Acid-base and respiratory effects of confinement in Atlantic salmon affected with amoebic gill disease

Amoebic gill disease (AGD) in cultured salmonids causes severe multifocal hyperplastic lesions in the gills with the potential to influence respiratory and acid–base physiology. Atlantic salmon Salmo salar affected with AGD were surgically implanted with dorsal aortic catheters and, following recovery, were confined for 5 min (n = 16) or left undisturbed (n = 8). Confinement caused an acute extracellular acidosis that was corrected in 6 h amongst surviving fish. There was a gradual increase in plasma lactate concentrations that peaked at 1 h post‐confinement then declined by 9 h recovery. In a second experiment, AGD‐affected fish were confined then recovered either in a tank of static water (n = 9) or while being forced to swim at 1·5 body lengths s−1 (n = 6). There was no significant difference between fish recovered by swimming and those in static water in terms of recovery of the acute extracellular acidosis and lactate accumulations coincident with exhaustive exercise. Confinement severely compromised the survival of AGD‐affected Atlantic salmon, although survivors appeared to recover similarly to other studies. Forced swimming of AGD‐affected Atlantic salmon following confinement did not facilitate recovery and is unlikely to be a useful strategy for mitigating the effects of stressful episodes such as crowding and fish movement and commercial handling.