varies with species, age and sex. The effective and concentrations and lethal concentrations of eugenol, quinaldine and sodium bicarbonate were evaluated for juvenile angelfish (size <3.5 cm). The values of effective concentrations were 80 mg L-1 (eugenol), 25 mg L-1 (quinaldine) and 40 g L-1 (sodium bicarbonate) and the estimated 96-h LC50 values were 21.373 mg L-1 (eugenol), 10.303 mg L-1 (quinaldine) and 2469.549 mg L-1 (sodium bicarbonate). Estimated effective concentrations were used for anesthetizing fish duringtransportation and survival was recorded during 42 hours transportation for quinaldine (100%), eugenol (97.14%), sodium bicarbonate (68.57%) and control (88.57%) groups. Induction and recovery times for juvenile P. scalare were dose-dependent (P<0.05). The time for onset of individual phases of anesthesia and recovery were depended significantly on the concentration of the anesthetic used. An inverse exponential relationship was observed between concentrations of anesthetic and induction time, whereas exponential relationships were observed between concentrations and recovery time for all anesthetic agents evaluated. Survival recorded during transportation was higher in quinaldine.