Initial disease report of Streptococcus iniae infection in hybrid striped (sunshine) bass and successful therapeutic intervention with the fluoroquinolone antibacterial enrofloxacin

Streptococcal infection (Streptococcus iniae) was diagnosed sequentially in two tanks of hybrid striped bass Morone saxatilis male x M. chrysops female (Sunshine bass) grown in a commercial freshwater recirculation facility in western Massachusetts. The pathogen was isolated in the laboratory, biochemically and morphologically characterized, and antibacterial sensitivities determined. Streptococcus iniae-induced lesions in the Sunshine bass were characterized at the gross and histopathological levels. Initial treatment with oxytetracycline was unsuccessful. Based on sensitivity results, enrofloxacin-medicated feed was dosed at 10 mg/kg body weight for 10 d, while a subsequent trial was conducted at 5 mg/kg body weight for 10 d. Mortality of fish subsided promptly following initiation of enrofloxacin therapy, yielding a final mortality in the initial tank of 10.83% (control tank 55.5%) and in the second tank of 16.97% (control tank 39.8%). Tissue enrofloxacin residues, detected via a microbiologic bioassay, revealed greater quantities and longer duration of residues in various tissues from the 5-mg as compared to the 10-mg trial, potentially the result of adverse feed palatability. Enrofloxacin appears to have excellent potential as an antibacterial agent for treating susceptible bacterial diseases of Sunshine bass.