Vibrio anguillarum belongs to one of the halophilic groups of Vibrios and survives at different salinities. it is able to survive in sea water for more than 50 months. More than twenty different serovars of V. anguillarum (designated 01 to 023) have been described (Pedersen et al., 1999). Serovars 01 and 02 occur world-wide and are those most often found in connection with diseases in fish particularly in salmonids and species of cod fish.

Sudden death

In a suspected vibriosis outbreak, your veterinarian will collect the deceased fish or a fish close to death to be submitted to a specific laboratory. The laboratory will perform bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity testing to identify the prominent bacteria present and which antibiotics it’s highly susceptible to. There are known bacterial resistance to antibiotics, so the culture and perceptivity testing are critical.

The best prevention for vibriosis is to identify and correct any implicit stressors in your aquarium. This may include Quarantining all new live additions for at least five weeks (includes plants, invertebrates and live rock) better preventive maintenance, feeding a more enhanced and balanced diet enriched with proper supplements, more balanced water conditions, or/and removing aggressive fish.

A low-stress and healthy environment is highly critical to prevent vibriosis outbreak. Generally available OTA antibiotics are not effective against vibriosis and only veterinarian specified treatment should be applied.