ABSTRACT
Infectious diseases are among the most often-cited problems facing warm-water aquaculture (USDA 1997), but diseases are natural events in all animal groups, and fish are no different in this regard. It has been estimated that about 10 percent of all cultured fish die because of infectious diseases; however, in some instances this estimate may be conservative. Some chan nel catfish operations report that nearly 75 percent of newly hatched swim-up fry die before they reach market size (unpublished). Regardless of the method used to measure the effect of infectious diseases, it is obvious that they cost the warm-water aquaculture industry millions of dollars annu ally in dead fish, reduced production, expenditures for chemotherapeutics, vaccines, and human resources to institute health maintenance practices.
