White spot disease in internal organs of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) raising in cage in Northern provinces caused by metacercaria of Dollfustrema bagarii

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the characteristics of visceral white spot disease in
cage culture channel catfish in Northern provinces, based on a total of 248 fish diseased samples
collecting from 174 cultured cages in 9 Northern provinces. The studied result showed that there
were 59.7% of fish samples suffered with white spots in internal organs. In which, the rate of
channel catfish cultured in cages in the rivers was 78.7%, this rate was higher than the fish cultured
in cages in the lakes (6.2%). The most of white spots occurred in the liver (82.8% of the infected
samples) compared to other internal organs. By morphological characterization, Dollfustrema bagarii
(Digenea: Bucephalidae) metacercariae was found to be the caused agent of this disease.