Drug-free way of getting rid of fish lice.

I really love it when we can put nature to work. This article provides the scientific data to show that biological control of lice by the addition of cleaner fish works on salmon farms. I wonder if there’s a freshwater equivalent for the treatment of fish lice in koi ponds.

Aquaculture
Volume 403, Number 1-4 (July 2013)
	Delousing of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by cultured vs. wild ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta)
	Authors:	Anne Berit Skiftesvik, Reidun M. Bjelland, Caroline M.F. Durif, Inger S. Johansen, Howard I. Browman
	Author Affiliations:	no affiliations available
	Source:	Aquaculture, Volume 403, Number 1-4 (July 2013)
	Page Numbers:	113 – 118
	Available Full Text:	Full Text: Subscription Required to view full text Format: PDF Size: Unknown Location: Publisher’s Site Authentication: Publisher’s Site
	Abstract:	The ectoparasitic salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) is a serious problem in salmon aquaculture (Salmo salarand rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss). These parasitic copepods attach to fish and feed on their mucus and tissue, reducing feed conversion efficiency and causing sores, thereby increasing farming costs and reducing the value of the product. Many non-pharmaceutical approaches to controlling sea lice are being developed. One such is to use cleaner fish (in this case, wrasse) in co-culture with salmon to remove salmon lice. The objectives of this study were to assess the efficiency of wrasse as delousing agents and to compare the relative efficiency of wild vs. cultured individuals. Wrasse were extremely efficient in delousing salmon. At a ratio of 5% wrasse to salmon, the mean number of mobile lice life history stages on salmon was maintained at a level of less than one per fish. Intensively cultured wrasse were as efficient as wild wrasse at removing lice. The presence of wrasse did not affect the growth of salmon. This study demonstrates that wrasse, including intensively cultured ballan wrasse naïve of either salmon or salmon lice, can be introduced into sea cages on salmon farms and keep salmon lice loads at very low levels.
	Citation:	Anne Berit Skiftesvik, Reidun M. Bjelland, Caroline M.F. Durif, Inger S. Johansen, Howard I. Browman . Delousing of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by cultured vs. wild ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta). Aquaculture, Volume 403, Numbers 1-4 (July 2013), pp. 113-118, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44109582E5A3CB3C93B9&gt;
	URL:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44109582E5A3CB3C93B9