Studies on the use of hydrogen peroxide as a method for the control of sea lice on Atlantic salmon

✍ Scribed by D. W. Bruno; R. S. Raynard

• Book ID: 104628089
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 482 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0967-6120
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00118529

✦ Synopsis

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) post-smolts exposed to 1.23%0 hydrogen peroxide for 20 min at 13.5 °C suffered an acute toxicity resulting in a 35% mortality within 2 h. Under similar conditions at 10 °C no mortalities were observed with Atlantic salmon or goldsinny wrasse (Ctenolabrus rupestris). No histological changes were noted in tissues from exposed fish. Thirty-three per cent of adult and pre-adult sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) were immobilized or killed following exposure to 0.596o hydrogen peroxide at 10 °C, rising to 98% at 2%0. Some lice were able to recover and regained normal swimming movements. Gas bubbles within the haemolymph caused affected lice to float on the water surface. A delay in the toxicity of hydrogen peroxide to copepodites occurred, with a 10% mortality following a 20 min exposure to 1.25%0 at 10 °C rising to 100% mortality at 19 h post treatment.

Dilute hydrogen peroxide was stable over the 20 min treatment period. Aeration and higher temperatures increased the long-term breakdown of a working concentration of hydrogen peroxide in seawater.