Prevalence of external parasites of ornamental fish in Qazvin province

This study was done in order to determine the parasitic fauna of ornamental fish in Qazvin province during 6 months between winter to spring 2014. For this purpose, 240 dying fish from 12 ornamental fish farms were selected randomly and each sample was examined for ectoparasites in parasitology laboratory overall 11 farms in winter and 12 farms in spring were infected by Ichthyophthirius, Chilodonella, Dactylogyrus, Gyrodactylus and Trichodina. There was a significant difference between the rate of infestation and the breed of fish. Ciclid was the most infested breed and Severum was the least infected. The highest infestation rate belongs to Ichthyophthirius and the lowest infestation rate belongs to Chilodonella (p<0.05) there was a significant correlation between the type of aquarium water source and infestation rate (p<0.05). Infection was higher where well water was used. There was a relationship between infection and water temperature which the highest infection rate observed at temperatures above 30
oC
and the lowest at 25-28
oC
.
This is the first survey in Qazvin province and the results shows the infestation of ornamental fish with ectoparasites in this area.