A lot has been said on crack head disease of catfish on this blog. I think I mentioned this subject in two of my previous articles. However, I will like to dedicate this write-up to causes, identification and treatments of crack head in catfish.
Tag: catfish mortality
According to a popular saying, “Prevention is better than cure.” This is due to the fact that the cost of prevention is always cheaper than the cost of control/cure. In catfish farming, effect of mortality due to disease may be severe. In fact, some diseases in catfish are incurable when they are discovered late. For instance, crack/broken head disease in catfish is difficult to cure. Any attempt to administer drug is usually a wasted effort. My recent experience in a friend’s farm prompted me to write this short note. He lost almost half of his capital to a disease that can be prevented.
Here are the ways to prevent Diseases in your stock:
The recent rise in rate of catfish mortality is a phenomenon. Mortality rates in some farms are above 30 percent, which is not acceptable in any way. A proactive farmer can reduce catfish mortality by at least 50 percent if causes of diseases in catfish farms are taken care of. More so, if diseases are discovered and diagnosed earlier, solutions can be applied.
Control of catfish mortality is a knowledge all profit-minded farmers must learn to acquire. However, it is sometimes unfortunate that solutions recommended in books and other platforms are not always effective in this part of the world. In other words, indigenous researchers have to do more in the area of catfish disease control. Many at times, control of catfish mortality go beyond application of certain selected drugs. In fact, good observation of your stock could be all you need to avoid uncontrolled mortality.
What are the causes of mortality? Is all mortality in catfishes natural? This and many other questions are often asked by catfish farmers, most especially new farmers who are willing to minimize loss due to mortality. Times without number, catfish farmers have been sent out of business due to uncontrolled mortality rates. Some six years ago, I was seriously affected by severe mortality in my catfish farm. I almost lost my confidence in the business. I began to search for basic causes of mortality in catfishes and how to control mortality if there is any solution to this problem. In this article, I shall be examining various causes of catfish mortality. This I believe will make farmers to reduce the effect of mortality once the cause is known. For easy reading, causes of catfish mortality have been grouped into five categories. Each category will be discussed briefly to give sufficient information on this matter.