Causes and Prevention of Gas Bloat Disease in Loach

After the overwintering period, loach is in poor physical condition, having been in a fasting stage throughout the entire overwintering period. The intestinal wall of loach is relatively thin, and since it has not undergone peristalsis for a long time, its digestive capacity is still very weak at present. Therefore, even if farmers do not feed large amounts, gas bloat is still likely to occur. Water quality factors: After the overwintering period, the water quality in loach ponds is relatively dense, with excessive organic matter and impurities in the water body. Some pond water feels sticky or astringent to the touch. In such water quality, the gas content in the water body tends to be high, which easily causes loach to develop “gas bloat”, meaning the loach's intestinal tract becomes filled with small air bubbles, increasing the loach's buoyancy. Therefore, smaller loach will appear lying on their sides at the water surface. For loach living in such water bodies, when they feed, gases in the water enter the intestinal tract along with the feed. This is why gas bloat easily occurs even when the feed amount is small. When water body conditions are too poor, gas bubble disease is extremely likely to occur.

When gas bloat in loach is caused by eating, from the outside, the loach's belly is round and plump, and it lies in the water with its belly facing up. You can see the belly has patches of black and white; the black patches are feed. When you cut open the loach's intestinal tract, you can see feed lined up inside the intestine, and with slight pressure, it overflows from the anus. Many farmers do not take this seriously, but the occurrence of large-scale gas bloat will in turn cause outbreaks of enteritis disease in loach. Therefore, prevention of enteritis disease in loach should be carried out in advance. Prevention and control methods: (1) Change water regularly to keep water quality fresh, and change water promptly when water becomes sticky or astringent; (2) Improve the substrate regularly to control gas emissions from bottom mud and reduce the gas content in the water body; (3) Feed less in the early stage, do not overfeed, and gradually increase the feed amount, while reducing the feed amount on cloudy and rainy days.