EVALUATION OF GROWTH OF KOI FISH AFTER ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF Lactobacillus acidophilus AS PROBIOTIC IN RATION

Babak Shoaibi Omrani*, S. Amir Behrad Teymourian, and Alireza Shenavar Masouleh
 
Department of Aquatic Animal Health,
Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Karaj, Iran
Drshoaibi74@gmail.com

Koi fish (Cyprinus carpio) is domesticated version of common carp originates from China fresh waters. This fish is most famous by its beautiful colors that have been created via selective breeding (over 20 varieties) and are classified by the colors and the patterns on their back (dorsum). The color of and patterning some varieties can change as they grow and develop.

Koi fish can be found in the ponds throughout the world. Since koi fish is numerous and kept in private aquacultures, it is not on the list of endangered species. The temperature range is 3-25 ºc.

Koi fish need a high protein food to bulk up and grow during the summer months. Koi fish are omnivorous and eat food off of the bottom of the pond. The barbels help them locate foods.

The young Koi is about 3 to 8 inches, Mature Koi: 14 to 24; some jumbo Koi end up 32 to 36 inches long (even 1.8 m). The average lifespan of a Koi fish is 15 to 20 years, but some can live to be 30 years old or more.

Probiotics are well known and routinely used additives in the main livestock species. They claim to improve gut health by stabilizing gut flora being their effect reflected in a better overall health status, welfare and performance of the animals.

In aquaculture, probiotics are administered by feed and/or as a water additive. The supplementation of probiotics through feed is a better method to ensuring the efficiency of the probiotic bacteria in the GI tract of fish. Microorganisms, both from indigenous and exogenous sources, are used as probiotics. The commonly used probiotics in fish culture practices belong to Clostridium, Bacillus, Enteroccus, Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Lactococcus, Carnobacterium,Aeromonas and several other genera.

In this research, the probiotic were used, is from a product that each gram has 1010 Lactobacillus acidophilus. Two concentrations, 15 and 30 mg/100g Food were administered for two months. In days 0, 30 and 60 total length besides weight were recorded (Tables 1 and 2).

The best results belong to the 30 mg/100g food L. acidophilus koi fish group.