A COMBINATION OF CLOVE OIL AND ETHANOL AS AN ANAESTHETIC FOR COMMON CARP, CYPRINUS CARPIO

Objective: Several different chemicals have been used as anaesthetics in fish farms and fish biology researches to reduce handling stress on fish and to aid in the handling of fish during practices that include enumeration, pathological analyses, hormonal implants or injections, vaccinations, stripping, transfer, and hauling. However, the use of some of these agents on food fish is limited. Clove oil has recently become a commonly used anaesthetic that can be served as an alternative to fish anaesthetics, because it is commercially available and inexpensive and has no apparent toxic properties. Method & Materials: In the present study, the suitability of clove oil in combination with ethanol to anaesthetize common carp was examined. For this purpose, 100 apparently normal fish weighing between 125-200g were chosen and were randomly divided into ten groups. 7 groups were exposed to 7 different concentrations of clove oil namely 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 ppm diluted in pure ethanol at a ratio of 1:9 at similar water quality. In addition, 3 groups were exposed to 3 different concentrations of ethanol, 400, 800 and 1200 ppm, respectively. Results & Conclusion: Stages of anesthesia and recovery were measured and physiologic data were collected during and after anaesthesia. The results obtained from this investigation suggested that 100ppm clove oil for 1 minute is the most suitable dosage to anaesthetize this species.

Keywords:

Common Carp , Clove oil , Ethanol , Anaesthesia