High concentrations of pathogenic bacteria in water usually results in outbreaks of bacterial diseases in farmed fish. Here, we explored the potential application of an emerging nanobubble technology in freshwater aquaculture. Specifically, we aimed to determine if this technology was effective at reducing the concentration of pathogenic bacteria in the water, and to assess whether it was safe for fish. An ozone nanobubble (NB-O3) treatment protocol was established based on examination of nanobubble size, concentration, disinfection property, and impact on fish health. A 10-min treatment with NB-O3 in 50 L water generated approximately 2-3 × 107 bubbles with majority sizes less than 130 nm and ozone level of ∼800 mV ORP. A single treatment with water contaminated with either Streptococcus agalactiae or Aeromonas veronii effectively reduced 96.11-97.92 % of the bacterial load. This same protocol was repeated 3 times with 99.93-99.99 % reduction in the bacterial concentration. In comparison, bacterial concentration the control tanks remained the same level during the experiments. In fish-cultured water with the presence of organic matter (e.g. mucus, feces, bacterial flora, feed, etc.), the disinfection property of NB-O3 was reduced i.e bacterial concentration was reduced by 42.94 %, 84.94 % and 99.27 % after the first, second and third treatments, respectively. To evaluate the safety of NB-O3 to fish, juvenile Nile tilapia were exposed to NB-O3 treatment for 10 minutes. No mortality was observed during the treatment or 48 h post treatment. Gill histology examination revealed that a single NB-O3 treatment caused no alteration morphology. However, damage in the gill filaments was noticed in the fish receiving two or three consecutive exposures within the same day. Results of all the experiments conducted in this study suggest that NB-O3 technology is promising for controlling pathogenic bacteria in aquaculture systems, and may be useful at reducing the risk of bacterial disease outbreaks in farmed fish.
