Studies on an ulcerative stomatitis - obstructive rhinitis - pneumonia disease complex in hatching and juvenile sea turtles Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta

Abstract

Three bacterial diseases (ulcerative stomatltls, obstructlve rhinitis and pneumonia) and associated complexes were together responsible for mortal~ty rates of up to 70 U/o In farmed and oceananum-reared turtles (Chelonia mydasand Caretta caretta) Hatchlings 5 to 12 wk old and juven~les 3 to 6 mo old were particularly susceptible to ulcerative stomatitls and bronchopneumonla respectively (58.6 and 58.3 % of the cases diagnosed). Obstructive rh~nitis was secondary to ulcerative stomatltis, being present in 70 0/0 of hatchlings with mouth rot or 'canker' Focal pneumonia occurred more frequently in juveniles (81.8 'Yo or 9/11 affected). The 5 disease complexes observed (ulceratwe stomatitis bronchopneumonia; ulcerative stomatitisobstructive rhinltls, ulcerative stomatltisobstructlve rhinitisbronchopneumonia; obstructive rhinitisbronchopneumonia; and ulcerative stomatitisfocal pneumonia) were equally distributed amongst hatchlings and juveniles. It was not posslble to compare the relatlve susceptibility of green turtles and loggerheads, because of the small number of loggerheads lnvolved ( 3 ) . The percentage of farmed and oceanarium-reared turtles showlng one or more of these d ~s e a s e s was similar 165 YO (65/100) and 66.6 ' !h (10/15) respectively]. The clinlco-pathological features of the major diseases arc described. Three bacteria (Vjhrio alginolyticus, Aeromonas hydrophila and Flavobacterium sp.) were repeatedly isolated from cases of ulcerative stomatitls and obstructive rhinitis. In addition to the above organisms 4 genera of fungi (Paecilomyces sp., Pen~cill~urn s p , Aspergillus sp. and Fusarium sp.) were recovered from caseous material lodged ~n s i d e the trachea and bronchi of turtles with bronchopneumonia. A therapeutic regime was tested on 42 hatchlings, 7 to 8 wk old, using antibiotics and a topical disinfectant. The survival rate of individually-reared hatchlings (71.5 %) was significantly higher than the control group (28.6 "/o, p 0.01) but not significantly higher than their group-reared counterparts (57.2 ' %, p < 0.05).