ABSTRACT

 A study was done on the prevalence of parasites of fish from thrcc locations namely Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) Farm, Isigatc Markct and Pat Farms all in Umualia North Local Government Arca, /Abia Stu le. A lotul or 110 fish were examined for both cctoparasitcs and cndoparasitcs using floatation method and microscopy. Out of these 61 (55.45%) were infected. Six parasites were recovered. These were /chthyphthirius multifilis, Tetrahymena spp, Argulus spp, Piscinoodinium spp, Clinostomum spp and Dactylogyrus spp. Different sizes of fish ranging from I4-27cm in length and 40-630g in weight were examined. Infection was highest among fish from Isi-gate (64.15%). The least infected was fish from MOUAU fish pond (46.67%). The parasites recovered belong to 4 parasitic groups namely ciliates (30.0%), crustaceans (6.36%), dinoflagellates (10.0%) and trematodes (9.09%). Sex related infection showed that more females (76.20%) were infected. Synodontis budgeti recorded the highest rate of infection (73.33%). More ectoparasites (30.0%) than endoparasites (25.45%) were recovered. Ectoparasites were recovered from the body, gills and mouth while the endoparasites were recovered from the intestine. Among the parasites Tctrahymena spp was the most abundant (39.34%).