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Fighting fish parasites with photodynamically active chlorophyllin

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Abstract

Water-soluble chlorophyll (chlorophyllin) was used in a phototoxic reaction against a number of fish ectoparasites such as Ichtyobodo, Dactylogyrus, Trichodina, and Argulus. Chlorophyllin is applied to the water at concentrations of several micrograms per milliliter for a predefined incubation time, and afterwards, the parasites are exposed to simulated solar radiation. Application in the dark caused only little damage to the parasites; likewise, light exposure without the addition of the photosensitizer was ineffective. In Ichthyobodo, 2 μg/mL proved sufficient with subsequent simulated solar radiation to almost quantitatively kill the parasites, while in Dactylogyrus, a concentration of about 6 μg/mL was necessary. The LD50 value for this parasite was 1.02 μg/mL. Trichodina could be almost completely eliminated at 2 μg/mL. Only in the parasitic crustacean Argulus, no killing could be achieved by a photodynamic reaction using chlorophyllin. Chlorophyllin is non-toxic, biodegradable, and can be produced at low cost. Therefore, we propose that chlorophyllin (or other photodynamic substances) are a possible effective countermeasure against several ectoparasites in ponds and aquaculture since chemical remedies are either forbidden and/or ineffective.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau (FKZ 08OE040). The authors thank S. Wohllebe for her excellent work during the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Cell Biology, FAU, Neue Straße 9, Möhrendorf, Germany

    D.-P. Häder

  2. Developmental Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

    J. Schmidl

  3. Zoological Institute, University Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    R. Hilbig

  4. Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture, Institute for Fisheries, Starnberg, Germany

    M. Oberle & H. Wedekind

  5. Department of Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

    P. Richter

Authors
  1. D.-P. Häder
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  2. J. Schmidl
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  3. R. Hilbig
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  4. M. Oberle
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  5. H. Wedekind
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  6. P. Richter
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D.-P. Häder.

Ethics declarations

All animal experiments were approved by the Government of Central Franconia (request-numbers 4–2532.1-18/09 and 54–2532.1-1/11) according to § 8 Protection of Animals Act. All experiments were carried out with the common carp (C. carpio) at the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Institute for Fisheries, Höchstadt, Germany.

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Häder, DP., Schmidl, J., Hilbig, R. et al. Fighting fish parasites with photodynamically active chlorophyllin. Parasitol Res 115, 2277–2283 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-4972-y

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