Responses of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco Richardson) exposed to dietary cyanobacteria and subsequent recovery

A 120-day toxicity experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary cyanobacteria on the growth and liver histopathology of yellow catfish, and subsequent recovery when the fish were free of cyanobacteria. Three experimental diets were formulated: the control (cyanobacteria-free diet), low-cyanobacteria diet (LCD, 32.3 μg microsystins/g) and high-cyanobacteria diet (HCD, 71.96 μg microsystins/g). Each diet was fed to fish for 60 days and then all fish were free of cyanobacteria for a further 60 days. The results showed that a significant decrease in the specific growth rate (SGR) was observed in both fish fed with the LCD and HCD after a 1st 30-day exposure period, however, no significant difference in the SGR between the LCD and control groups was observed after a 2nd 30-day exposure period. At the end of the 60 days exposure, all examined liver tissues in both doses exhibited what appeared as dose-dependent histopathological modifications. After a 60-day recovery, there were no significant differences in the SGR among groups, while no obvious histopathological alteration was observed in livers of fish previously fed with the LCD. The results indicate that the LCD-treated fish have a full recovery after a 60-day recovery, but the HCD-treated fish did not.