Aquaculture is the activity of raising fish or all types of organisms that are all or part of their life cycle in the aquatic environment starting from preparation, maintenance to harvesting activities. Aquaculture can be divided into two activities, namely fish enlargement and fish hatcheries. Fish enlargement is the activity of maintaining, raising fish seeds or seedlings up to the size of the harvest that is accepted by the market in a controlled environment. Fish hatchery activities are fish breeding activities that include the process of raising broodstock, spawning, hatching eggs and raising fish larvae until they reach the size of seeds that are ready to be stocked in the enlargement phase in a controlled environment.
Veterinary vaccinating rainbow trout (shutterstock.com)
In aquaculture activities at the stage of fish maintenance, be it at the stage of raising fish seeds to the size of fish ready for consumption or at the stage of caring for eggs to larval rearing activities, there is a possibility of disease attack. Fish diseases can strike anytime and anywhere. To treat fish, relieve symptoms, or modify chemical processes in the fish body, fish medicine is needed.
Fish medicine based on the type of preparation is classified into biologic preparations, pharmaceuticals, premixes, probiotics, natural medicines.
Fish medicine with biologic preparations is a fish medicine produced through biological processes in animals or animal tissues to cause immunity, diagnose disease, or treat disease with immunological processes, including vaccines, biologic diagnostic materials.
Fish medicine with pharmaceutical preparations as described above is a fish medicine produced from inorganic or organic materials or chemical synthesis reactions that are used based on pharmacological action. Fish medicine with pharmaceutical preparations include hormones, antibiotics, antibacterials, antiparasites, and antifungals.
Fish medicine with premix preparations is a fish medicine produced from organic and inorganic materials mixed in fish feed as:
a. feed additive.
Feed additive is a substance that is not naturally found in feed, whose purpose of use is mainly to promote fish growth and fish health, such as xantophyl, antioxidants, and antifungals;
b. feed supplement.
Feed supplement is a substance that is naturally contained in the feed but the amount needs to be increased by adding it to the fish feed, such as amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.
Fish medicine with probiotic preparations is a fish medicine produced from nonpathogenic microbes that naturally exist in the environment in water and in the body of fish that work by bioremediation, biocontrol of the gastrointestinal tract and as a competitor to pathogenic bacteria, including Bacillus subtillis, Lactobacillus, Nitrosomonas, and Nitrobacter bacteria.
Fish Medicine with natural medicinal preparations are materials or ingredients in the form of plant origin, animal origin, mineral origin, galenic preparations, or a mixture of these materials without the addition of chemicals, medicinal action, and efficacy based only on empirical data, and there is no complete clinical data, including meniran leaf extract and sambiloto leaf extract.