Abstract
At early life stages, Atlantic halibut larvae are susceptible to bacterial infections often caused by opportunistic Vibrio species (Bergh, Nilsen & Samuelsen 2001). Eggs and yolk-sac larvae are dominated by non-fermentive rods belonging to the Cytophaga/ Flexibacter/Flavobacterium group. During first feeding, the intestinal biota gradually changes towards a fermentive biota dominated by the Vibrio/Aeromonas group (Bergh, Naas & Harboe 1994). As the larvae possess no specific immune system when hatched, vaccination is not an option at this stage (Vadstein, Mo & Bergh 2004; Bjornsdottir, Johannsdottir, Coe, Smaradottir, Agustsson, Sigurgisladottir & Gudmundsdottir 2009). Therefore, when an infection occurs, one possibility for the farmer is to apply antibacterial agents for treatment. Antibacterial agents may be administered to fish larvae either by bath or orally via the feed (Bergh et al. 2001; Samuelsen, Nerland, Jorgensen, Schroder, Svasand & Bergh 2006). However, as bath treatment was found to be more costly and less effective (Duis, Hammer, Beveridge, Inglis & Braum 1995; Gapasin, Nelis, Chair & Sorgeloos 1996; Katharios, Smullen & Inglis 2005), administration via live feed organisms was considered a better choice, and bioencapsulation of a number of antibacterial agents in Artemia sp. nauplii and rotifers, Brachionus plicatilis, was investigated (Mohney, Lightner, Williams & Bauerlein 1990; Verpraet, Chair, Leger, Nelis, Sorgeloos & Deleenheer 1992; Touraki, Rigas & Kastritsis 1995; Gapasin et al. 1996; Gomez-Gil, Cabanillas-Ramos, Paez-Brambila & Roque 2001; Cook & Rust 2002; Mejia, Barrera, Figueroa, Castro & Andrade 2007; Langdon, Nordgreen, Hawkyard & Hamre 2008; Roiha, Otterlei & Samuelsen 2010b,c). Furthermore, various studies have shown that uptake of antibacterial agents in fish larvae is feasible using administration via live feed. Studies have been performed on European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), turbot, Scophthalmus maximus (L.), and cod, Gadus morhua L., larvae, applying Artemia nauplii enriched with florfenicol, flumequine, oxolinic acid, sarafloxacin and a combination of trimethoprim (TMP) and sulphamethoxazole (SMX) at a ratio of 1:5 (Chair, Romdhane, Dehasque, Nelis, De Leenheer & Sorgeloos 1991; Chair, Dehasque, Sorgeloos, Nelis & De Leenheer 1995; Gapasin et al. 1996; Touraki, Mourelatos, Karamanlidou, Kalaitzopoulou & Kastritsis 1996; Touraki, Niopas & Kastritsis 1999; Roiha, Otterlei, Litlabo & Samuelsen 2010a; Touraki, Niopas, Ladoukakis & Karagiannis 2010). The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of treatment of bacterial infections in Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L.), larvae using Artemia franciscana nauplii as carriers of florfenicol. In 2009, high and unexpected mortalities of halibut larvae were observed in a number of Journal of Fish Diseases 2011, 34, 927–930 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2761.2011.01307.x
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