Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food producing sector in the world. In India over the last three decades, aquaculture has developed significantly, earning considerable amount of foreign exchange, besides providing employment. India is basically a carp country. Where in the indigenous major carps: Catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita), mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigal), exotic carps like common carp (Cyprinus carpio) grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), silver carp (Hypophthalmicthys molitrix) along with air breathing fishes, Clarias batrachus, Heteropneuestes fossils, Pangasius sps. are being widely cultured accounting for bulk of freshwater aquaculture production. In the last few years, the exotic catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus and pacu Piaractus branchypomus culure is also increasing. Tilapia and Pangasius are also offer opportunities for cage culture. The focus on the production of genetically improved tilapia for market as cheep source of proteins is also enhancing (Jelte de Jong, 2017). As the scope for horizontal expansion is limited, the current trend in aquaculture development is focused towards intensification of the culture practices. The frequent occurrence of diseases and epizootics are considered to be major bottlenecks for increasing production. The diseases are mostly bacterial and parasitic origin. The diseases account for 10-5 % towards the production cost (Sahoo, P. K. et al., 2017). India is basically a carp Freshwater aquaculture has been the main stay of Indian aquaculture, in terms of total quantity as well as its share in the domestic fish basket. India is called as carp country as carp production contribute in bulk (over 82%). In Andhra Pradesh fish and shrimp culture is income generating profession. The district West Godavari of Andhra Pradesh, is specifically the fish bowl of India, generating an amount of Rs. 15.00 crores annually. Semi intensive culture practice is common, in an area of more than 2.0 lakh acres. In course of expansion and intensification of this semi extensive culture practice of the Indian major carps, over the last three decades, many economically important problems have been identified which are threatening the sustainability of the culture system. Occurrence of diseases is one of such factor affecting the socio-economic status of aqua farmers. To overcome this, an intensive surveillance was carried to document the prevalence of various diseases, season of occurrence, disease diagnosis, etiological agents, mortality rates and controlling measures, so that the severe risk for sustainability and huge economic loss can be arrested. The frequency in occurrence of septicaemia, bacterial gill disease (bacterial), dactylogyrosis, paradactylogyrosis (parasitic) and argulosis are recorded. The incidence of diseases and mortality rate are high in winter season.
Suckermouth armoured catfish (Pterygoplichthys spp.) menace in freshwater aquaculture and natural aquatic systems in Andhra Pradesh, India
