Garra rufahas been used to treat fin necrosis in goldfish. Sick fish were reared in the same tank with Garra rufawhich was able to eat necrotic tissue of the fins and goldfish healed.
Keywords:Garra rufa,Goldfish, Fin rot, Fish, Flavobacterium, Gyrodactylus
Garra rufa is a small Cyprinidae fish used to treat psoriazis in humans (www.fishbase.org) because of it is able to eat affected tissues.
Aims
Taking into account this information we tried to see if this fish can be used to treat fin rot in fish. Fin rot is a polifactorial disease, but Flavobacterium and Gyrodactylus are recognised to have the major role (Ferguson, 2006).
6 naturally infected goldfish with fin rot caused by Flavobacterium sp. and Gyrodactylus sp. diagnosed by direct microscopy were introduced in an aquarium. 2 fish were separated by a glass placed inside. 6 specimens of Garra rufa were introduced with 2 separated goldfish and 4 goldfish remained isolated, without Garra rufa.1,2
After 3 days, necrosis started to disappear and eroded fins started to rise because of consuming the necrotic tissues of goldfish reared in the same tank with Garra rufa. Necrosis worsened in the other 4 untreated goldfish.
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