Professor Kim Tae-ho's team at Chonnam National University said, "Aquaculture farm water quality and disease management must be managed simultaneously."

Professor Kim Tae-ho's team at Chonnam National University said, "Aquaculture farm water quality and disease management must be managed simultaneously."

(Gwangju, Jeollanam-do = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang A-reum = A research team at Chonnam National University discovered that even if fish farm water is treated cleanly, some pathogens can increase, and also identified the cause.

According to Chonnam National University on the 28th, Professor Kim Tae-ho's research team in the Department of Marine Production Management analyzed the relationship between changes in water quality and increases or decreases in pathogens by combining long-term monitoring data from the Jeju flounder farm and experimental data from the AX Aqua Farm Research Institute's smart aquaculture test bed.

Existing flow-through fish farms continuously supply external seawater and discharge used water, which has limitations in blocking external pathogens or managing pathogens in the breeding water.

The research team filtered about 70% of the used water and reused it by going through ultraviolet sterilization, carbon dioxide removal, and oxygen supply.

Compared to the existing fish farm system, dissolved carbon dioxide in the water was reduced by up to 53.4% ​​and turbidity was reduced by an average of 54.3%. Some pathogens, such as Vibrio and K. quinoa, also decreased, but some other pathogens increased.

The research team viewed this as a ‘paradox of water treatment’ and deduced the cause based on artificial intelligence (AI).

Analysis results showed that changes in the amount of nitrate and nitrite, carbon dioxide concentration, and acidity (pH) in the water during the water treatment process influenced the increase of some pathogens.

Through this, it was suggested that integrated water quality management is needed to not only remove carbon dioxide when purifying water quality in fish farms, but also manage nitrogen components such as nitrate and nitrite.

Professor Kim said, "Just making the water clean cannot sufficiently manage the risks of all pathogens," and added, "By combining AI, real-time water quality sensors, and digital technology, we will develop smart aquaculture technology that predicts pathogen risks in advance and performs water treatment and disease management at the same time."

The research results were published online on the 21st in 'Environmental Technology & Innovation', an international academic journal in the field of environmental technology.