How Probiotics can reduce pollution - Aquaculture

A fish pond is a simple ecosystem and within the ponds there are billions of microorganisms which play an important part in maintaining the ecological balance, however when the pollution exceeds its capacity for self-purification, ammonium, nitrite and other pollutants accumulate in the pond, damaging the health of fish and shrimps.

High concentrations of ammonium can damage the gill epithelial cells and weaken the immune systems of fish resulting is disease and lesser survival rate.
High concentrations of nitrite can be poisonous because it increases the level of methemoglobin in the blood, resulting in tissue hypoxia, nervous palsy and death. Changing water, dredging, addition of lime and algaecides are common techniques to remove nitrogen compounds and other pollutants. However, these techniques are expensive to implement and may cause secondary pollution, adding to the disadvantages.

The addition of microorganisms to aquaculture systems like ponds has recently become a successful practice for reducing nitrogen pollution and improving water quality. Nitrogen cycling in aquaculture systems is mainly accomplished by ammonifying bacteria, nitrifying bacteria, and denitrifying bacteria. Many microorganisms, including photosynthetic bacteria, nitrifying bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, and some species of Bacillus are being used for commercial Aquaculture.