Effects of different water quality regulators on growth performance, immunologic function, and domestic water quality of GIFT tilapia

Water quality regulation is widely recognized as a highly effective strategy for disease prevention in the field of aquaculture, and it holds significant potential for the development of sustainable aquaculture. Herein, four water quality regulators, including potassium monopersulfate (KMPS), tetrakis hydroxymethyl phosphonium sulfate (THPS), bacillus subtilis (BS), and chitosan (CS), were added to the culture water of Oreochromis niloticus (GIFT tilapia) every seven days. Subsequently, the effects of these four water quality regulators on GIFT tilapia were comprehensively evaluated by measuring the water quality index of daily growth-related performance and immune indexes of GIFT tilapia. The findings indicated that implementing the four water quality regulators resulted in a decrease in the content of ammonia nitrogen, active phosphate, nitrite, total organic carbon (TOC), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the water. Additionally, these regulators were found to maintain dissolved oxygen (DO) levels and pH of the water effectively. Furthermore, using these regulators demonstrated positive effects on various physiological parameters of GIFT tilapia, including improvements in final body weight, weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), condition factor (CF), feed conversion ratio (FCR), spleen index (SI), hepato-somatic index (HSI), immune cell count, the activity of antioxidant-related enzymes (Nitric oxide, NO and Superoxide dismutase, SOD), and mRNA expression levels of immunity-related factors (Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, TNF-α and Interleukin-1 beta, IL-1β) in the liver and spleen. Notably, the most significant improvements were observed in the groups treated with the BS and CS water quality regulators. Moreover, BS and CS groups exhibited significantly higher serum levels of albumin (ALB) and total protein (TP) (P < 0.05), whereas the other indicators showed no significant difference (P > 0.05) compared to the control group. However, the KMPS and THPS groups of GIFT tilapia exhibited significantly higher serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), creatinine (CRE) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (P < 0.05), whereas they exhibited significantly decreased HSI (P < 0.05). In addition, the partially pathological observations revealed the presence of cell vacuolation, nuclear shrinkage, and pyknosis within the liver. In conclusion, these four water quality regulators, mainly BS and CS, could improve the growth performance and immunity of GIFT tilapia to varying degrees by regulating the water quality and then further increasing the expression levels of immune-related factors or the activity of antioxidant-related enzymes of GIFT tilapia. On the contrary, the prolonged use of KMPS and THPS may gradually diminish their growth-enhancing properties and potentially hinder the growth of GIFT tilapia.