Shrimp

Shrimp culture tends to now be developed intensively with upgraded technology for higher and successful production. On many occasions, shrimp culture is affected by various diseases and experienced in the loss of crop or reduced the production level by various reasons, writes Mr. Prakash Chandra Behera, India. Intensive and semi-intensive aquafarming accompanies several disease problems often due to opportunistic pathogens as evident from general aquaculture. High stocking densities, high food inputs, and other organic loads stimulate the selection and proliferation of opportunistic pathogens like bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, etc.

Early mortality syndrome (EMS) or acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), is a penaeid shrimp disease that causes serious economic losses and significant mortality, up to 100%, in cultured shrimp species. The dramatically high mortality rates in infected shrimp are caused by dysfunction and destruction of the hepatopancreas (Lightner et al. 2014). There is no inflammatory response to the causative Vibrio spp., because AHPND is elicited by a toxin (Han et al. 2015), which is encoded by a plasmid (Yang et al. 2013; Tran et al. 2013). Various Vibrio spp., not only V. parahaemolyticus were demonstrated to carry this pathogenic plasmid.

A new diagnostic tool that can detect a range of aquatic pathogens, including DIV-1, between two and four weeks before clinical signs are apparent to shrimp farmers, has recently been launched by Genics.

Genics' MultiPath technology is now being used in 23 countries and covers over 90 percent of all Australian shrimp / prawn producers

Dr Melony Sellars, CEO of the Australian company, talks to The Fish Site about shrimp pathogens, founding a startup and the wisdom of shrimp farmers.