AQUI-S®

The AQUI-S® Calculator App has been designed to help you calculate the volume of AQUI-S® required for your tank environment. AQUI-S volumes calculated in this app should be used as a guide only, with visual observations of the fish’s stage of sedation still being your best tool when assessing fish welfare and sedation success. The app can also be used to calculate your tank volume (both rectangular and circular tanks) and can be used to access technical notes or contact a local distributor.

At AQUI-S New Zealand Ltd. our mission is to provide cost effective products and services that enhance the quality and value of fish products from the aquaculture and fishing industries. We promote respect for the animal, especially around humane handling and harvesting practices. The aim of our products is to minimise fish stress commonly associated with routine fish husbandry and handling practices throughout the aquaculture production cycle including broodstock, health, transport and harvesting events.

Anaesthetics are used to aid in the handling of fish during daily practices such as broodstock stripping, weight checks, pathological analyses, crowding events, treatment baths, vaccinations and fish transport and harvest. Sedating fish during these stressful events is recommended best practise and it has been shown to not only improve fish welfare but have performance benefits. Sedating fish reduces post-treatment injury and mortality rates commonly associated with some treatment handling practises. It also decreases the time taken for fish to return to pre-treatment behaviour which could affect feeding and growth.

Stress in aquaculture is a regular, undesirable aspect of production. The term ‘stress’ was originally defined by Seyle (1950) as “the sum of the physiological responses by which an animal tries to maintain or re-establish a normal metabolism in the face of a physical or chemical force.” More specifically, stress in fish results from biological and/or non-biological challenges that act in changing or modifying the animal’s normal state. Common aquaculture stressors involve alterations in the fish’s immediate environment such as chemical changes i.e. contaminants, low oxygen or acidification, physical changes i.e. handling, capture, confinement and vaccination as well as perceived threats including frightening or predators.

The choice of anaesthetic for specific operations depends on a multitude of factors. For aquatic animals, the most widely used anaesthetics are those that are water soluble. These types of anaesthetics are typically dispersed in the water column and taken up by the gills of the fish into the arterial blood stream. Once in the blood, the anaesthetic agent travels a short distance to the central nervous system (CNS) where it depresses nerve axons and the animal’s perception of pain and stress. If the fish do not perceive pain or stress they do not respond with a primary stress response and in doing so, reduce the release of cortisol into the blood stream and consequential problems associated with the secondary and tertiary stress responses.

AQUI-S® products have the active ingredients, isoeugenol or eugenol, and in some markets are the only approved aquatic anaesthetic with a zero-withdrawal period. This means for the most part, AQUI-S® products can effectively be used during all aquaculture operations. AQUI-S® products are manufactured with food grade materials to the Veterinary Medicine Good Manufacturing Practise (GMP) standard. AQUI-S® products have a large safety margin, providing greater control over the level of anaesthesia, a critical point when sedating fish for long transport durations. AQUI-S® products are safe for the operator and the environment. In fish, the tissue residue levels fall to undetectable levels within approximately 12-24 hrs.