Antimicrobial Effects of Chemical Disinfectants on Fish Pathogenic Bacteria

This study was to examine the potential disinfection efficiencies of 10 compounds by determining their antimicrobial capacity and ichthyotoxicity. Antimicrobial effects against Vibrio sp., Edwadsiella tarda, Streptococcus sp., and Staphylococcus sp. were tested using 10 different disinfectants; hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide, povidon iodine, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), ortho-dichlorobenzen, and copper sulfate. Chlorine dioxide ($ClO_2$) containing 5% $ClO_2$ and copper sulfate had no effects on bactericidal activity, while the other disinfectants resulted in 99.99% bactericidal activity against 4 strains of fish pathogenic bacteria. The ichthyotoxicity of the 10 disinfectants was investigated using 3 kinds of fish species; flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), rockfish (Sebastes pachycephalus), and black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii). Median lethal concentration ($LC_{50}$) values of the 10 disinfectants were estimated to determine toxicity ranges of the doses within 24 hr. Among test disinfectant solutions, hydrogen peroxide showed the highest $LC_50$ in flounder (201.3), rockfish (269.7), and black sea bream (139.3 ppm). DDAC revealed the lowest $LC_{50}$ in flounder (2.1), rockfish (1.0), and black sea bream (1.5 ppm). These results suggest that DDAC, quaternary ammonium compounds, glutaraldehyde, and sodium hypochlorite are effective disinfectants for fish and bacterial species examined in this study.