A comparative study on the external parasites of Oreochromis spp from wild and cultured setting in Behera, Egypt

Abstract

A total one hundred (Tilapia spp) Oreochromis spp fishes were collected and examined for the presence of ectoparasites, fifty fishes from each farm and wild environment (River Nile) over a period of five months from February to July 2017. Total infestation rate of ectoparasites from cultured Oreochromis spp (100%) was higher than of those recorded in wild Oreochromis spp (74 %). The ciliated protozoan parasite Trichodina spp was the most abundant ectoparasite recovered from both cultured and wild environment. However, the study revealed two kinds of external parasites, protozoa and monogenetic trematodes. Protozoans showed the most prevalent ectoparasites (100%) in cultured Oreochromis spp and (74%) in wild Orechromis spp, while the monogenetic trematodes recorded (20%) in cultured fishes only while wild fishes showed no infestation. Furthermore, the load of protozoans in cultured Oreochromis differed significantly (P 0.05). As well as monogenetic trematodes recovered from cultured fishes were differing significantly (P< 0.001) from those recovered from wild fishes but this difference was applied only on Dactylogyrus spp since the Gyrodactlus spp did not show any significant.