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Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used as a disinfectant for cleaning wounds in people. It has
also been used in aquaculture as an immersion (bath) treatment against many different diseasecausing
organisms, including external parasites, bacteria, fungi, different species and lifestages
of fish. Hydrogen peroxide has numerous nonmedical and medical uses because of
these properties. When added to water, hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and
water over time, and the formation of these byproducts is one reason that hydrogen peroxide
is considered to be relatively safe for the environment. The US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) recently approved a hydrogen peroxide-based aquaculture product, which has spurred
greater interest in its use (Yanong, 2008).
A major challenge facing aquaculture development today is that of ensuring a sustainable
fingerlings production and distribution system. It is a chronic problem with several important
dimensions: quantity of fingerlings produced, quality of fingerlings produced, cost of
fingerlings produced and means of fingerlings distribution to farmers (FAO, 2000). In the
aggregate, these factors created a ‘scarcity syndrome’ and have led to a situation where farmers
throughout the area have been forced to wait long periods before receiving scarce fingerlings,
sometimes abandoning their ponds in the interim. Moreover, when fingerlings arrive, they
are often of poor quality, leading to disappointing harvests and abandonment of fish ponds.
Fish fry transport is a very important part of fish culture. Fry and fingerlings must be
transported from hatchery to pond for stocking. Brood fish are sometimes transported to
the hatchery to spawn. It may even be necessary to transport live harvested fish to the market
for sale. Many methods of fish transportation are being used by the fish farmers. Fish are
generally transported in containers such as cane of different size, pots of ceramic or metal,
wooden or metal baskets, vats, barrels, bags, styrofoam boxes, bottles, jugs, animal skins and
bamboo section. In fact, clean and waterproof container may be used. Certain containers
provide good insulation from heat, for example, wood or styrofoam. Containers like metal
or plastic are poor insulators and may have to be wrapped with wet towels or packed with
ice to keep temperature down. Once fish have been placed in their transport container, they
should be brought to their destination by the quickest possible means that will provide a
relatively smooth and direct route.
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