Characterization of Pfiesteria Ichthyocidal Activity

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Parke A. Rublee, Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Drgon et al. (4) concluded that the “aquarium bioassay format is unsuitable to accurately assess the ichthyocidal activity of Pfiesteria spp.” and “ichthyocidal activity of Pfiesteria spp. is mostly due to direct interactions of the zoospores with fish skin and gill epithelia rather than to soluble factors.” These conclusions are not justified, because microbial community analyses of control aquariums were not included and previous studies (5, 8) that utilized similar experimental approaches and found significant (100%) fish death attributable to soluble factors were overlooked. It is known a priori that aquariums containing fish or inoculated with whole sediment will develop a complex microbial community. This has been previously noted for the aquarium bioassay for Pfiesteria ichthyotoxicity (2). Given this complexity, a key factor in attributing fish death to Pfiesteria spp. is the difference between Pfiesteria- or sediment-inoculated aquariums and corresponding controls.

Additional Information

Publication
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Language: English
Date: 2005
Keywords
Pfiesteria Ichthyocidal, aquariums

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