Quantitative and qualitative studies on bacterial microflora of fish reared in brackish water fish farm in Alexandria

ABSTRACT

A population of heterotrophic bacteria from a brackish water fish farm was estimated using a spread plate technique. Bacterial population in winter was relatively low compared with counts in summer when the maximum water temperature and organic matter content were recorded. Tilapia and mugil spp reared in the farm were bacteriologically sampled to determine the numbers of heterotrophs associated with the skin, gills and intestinal tract of the fish. The bacterial populations associated with different parts of fish consisted of diverse array of taxa; mainly, Pseudomonas, Vibrio, Aeromonas and Flavobacterium. There was a correlation between bacteria and type of reared fish