Utilization of sodium bicarbonate as anesthetic during routine husbandry activities in ornamental fish

Abstract

The tropical ornamental fish industry requires the stock to be reared in captivity before being sold; thus, exposing them to various handling- and transport-related stressors. A number of commercially available anesthetics are used during fish husbandry procedures, but these products are expensive and not readily available to small-scale ornamental fish operators. The use of sodium bicarbonate as an inexpensive anesthetic during routine husbandry activities in molly, <i>Poecilia</i> sp., a freshwater ornamental fish was assessed in terms of its effect on sedation, recovery and survival post-exposure in three independent experimental runs. Juvenile molly were exposed to sodium bicarbonate at a concentration of 100 g L⁻¹ and the time to sedation and recovery were monitored. It took longer for the fish to be fully sedated than their recovery. Survival of the fish a week post-exposure ranged 40-60%. Simulated transport of fish for 6 hrs in water containing 1 g L⁻¹ of sodium bicarbonate showed survival ranging 70-100% a week after transport. These findings demonstrated that sodium bicarbonate could be potentially used as a low-cost anesthetic during handling and short-term transport of ornamental fish. Future studies shall focus on discovering the underlying physiological mechanisms in fish following sedation with this chemical.