The Effectiveness of Turmeric Enriched Pellets in Curing the Gill of Clarias batrachus Infected with Aeromonas hydrophila

Curcumin is an antibiotic agent extracted from Curcuma longa. To understand the effectiveness of curcumin in curing the gill of Clarias batrachus infected with Aeromonas hydrophila, a study was conducted from August to November 2020. There were 3 treatments applied, namely turmeric enriched pellets 0.7g/kg (P1); 0.9g/kg (P2) and 1.1g/kg (P3). Prior to the treatment, the fish was infected with A. hydrophila (0.1 m of A. hydrophila culture, 1.0x108cells/ml). The infected fish was kept for 6 days until the clinical signs of MAS disease occurred. By the 7th day, the fish was feed with turmeric enriched pellets. For negative control (Cn) the fish was not infected with A. hydrophila nor treated with turmeric, while the positive control (Cp) was infected, but no turmeric treatment. The fish was reared for 30 days and by the end of the experiment, the gill was removed and processed for histological study (5L sliced and HE stained). Result indicated that the gill of the negative control fish was normal, while that of the positive control shown abnormalities such as hemorrhages, necrotic cells, fused lamellae and enlarged cartilaginous cells. The turmeric treated fish shown less damage in the gill. The best results were obtained in C3, as the gill structure was almost normal with slightly hemorrhage. In the C1 and C2 treated fishes, the gill shown light abnormality such as fused lamella and hemorrhage. Data obtained shown that the consumption of turmeric enriched pellet was effective to cure the A. hydrophyla infected gill.