Aquaculture

Herbal medication

to improve immune defences of farmed fish

Today, the number of diseases as an effect of an equilibrium disruption between the hosts (animals), pathogens
and environment has grown simultaneously and become a major constraint to the sustainability of aquaculture
production. With changing climatic conditions and the application of (super) intensive systems, the fish become
more easily succumb to diseases and will affect their survival and growth performance. Improvement of health
management and husbandry practices can be proposed as an effective approach to reduce the stressful events and
mortality in aquaculture system.
By Romi Novriadi & KB Haw
early activation to the non-specific
defense mechanisms of fish and
elevating the specific immune
response.

Tackling Bacterial Infection

Figure 1. AquaHerb use at several marine fish species was able to induce survival rate against V.
parahaemolyticus infection at 105 cell/ml

mong the conventional

treatment, the use of
chemotherapy
(read:
antibiotics) is quite popular to
treat or prevent the diseases
infections. However, the frequent
use of chemotherapeutic agents
has stimulated the development
of bacterial resistance. Another
problem created by unrestricted
use of antibiotics is the presence
of
residual
antibiotics
in
commercialized of aquaculture

products. This problem has led

to allergy and toxicity in humans
and resulting in shifts in the
diversity of the microbiota due
to the permanent existence of
large amounts of antibiotics in
the environment. Consequently,
novel
preventive
approaches
in aquaculture are urgently
needed. In this context, the use of
medicinal herbs can be used as one
alternative strategy and can act as
an immune stimulant, conferring

Romi Novriadi is Researcher at Balai Perikanan Budidaya Laut

Batam, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of
Indonesia, KB Haw is Product Engineer at Aqua cultural Fresh and
Marine Exploratory, Singapore
68 ASEAN SEAFOOD vol 2 Issue 05 SEP/OCT

2015

In
a
controlled
bacterial
infection stu
dy with Vibrio
parahaemolyticus in Tiger grouper
Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, Asian
Seabass Lates calcarifer and Silver
pompano Trachinotus blochii, it was
confirmed that 24 hours immersion
with commercial herbs (AquaHerb)
have been successfully provide
a better resistance and survival
in Tiger grouper by 82.672%, in
Asian Seabass by 84.670.67 % and
in Silver pompano by 88.891.39
%. According to several researcher,
studies confirm that the use of
purified plant extract and long term
of herbal application were able to
enhanced the survivability of treated
fish against bacterial infection.
The beneficial effects of these
commercially available AquaHerb
was also strengthened by the
presence of dried peat, dried Leaves
Saponin and dried roots tannin in
their composition. Even saponin have
been reported to have damaging
effect on the fish respiratory epithelia,
but in low concentration, saponin
based adjuvant have the unique

KB Haw is Product Engineer at Aqua cultural

Fresh and Marine Exploratory, Singapore

Romi Novriadi is Researcher at Balai Perikanan

Budidaya Laut Batam, Ministry of Marine
Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia

Figure 2. Tiger grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus immersed with AquaHerb for 24 hours

ability to stimulate the cell-mediated

immune system and to enhance the
antibody production.
This is confirmed by Chavali
reported that saponin either as crude
mixtures or as a purified compounds
was able to increase the immune
cell proliferation. Moreover, the
administration of saponin to the
infected fish have been found to
have a detrimental effect to protozoa,
mainly due to the virucidal activity
and antifungal activity contained in
their active substance. Our results
are in accordance with the recent
findings that indicated the prior
administration of saponin contained
in the AquaHerb before challenged
with Vibrio parahaemolyticus was able
to enhance the Tiger grouper, Asian
seabass and Silver pompano immune
system in comparison to control.
In addition to saponin, the use of

dried tannin contained in AquaHerb

was also useful for the prevention
of piscine diseases and off-flavor in
fish and did not harm the productive
performance. Based on the field
observation, the complementary of
tannin and saponin will enhance their
immune system and the appetite of
fish after medication. However, all
this benefits effects of these active
substances will be only obtained if
given in the appropriate dose.

Improved Cellular Immune

Response
The field trial also showed that
AquaHerb were able to modulate
some parameters of non-specific
immune functions of several marine
fish species. The non-specific defence
mechanisms of fishes include
leukocyte
function,
neutrophil
activation, monocyte together with

initiation of other inflammatory

factors. The use of AquaHerb showed
an elevated number of leukocytes over
the whole period of the experiment
in comparison to control. In the
presence of V. parahaemolyticus, 24 h
of AquaHerb conditioning treatment
were able to significantly improve the
fishs survival in comparison to other
conditioning treatment. AquaHerb
conditioning treatment was also
able to increased total percentage of
monocytes in the presence or absence
of pathogen. Numbers of monocytes
become more important because they
act as the main cells of non-specific
defense system shifts from blood cells
into tissue and become macrophages
that are capable to kill a variety of
pathogens including bacteria.
The result proved the efficacy
of herbal immersion on the fish by
reducing the number of mortality
says Prof. Harry Agusnar, Professor
on Analytical Chemistry, University
of Sumatera Utara. Based on the
experimental results, it was obvious
that the provision of herbal extract
is an effective immune stimulant
against bacteria from the Vibrio genus
that are most frequently associated
with mortalities in marine fish. The
unique composition of AquaHerb
added to the rearing water appears
to improve the immune status and
disease resistance of fish.
This progress in the field of
diseases treatment was further
extended in February this year when
the next generation of AquaHerb
was investigate to overcome the
virus infection in marine fish,
especially to eliminate the iridovirus
infection. The social campaign of
using herbal medicine and avoid the
use of antibiotics will be intensively
performed in several Asian countries
as our responsibility to support the
eco-friendly of aquaculture industry
and generated the healthy product
for the people.
ASEAN SEAFOOD vol 2 Issue 05 SEP/OCT 2015 69