Abstract

Introduction: The haematological parameters of giant African catfish exposed to different anaesthetic agents, such as lidocaine, clove oil, and ice, and the control with no exposure were examined.

Methods: Ten fish each from the control and treatment groups had their blood drawn and the samples were examined immediately for haematological parameters. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare each of the parameters among the treatment groups and the control.

Results: The highest red blood cell (RBC), Haemoglobin, and parked cell volume (PCV) were observed in the control and they were different significantly (P<0.05) from the fish exposed to clove oil. Mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCHC) were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the       control than in all the treatment groups. The highest heterophil was observed in the fish exposed to ice and it was different significantly (P<0.05) from the control treatment. Platelet was significantly higher in the control and lidocaine treatments than in clove oil. The least heterophil-lymphocyte ratio (HLR) was also observed in the control and it was different significantly (P<0.05) from fish ice treatment. The PLR of lidocaine and ice treatments were higher significantly (P<0.05) than the control, while that of clove oil was much lower than the control.

Significance: The findings from the research showed that all the anaesthetics experimented with had considerable negative impacts on the fish's haematological parameters, with clove oil tending to be the worst. Hence, extra care is required in using any of these treatments on fish, and the recommended dosages must be followed.

Keywords: Clove oil, ice, lidocaine, haematological ratio, Heterobranchus bidorsalis

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