Foldscope is advantages to those regions where the budget and availability of high end instrumentation is severely limited. Foldscope is the ultra-affordable, portable, paper based microscope having magnetic couplers with ball lens kit capable of 140X magnification and 1.9 micron resolution to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes. The experimental microscope was attached with high quality camera of android phone. The microscope slides were manually manipulated under the phone mounted foldscope lens and pictures with magnification was taken to confirm the presence or absence of fish parasites. Study was conducted to determine if the foldscope could be used as low cost microscope for identification of fish parasites. The present study in identification of the parasites through foldscope revealed that the fish parasites can be visualized. The images taken through foldscope were found similar to that of light microscope. The mobile mounted foldscope has sensitivities of 72% and specificities of 100%. In the study, fishes collected from five freshwater fish farms and five ornamental fish farms from Krishnagiri and Chennai regions, external parasites like Anchor worm (Lernaea sp), Fish Louse (Argulus sp), Ichthyophthirius, Tricodina, Heteropolaria, Gyrodactylus (Skin fluke) and Dactilogyrus (Gill fluke) were identified. We conclude that, the foldscope is alternative field level low cost tool for diagnosis of fish parasites at farms of small scale were no formal laboratory and instruments are available.
With the increase in demand for fish the practice of aquaculture has been intensified. Consequently, aquaculture has been facing various hazards with virus, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Fish disease is a serious problem because of its rapid spread through water to neighbouring aqua-farms. Therefore rapid and accurate diagnosis is required to control the disease and to prevent the spread of disease. Traditionally, fish disease diagnoses were made using the accumulated experiences of fish-farmer or fish-veterinarian. But the accuracy of the final diagnosis ultimately depends on the skill and experience of the person and the time spent studying each diseases. Most of the equipment required for fish disease diagnosis is more expensive. In order to solve this problem, a low cost foldscope has been used to help diagnosing fish diseases. Foldscope is the ultra-affordable, portable, paper based microscope having magnetic couplers with ball lens kit capable of 140X magnification and 1.9 micron resolution and to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes. This handy-pocket type portable foldscope can be used to evaluate sample biopsies in the field. When wet mounts are examined, it is important to determine the proper identification of a parasite or other organism is much easier when its size is known. The paper deals with the adoption of foldscope as a tool for diagnosis of fish disease in aquaculture systems. The present study was conducted from five freshwater fish farm units and five ornamental fish farm units from Krishnagiri and Chennai regions respectively and the incidence of fish parasites in these units were studied using foldscope for a period of eight months. During the study period, different fish parasites were identified.