ABSTRACT
Marine ornamental fishes are exceedingly valuable due to their high demand in domestic and international markets. There is a growing global interest to rear the fishes in captivity. But problem due to bacteria and fungi are the major hitch in captive condition. Since, the use of antibiotics is banned, an attempt was made to ascertain in vitro assay of the neem leaves extract against the bacterial pathogens isolated from infected fishes. Bacterial strains isolated from infected regions of the clown fishes Amphiprion sebae and A. ocellaris were identified as Aeromonas hydrophila, Enterobacter sp., E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus sp., Streptococcus sp., Vibrio cholerae, V. alginolyticus, V. parahaemolyticus and Yersinia enterocolitica. Ethanol and methanol extracts were highly inhibitory to the bacterial isolates when compared to other solvents. Ethanol extracts exhibited low minimum inhibitory concentration (75 - 250 ,g ml-1) as compared to other extracts. The present finding revealed that the neem leaf extract significantly reduces the bacterial pathogens and their infection in marine ornamental fishes.