Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

ACTIVITY OF A NOVEL LIPOPEPTIDE BIOSURFACTANT AGAINST WATER-BORNE PATHOGENS

Giovanni Salerno*, Foojan Mehrdana, Malte Jarlgaard Hansen, and Jørgen Hansen

 

Sundew ApS

Ole Maaløes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark

giovannis@sundew.bio

 



 Water-borne disease is a huge burden to society and economy, affecting aquaculture  and ornamental fish farming  as well as human health. Aquaculture alone suffers c. $10B in annual losses from diseases .  A ciliated protozoan, lchthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich), causing “white spot disease” is one of the most devastating and  commercially important  parasites in aquaculture worldwide.  Existing remedies  to counter Ich and other parasites in aquaculture  are typically long-established or even historical  and often  hazardous, toxic, and difficult to use. Sundew has developed a  new natural solution, called Biokos,  with a considerable efficacy  to control  Ich and other water-borne diseases . Biokos is non-toxic to fish,  environmentally friendly ,  and  it is manufactured by  simple fermentation . Here we present  an efficacy study of Biokos on  Ich parasite in an ornamental fish model.

A n in vivo experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Biokos against  Ich infection in a common goldfish (Carassius auratus ) model. Fish were divided to three groups;

  • Negative control (not infected, not treated fish)
  • Infection control (Ich infected, not treated fish)
  • Treatment group (Ich infected, treated with Biokos  at  the concentration  6.3 mg/l).

The latter received Biokos every 48 hours . Goldfish in infection control reached 100% mortality within 14 days  (Figure 1 )  with a significant increase in number of Ich trophonts on the body surface (Table 1), while all treated fish survived and no Ich trophonts  were observed on the skin, fins, and gills  after 14 days, i.e. 7 dosing of Biokos . Moreover, no behavioral changes (in terms of breathing and swimming patterns, and appetite) was recorded in treated group.

Th ese results demonstrate  the  great  efficacy of this natural anti-parasitic  product against  Ich, one of the most  common parasites in aquaculture and ornamental fish , at  a concentration as low as 6.3 mg/l.

 Early data shows that Biokos is also effective against o ther fish  pathogens including parasites, bacteria,  and oomycetes. Further toxicity and  environmental studies are underway as well as testing on further distinct fish parasite.