AQUAPRO-B  TABLETS for direct addition to ponds and hatchery tanks

The accumulation of sludge in pond bottoms is a limiting factor in the production of shrimp and fish in traditional ponds with soil bottoms. In recent years a proliferation of products has been marketed that contain micro-organisms, some of which can digest the sludge.  Some of these products contain bacteria that have been selected based on their ability to digest the organic material in the sludge and in some products there is evidence that they may compete against specific types of bacteria, such as vibrios, reducing their prevalence in environments where they could contribute to disease.   

Traditional approaches to the use of these products entail the addition to the ponds where the bacteria germinate (hatch) and grow.  These products may have several potential drawbacks.  One is that the numbers of bacteria that one has to introduce into the ponds to effect change is considered by some researchers to be very high and this is usually not economically viable.   The second is that these products are added to the water column when the pond bottom is where they need to be active.  Though the bacteria move through the water column there is little evidence to show that they successfully colonize the sediment.   

Utilizing three strains of Bacillus (subject of US Patent # 5746155) that have been found to substantially reduce sludge in catfish ponds and in shrimp ponds these bacteria have been incorporated into a tablet format.  The tablets are added to the ponds at about one pound of tablets per acre foot of water (8.3 pounds per one ha). The ponds drop to the bottom of the pond where they dissolve delivering the bacteria in the product directly to the sludge.   

Each tablet contains approximately 52 billion CFU (assuming 13 gram tablets). 

Trials in aquaria have confirmed that the bacteria in the tablets (which are identical to the bacteria in our granular product AquaPro-B) rapidly degrade organic material resulting in improvement in water quality with concomitant drops in the level of algae in the aquaria.  Pond trials have been conducted in a one acre foot pond with very good success at low levels of application.  We anticipate that periodic treatments in the latter part of the production cycle will be required to ensure that organic sludge loads are kept to a minimum.  Depending on volume requirements and usage rates, per ha treatment costs will be in the $60.00 to $100.00 or so range, substantially less than costs of other water borne treatments.