Honduras Shrimp Farm     (Peenaus Vamamei Shrimp)

 

Overview and Treatment Proposal

Shrimp AquaCulture in Honduras has three distinct operations:

Breeders(Egg Production)

            This operation is conducted in dark barns with circular basins, approximately 10 feet in diameter with 1.5 feet water depth.  Water is run through BioMedia or Sand Filters, replacing 10% of the water each day with freshwater.  Each of the individual 4 Barn Systems circulates approximately 100,000 Liters (26,000 Gallons) through its BioFilter.  The Breeders are feed and eggs are collected for the hatcheries. Water is processed Sea Water, described below, but water quality is a critical concern in order to maintain the health of the breeding stock.

Larva(Hatchery)

            Larvas are grown in 15,000 Liter (3,900 Gallon) Fiberglass Tanks.  The water is replaced every 24 hours during the first week, and every 12 hours during the second week.  The Larvas are feed Algae Broth. The third week the Larva are transferred to long, shallow, aerated troughs using filter buckets that concentrate the Larva by filtering out half the water…but importantly, the water in the troughs is from the original Fiberglass Tanks.Larvas are transferred to Grow –Out Farms during the third week.

Currently there is extremely high mortality, any where from 50 to 100% of the Larva die during the first two weeks.  Great care is taken to purify the Sea Water, described below, but mortality rate remain a critical issue. 

Shrimp(Grow-Out)

            The Shrimp AquaCulture for grow-out is done in open-air ponds.  Full cycle is five months, with two rotations per year. Based on our work in Mississippi, the following treatment program would work in the Grow-Out Ponds: 

           

Treatment to start 3 Weeks after stocking and first feeding, allowing a food to mass build-up before inoculation.  AquaClean is applied to the pond by spreading it over as much of the surface as possible…as follows:

1Liter AquaClean to   40,000 Liters of Water           Week 1

1Liter AquaClean to 140,000 Liters of Water           Weeks2,3,4

1Liter AquaClean to 500,000 Liters of Water           Maintenance Per Week

Benefit would be a decrease in food by some 14%, and an increase in individual shrimp weight by some 20% from current practices.

Treatment of Breeders can be extended to their Dark Barns,though the load is actually light, as the population density is significantly less than in a Grow-Out Pond.  So while the bacteria will have a better retention time in which to grow, the food supply will be lower.  Therefore we would recommend dosing the BioMedia Filter Tanks with 1 Liter twice a Week; and to start the treatment, apply a Dilution of 1 Gallon of ACF-32 to 20 Gallons of Water…and then apply equal portion of this dilution to each of the basins within the barn.

This should create a healthier environment, improve the water quality, which should benefit the breeding process with better and healthier egg production.

Larva Treatment

Here we need to understand the water treatment process, and then test various treatment protocols in order to determine the best method to reduce larva mortality.

Sea Water (salinity is 3.0 to 3.2%, remains at this level through-out) is sand filtered in large above ground, open-air tanks…and then it is treated with 5 to10 PPM of Chlorine.  The water is then aerated for six hours to lower the Chlorine to 0.05 PPM by gassing it off.  Then the water is passed through Activated Carbon and UV Light Filters, before going into the water system for the hatchery.  The Plate Count is low…some200…and the Larva and Algae are added to the tanks.  As stated above, the water is totally replaced in the 15,000 Liter tanks every 24 hours the first week and then every12 hours during the second week.

We have recommended three different trials variations, to be conducted in two tanks each, and run simultaneously.  A seach Larva Cycle is two weeks, we have agreed to run this for three cycles (6weeks) in order to review and modify treatment protocols after each cycle.  The first three protocols are:

Normal Treatment –Apply 1 Liter to the Hatchery Tank with first feeding, and ½ Liter at the beginning of the second week, for a total of 1.5 Liters

Heavier Treatment –Apply 1 Liter to Hatchery Tank the first day, and then ½ Liter every three day s there after (Day 4-7-10-11), for a total of 3 Liters

Extra Food Treatment – Application same as (B), but the Algae Broth should be doubled to compare the effect of the bacteria on the food supply versus (B).

The trials will be reviewed based on Larva mortality and water quality.  It will take several times to optimize the treatment protocol, but after initial trial results, we should be able to review the data for further improvements to dosage, water quality issues and food supply. With more data, we will be able to better understand the mechanisms of ProBiotics and possible Symbiotic Bacteria-Larva food consumption effects.