Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2010. / Title from PDF cover (viewed July 28, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-122)

Koi Herpesvirus (KHV), a species-specific DNA virus of the family Herpesviridae, is responsible for mass mortalities of common carp (Cyprinus carpio carpio L.) throughout the world. KHV’s broad geographical distribution and relatively high mortality rate among infected fish, creates significant disposal issues when die-offs occur, especially taking into account the body burden of contaminants in the fish. In locales where adequate disposal facilities are unavailable, or are unable to accommodate additional loadings of contaminated fish carcasses, concerns regarding human and environmental health are raised. During the summer of 2008, residents of the Lake Simcoe Region of southern Ontario, Canada, were faced with a massive die-off of carp, infected with KHV. Carp within the Great Lakes and much of the world are known to bioaccumulate (and biomagnify) contaminants, such as, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides (e.g., dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT, and toxic metals (e.g., mercury). These contaminants have been associated with numerous adverse effects on both human and environmental health, and are thus of important considerations when planning for large-scale carcass disposal, following fish die-offs. Although suites of microbiological tests and water quality assessments are frequently conducted to identify causative factors during extensive fish-kills - assessments of relative contaminant burdens in the carcasses, which should dictate the most appropriate method of carcass disposal - are rarely performed. A case study on Snake Island, Lake Simcoe, Ontario was conducted to further examine the implications of this policy. Soil samples from two known disposal sites and three presumed control locations were sampled on Snake Island and sent to the Analytical Services Unit of Queen’s University for chemical analysis. Although none of the soil samples exceeded any legal guidelines in the present study, there is still concern as future die-offs of other fish species or piscivorous birds and the disposal of large numbers of carcasses may be an issue.

Koi Herpesvirus (KHV), a species-specific DNA virus of the family Herpesviridae, is responsible for mass mortalities of common carp (Cyprinus carpio carpio L.) throughout the world. KHV’s broad geographical distribution and relatively high mortality rate among infected fish, creates significant disposal issues when die-offs occur, especially taking into account the body burden of contaminants in the fish. In locales where adequate disposal facilities are unavailable, or are unable to accommodate additional loadings of contaminated fish carcasses, concerns regarding human and environmental health are raised. During the summer of 2008, residents of the Lake Simcoe Region of southern Ontario, Canada, were faced with a massive die-off of carp, infected with KHV. Carp within the Great Lakes and much of the world are known to bioaccumulate (and biomagnify) contaminants, such as, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides (e.g., dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT, and toxic metals (e.g., mercury). These contaminants have been associated with numerous adverse effects on both human and environmental health, and are thus of important considerations when planning for large-scale carcass disposal, following fish die-offs. Although suites of microbiological tests and water quality assessments are frequently conducted to identify causative factors during extensive fish-kills - assessments of relative contaminant burdens in the carcasses, which should dictate the most appropriate method of carcass disposal - are rarely performed. A case study on Snake Island, Lake Simcoe, Ontario was conducted to further examine the implications of this policy. Soil samples from two known disposal sites and three presumed control locations were sampled on Snake Island and sent to the Analytical Services Unit of Queen’s University for chemical analysis. Although none of the soil samples exceeded any legal guidelines in the present study, there is still concern as future die-offs of other fish species or piscivorous birds and the disposal of large numbers of carcasses may be an issue.

The goal of this thesis was to assess colour inheritance in Showa tricolour variety of koi carp (black basis, white and red signs). Fish of the same colouration were pair-mated. Colouration of fingerlings was assessed in one day age. Colouration was observed in two forms, like melanin pigmentation and non-melanin pigmentation (black- pigmented and gold -pigmented fingerlings). In the tests, gynogenesis was employed, transmissing only mother`s genome to offspring. Gynogenesis was practiced in RIFCH USB in Vodnany. Gynogenetic offspring was further photographically documented to assess colouration of fingerlings and relationship between both variants of colouration. Fry from propagation was bred in ponds to the size stage of advanced fry (Kr; 90-day old, size 5- 6 cm). In this size, fingerlings were caught from breeding ponds, counted and further documented to check phenotype segregation.

Eine effektive Strategie zur Verhinderung der Ausbreitung von Infektionskrankheiten in der Aquakultur ist die Anwendung geeigneter Präventionsmaßnahmen, insbesondere die Impfung von Fischen. Das effektivste Impfverfahren stellt die individuelle Injektion des Impfstoffes dar. Bei Milliarden von Fischen jährlich ist dies jedoch sehr zeit- und kostenintensiv. Bei Säugetieren gilt Niederfrequenz-Sonophorese (LFS) als eine der fortschrittlichsten Technologien zur transdermalen Verabreichung von Wirkstoffen. So entstand die Idee, bei Fischen die Aufnahme von Wirkstoffen während einer Tauchbadbehandlung mit Hilfe von LFS zu verbessern. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, dass mit einer Beschallungsintensität von etwa 60 mW/cm^2 die Aufnahme eines Bakterienimpfstoffs in das Kiemengewebe von Regenbogenforellen um den Faktor 240 erhöht werden konnte. Bei dieser Intensität traten geringe oder keine Nebenwirkungen auf. Bei höheren Beschallungsintensitäten wurde eine noch höhere Aufnahme des Bakterienimpfstoffes, aber auch schädliche Nebenwirkungen beobachtet. Darüber hinaus zeigte LFS eine durch eine lokale Entzündungsreaktion und Aktivierung von T-Helferzellen in den Kiemen charakterisierte, Adjuvans-ähnliche Wirkung. Ein Impfversuch mit Koi Karpfen und einem inaktivierten Impfstoff gegen das Koi-Herpesvirus zeigte, dass LFS das Potential hat, den mit einer Tauchbadimpfung erzielbaren Immunschutz zu verbessern. LFS konnte auch für die Verabreichung anderer Substanzen wie Antibiotika verwendet und die Aufnahme von Oxytetracyclin um den Faktor fünf erhöht werden. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die Effektivität einer Tauchbadimpfung von Fischen mit LFS durch die gesteigerte Impfstoffaufnahme und dessen Adjuvans-ähnlichen Wirkung verbessert werden kann. Darüber hinaus könnte mithilfe LFS die therapeutische Dosis von Antibiotika bei Badbehandlungen verringert werden. Es erfordert jedoch noch weitere Studien, um diese Technologie aus dem Labor in die Praxis zu übertragen. / In aquaculture, the use of prevention methods, such as vaccination of fish, is an effective strategy to avoid infectious diseases. However, the most effective route of vaccination for fish is the one-by-one intraperitoneal injection, which that is very laborious and expensive to apply for billions of fish every year. Low Frequency Sonophoresis (LFS) has been recognized as one of the most advanced technologies in transdermal delivery of substances in mammals. Thus, it has been suggested to use LFS to enhance the uptake of substances in fish during bath treatments. The present study shows that a low sonication intensity of ca. 60 mW/cm^2 at 37 kHz increased the uptake of a bacterin into the gill tissue of rainbow trout by up to a factor of 240. At this intensity, no or only minimal side effects occurred. At higher sonication intensities, an even higher bacterin uptake but also deleterious side effects were observed. In addition, LFS showed an adjuvant-like effect characterized by a local inflammatory response and T-helper cell activation in the gills. A vaccination trial with koi carp and an inactivated vaccine against the Koi Herpes Virus (KHV) showed that LFS has the potential to enhance the immune protection achieved by immersion vaccination. In addition LFS can also be used for the administration of other substances, such as antibiotics, here we showed that the uptake of Oxytetracycline could be increased by factor five. In summary, the efficacy of the immersion vaccination of fish could be improved by low-frequency ultrasound due, to the increased vaccine uptake along with its adjuvant-like effect. Furthermore, LFS could also reduce the required therapeutic dose of antibiotics in bath treatments, making them more effective, cheaper and environmentally friendly. However, further practical studies will be required to transfer this technology from the lab to the field.

The effect of temperature on the gill morphology and ion transporter distribution in the branchial epithelium of a freshwater teleost, the Koi carp (Cyprinus carpio, L.) was examined. Three different water temperatures were used to detect changes in expression level of transporter proteins in the gill epithelial cells. With increasing temperature, the expression level of all three ion transporters studied declined, and the gill lamellae protruded out of the cell mass, thus increasing the surface area of the branchial epithelium. A hypothetical organization of the transporter proteins within the ionocytes is proposed.

Koinobori, LLC is a koi carp farm that aims to provide high quality, show grade koi carp to the consumers in Central America as well as creating a community of koi carp enthusiasts in the region. Japanese colored carp, called Nishikigoi in Japan originated from the common carp raised as food fish by the rice farmers in Niigata Prefecture. Their symbolisms of long life and prosperity are very appealing, and their slow, peaceful movement inspires tranquility. Additionally, owning high quality koi carp symbolizes power, high economic status and other qualitative conditions. Koi shows are part of the culture in Japan, just as dog shows in the US. The fish-keeping hobby is the second most popular hobby worldwide, only bested by photography, with over 100 million hobbyists throughout the world. The Central American economy is growing steadily and the appeal for this hobby has been increasing over the years. With the aid of free trade agreements like the Central American Common Market (CACM); which was formed to facilitate regional economic development through free trade and economic integration, the conditions are met for the commerce of these precious koi carp. With alliances and relationships already made with mayor distributors in Japan and the demand in the region growing, Koinobori has all the opportunities to become a leader of this industry while in its infancy in the Central American region and to fulfill its initially stated objectives.

Currently in Japan there are 5,202 choirs registered as part of the Japan Choral Association. The majority of these choirs are amateur or professional choirs. This situation contrasts with that in the United States where colleges and universities are the primary entities perpetuating the advancement of the choral art. Most likely because of this, there is little if any academic investigation of modern Japanese choral music. Even in Japan, there is not a substantial body of academic study of this literature. As a result, this repertoire is seldom, if ever, performed outside of Japan.Numerous problems confront Western choral conductors interested in programming modern Japanese choral music that is based on traditional Japanese musical idioms. In this document, I have provided information that will allow Japanese choral literature to be accessible to non-Japanese speaking conductors. This information is divided into four areas. First, an overview of Japanese music history is provided. Next, a discussion of the elements of traditional Japanese music such as genre types, modes and tonalities provides the necessary background for a conductor to approach modern Japanese choral music. Third, a practical method whereby non-Japanese speaking choral conductors may transcribe the two phonetic Japanese alphabets into readable English phonetics is proposed. Fourth, a practical approach to the performance of modern Japanese choral music, inclusive of various musical genres, voicing, and instrumental complements is suggested. Discussion of representative choral works by three native composers including a work based on a folk tune, a work for women's chorus, a work for men's chorus, and a composition for mixed chorus and traditional Japanese instrumental complement provides concrete application of the aforementioned discussions.Lastly, in this document I will provide information on several contemporary native Japanese composers, their compositions, and their publishing companies to facilitate the acquisition and performance of this rich choral repertory.

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) also known as koi herpesvirus (KHV) is a causative agent of highly contagious disease (koi herpesvirus disease) and can cause significant losses in fish stocks. The disease is restricted to koi and common carp, but recent investigations have shown that other cyprinids as well as non-cyprinid species may be asymptomatically susceptible to this virus and might play roles as potential carriers or can contribute to biological conservation leading to persistence of this virus in environment. Therefore, it seems to be important to verify not only the susceptibility of other cyprinid and non-cyprinid species, but also their ability to transmit KHV infection to susceptible species. We investigated the susceptibility of stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) and sterbel - a hybrid between sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) and beluga (Huso huso) to KHV. The investigation was performed by means of their cohabitation together with na?ve koi and intraperitoneally KHV-infected koi (primary challenge). This part of investigation is followed by secondary challenge, when a portion of the surviving stone loach and sterbel was cohabited with health na?ve koi (testing of ability to carry KHV). All samples of fish both from primary challenge and secondary challenge were tested for the presence of KHV DNA by nested PCR. In the primary challenge, results of PCR revealed the presence of KHV DNA in 95% of cohabited na?ve koi samples. Furthermore, PCR analysis of fish samples surviving primary challenge revealed the presence of viral DNA in 77.8% (7/9) of stone loach and in 22.2% (2/9) of sterbel. In case of samples of fish coming from secondary challenge, nested PCR did not reveal any of them to be positive for KHV DNA. Next investigation was focused on assessment of the susceptibility of topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva). In this case, we performed cohabitation based on two different conditions. All experiments consisted of primary and secondary challenges as well as in all previous cases. Firstly, we tested topmouth gudgeon under standard conditions (no-stress experiment). After the primary challenge, nested PCR did not reveal the presence of KHV DNA in any specimen of cohabited topmouth gudgeon, but all specimens of dead koi were KHV DNA positive. Nested PCR of fish tissues subjected to the secondary challenge did not show the transfer of virus to naive fish. After that, we changed the experimental conditions and we applied two stress factors (scaring by net and removal of skin mucus) to imitate the stress most commonly encountered in the wild. In this case, all samples were tested for the presence of KHV DNA using real-time PCR. After exposure to stress (removal of skin mucus), real-time PCR revealed four out of five samples (80%) of topmouth gudgeon to be positive for KHV DNA. Two out of five samples (40%) of topmouth gudgeon treated by scaring were found to be positive for the presence of viral DNA. Real-time PCR after the secondary challenge did not reveal any viral DNA positivity in specimens of topmouth gudgeon from groups previously exposed to stress. The stress experiments showed that removal of skin mucus might potentially lead to susceptibility of topmouth gudgeon to CyHV-3 infection, but the transmission of the virus to koi carp was not observed. Even though PCRs positive findings of KHV DNA in tissues of fish were relatively low, the presented results of cohabitation assays of cyprinid and non-cyprinid fish species indicate other species showing slight asymptomatic susceptibility to CyHV-3. On the other hand, on the base of our results coming from "virus-carrier" assays, we could not prove that hybrids between sterlet and beluga, stone loach and topmouth gudgeon can transfer this virus to naive koi.

Thesis (MPhil (Animal Sciences. Aquaculture))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Chemo-attraction and –stimulation facilitate the initial location (olfactory response) and final consumption (gustatory response) of food in the feeding process of fish. Chemo-attractants or chemo-stimulants is therefore generally included in feeds for especially slow-feeding species to help reduce water fouling and to promote feed efficiency and growth rate through improved feed intake. Considering this, a study was performed to evaluate the attraction and stimulation potential of selected cereals and free amino acids in diets for Japanese koi carp (Cyprinus carpio). Results are presented on the comparative evaluation of five cereals (maize, sorghum, wheat, rye and triticale), raw and cooked forms of maize and concentrations of betaine and selected free amino acids (alanine, arginine, lysine and methionine), as well as their additive effect.