Enteromyxosis is an important parasitic disease in gilthead seabream farming in the Mediterranean region. This disease is caused by Enteromyxum leei, a microscopic myxozoa that infects the gut causing serious economic impacts due to growth arrest and inability to reach commercial size of sea cage-raised gilthead seabream.

The lack of effective anti-parasitic therapies in Mediterranean aquaculture has stimulated the search for natural feed additives that can be incorporated as functional feeds with the aim of minimizing the impact of parasite outbreaks on productivity.

A collaborative study between Adisseo and the Fish Pathology group of the Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (Spain) aimed at validating the efficacy of the feed additive Sanacore® GM to mitigate the effect of enteromyxosis in gilthead seabream under controlled conditions. Two different doses were tested in comparison with a basal diet without the additive.

Researchers found that the dietary inclusion of Sanacore® GM reduced most of the disease signs and specifically mitigated the reduction in growth caused by the infection. This mitigation was maximized in the highest dose group.

Quantitative parasitological data on prevalence, intensity and abundance, as well as histopathological analysis on infection extension, confirmed the effect of additive supplementation on reducing the infection rate and its severity. Although the decrease in parasite levels was similar with both doses of the additive, the pathogeny of the infection was mostly suppressed with the higher dose, while only mitigated with the lower dose.

This study confirmed field observations on the importance of an adequate feed additive program in a preventive strategy against enteromyxosis.

Download study here.

The study was performed under the frame of the ParaFishControl project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 program.