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Background of the study

Chanos Chanos or commonly known as milkfish. It is known in the Philippines as bangus or bangos , where it is the national fish. It is the sole living species that belongs to the family Chanidae in the Order Gonorynchiformes. It has a generally symmetrical and streamlined appearance, with a sizable forked caudal fin. They can grow to 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) but are most often about 1 m (39 in) in length. They have no teeth and generally feed on algae and invertebrates. It is widely distributed in the Indo pacific region and abundantly collected in the South and Southeast Asian, and west pacific regions. The young fry live at sea for two to three weeks and then migrate to mangrove swamps, estuaries, and sometimes lakes, and return to sea to mature sexually and reproduce. it is an innately sturdy fish, being able to adapt and thrive even in the confined, unnatural environment of the fishpond. Milk fish acquaculture first ocurrs in the Philippines and spread in Indonesia and Taiwan. Aquaculture is concerned with such inputs as seeds, land, water, fertilizers, chemicals and feeds. Milk fish is considered as the most important cultured fish in the Philippines (BFAR 2005). It is reared in ponds, pens and cages and they grow well in fresh water and brackish

waters. Trichodina sp., Capillaria sp. and Cryptobiasp. Are the common parasites that are found in the skin of the milkfish.

Conceptual literature

Milk fish is a warm water species and prefers water temperatures between 2033C. Milk fish is an herbivores and eats diatoms, blue, green algae, and occasionally some animals such as nematodes and copepods. Wild adult milkfish feed mainly on zooplankton, larval and juvenile clupeiods with one or two dominant food types in one gut,.They feed througout the year either at the surface or on the both pond. Embryonic development follows the usual course of teleost eggs . Incubation periods until hatching vary from 20 to 25 hours after fertilization at 26 to 32C and 29 to 34 ppt salinity.Young milkfish migrate from the seas to the coastal areas and may arc end estuaries, rivers and lakes before migrating back to the sea at the maturity benthopelgic, catadromus , fresh H20. With Depth range 10-13m. Adult milkfish occur in small to large school near the coastals or around islands where reefs are well developed. Eggs and larvae are pelagic up to 2-3 weeks . older larvae migrate on shore and settle in coastal wetlands during the juvenile stage or occasionally enter fresh water lakes.juvenile and sub adults return to sea where they mature sexually. Larvae are collected from rivers and are

grown in culture ponds into juveniles which are marketed fish. maturation is reached rather week season (april-july and September-october). Fertilization in external, the eggs reign released in the open sea near the shore do float to the surface. As many as 7 million eggs have been estimated to produce by a single large female. As in other fish species, the spawning cycle of milkfish is seasonal and varies in different localities.

Related studies . Cruz- Lacierda et al. (2004) reported that infestations by the parasitic dinoflagellate Amyloodinium ocellatum in hatchery-reared milkfish caused 100% mortality in the Philippines. The same authors additionally described how A. ocellatum causes local erosion of fish skin and degeneration of epithelial cells at the sites of attachment of the parasite onto the body surface. High infestations of this parasite on fish may contribute to severe alterations of fish gills, disruption of the hosts skin, and feeding of the parasites on epithelial cells of the host.