Fumagillin, an efficacious drug against renal sphaerosporosis of the common carp Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

At present no reliable and efficacious drugs are available for treating fish diseases caused by myxosporeans. By feeding Fumagillin DCH salt in the diet, the authors achieved very promising results in controlling renal sphaerosporosis, one of the commonest myxosporean parasitoses of common carp Cyprinus carpio. Intraperitoneal injection of Sphaerospora renicola stages developing in the swimbladder produced sphaerosporosis only in control groups, whereas in fish consuming 0.1 % fumagdh no infection developed. Farm-pond experiments also gave promising results: in fumagihntreated common carp fry a much milder sphaerosporosis developed, both in prevalence and intensity, than in control fish.