Prevalence of fish diseases in fish farms in Katsina State, Nigeria

Prevalence of fish disease in fish farms in Nigeria was investigated using data from structured questionnaire obtained during farm visits, and analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Findings from the study revealed that majority of the farm manager’s (45.7) have less than 3 years of experience in fish farming. Most of the farms (60%) have operated for less than 5 years. Few of the fish farms (8.5%) have more than 21 ponds/tanks. Diseases outbreak has been experienced in about 54.3% of the fish farms among which 31.6% experience it often. Bacteria diseases were reported to be the dominant diseases in the state and the associated economic loss was valued between ₦50,000 and ₦1,000,000. Majority of the farmers (89.5%) were able to control the diseases with 84.2% of them controlling the diseases with antibiotics. The regression result had coefficient of determination 0.624 with f-ratio 7.746 (p=0.000), Manager’s knowledge, size of the farm and number of ponds have influence on estimated financial loss to  diseases. Prevalence of fish diseases and its associated economic loss in fish farms in the state is on the high side, therefore the needs to improve on  management of diseases to save the industry. Key words : antibiotics; aquaculture; bacteria; disease outbreak; economic loss.