Diagnostic and pathological studies of epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) outbreak in cultured leucistic Channa argus in Sichuan Province of China

In order to determine the causes of the frequent occurrence of diseases in leucistic northern snakehead (Channa argus) in Sichuan Province of China during the cloudy, rainy autumn and winter, we carried out the reseach by techniques such as clinical observation, isolation and culture, as well as histology and molecular biology, etc.. Generally, the pathological study shows that the main manifestations of the diseased fish were skin peeling, exposing the subcutaneous muscle layer, and the deep ulcer of the muscle. Moreover, non-septate branching fungal hyphae with a diameter of 10–20 µm were observed in squash preparations under light microscopy. The pathogen was identified as invasive Aphanomyces invadans by isolation and purification and ITS sequence analysis. Histopathology reveals that the ulcer edge in the skin dermis and muscle was surrounded by mature granuloma. These granulomas could invade the normal muscles observed by naked eye and caused a further impact on the diseased fish. The findings indicate that the disease was Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), which is the first report of EUS in leucistic C. argus, providing the basic data for the identification and clinical diagnosis of A. invadans. The findings also suggest that a risk of host expansion of this fungus may exist.