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Approval of Chloramine-T as a Drug to Control
Bacterial Gill Disease and External Flexibacteriosis
on Cold-, Cool-, and Warmwater Fish

The production efficiency of U.S. federal and state hatcheries culturing sport fish, as well as threatened and endangered fish, is severely restricted by the lack of legally approved medicinal aquaculture drugs. Chloramine-T is a candidate drug that will reduce disease-related losses, thereby improving production efficiency and product quality at public hatcheries.

The objective of this project is to conduct the studies required by the Food and Drug Administration that will lead to an approval for the use of chloramine-T to treat fish with external bacterial infections.

The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center is collaborating with federal and state personnel to conduct studies in the following areas: (1) efficacy, studies to determine the effectiveness of chloramine-T to reduce mortality of fish with an external bacterial infection; (2) target animal safety, studies to determine the effects of chloramine-T on treated fish; (3) human safety, studies to assure that residues of chloramine-T are at safe levels before the fish are made available for human consumption; and (4) environmental safety, studies to determine the effects of chloramine-T on aquatic systems after hatcheries discharge water containing chloramine-T.

Chloramine-T research supported by the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies began in 1994 and will end in September 2003.

Principal Investigators: Jeffery Meinertz, Mark Garkowski, and Larry Schmidt