A survey on prevalence of ectoparasites in common aquarium fish in southwest of Iran

Aquarium fish culture is done for financial and decorative purposes. Aquarium fish culture has its special problems such as parasitic diseases that are very important issues in this field that can make a significant decrease in growth and even death in infested fishes. Current study was done for diagnosis of common ecto-parasites on gill and skin of aquarium fishes including Pterophyllum scalar, Systonus tetrazona, Cyprinus carpio, and Synspilus vieja. Totally, 120 individuals from different culture centers in Shahrekord were randomly chosen, and examined for the presence of ecto- parasites sporadically. Results obtained from this study showed that 66 of 120 samples (55%) were infested. Isolated parasites included Tricodina pediculus, Ichthyophthrius multifilis from protozoans and Chilodonella andDactylogyrus from monogenea trematodes. The most parasitic infection rate was 86.6% for Cyprinus carpio and the least parasitic infection was 33.3% in Synspilus vieja. This study showed the high prevalence of ecto- parasites in the studied arae that must be taken into account.