Isolation and identification of two new strains of Aeromonas spp. from diseased gourami fish and aquarium water

Bacteria belonging to Aeromonas spp. have long been known to cause infections in a variety of animals. Two unique strains were isolated from the diseased blue gourami ornamental aquarium fish and from the aquarium water that housed the fish. Characterization of these two isolates was carried out by using standard biochemical, morphological, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies. The results obtained indicated that both the strains belong to Aeromonas spp. BLAST analysis indicated an identity value of 99%. The sequences were deposited in the DNA Database of Japan (DDBJ). Experimental infection with these isolated strains indicated low mortality, suggesting that these strains were opportunistic in nature. Antimicrobial susceptibility assay indicated that both the strains were sensitive to nitrofurantoin, enrofloxacin, and furazolidone, and significantly resistant to erythromycin, oxytetracycline, and tetracycline. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijls.v5i1.5952 International Journal of Life Sciences Vol.5(1) 2011 25-31