The effect of formic acid on growth performance, blood and immune parameters of goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Formic acid is simplest member of carboxylic acid family. The effects of formic acid on growth, blood indices, and immune parameters of goldfish fry were examined over 60 days. The goldfish fries (mean weight of 5.10±0.15g) were randomly allocated to four experimental treatments with three replications (25 pieces in each replication) including control treatment (no formic acid) and three treatments which received formic acid (10, 20, 30 gr/ kilogram diet). The results indicated that growth indices (final weight, weight gain, specific growth rate, condition factor, and FCR) were significantly different between the control and experimental treatments. The final weight, weight gain, specific growth rate, and status index in the formic acid treatments had a significant increase compared to the control group. In addition, adding formic acid to goldfish fry food ration improved blood factors and immunity in the fish. The results of study showed that inclusion of folic acid resulted an increase in hematocrit, hemoglobin, number of red blood cells, number of white blood cells, lysozyme, immunoglobin, and total immunoglobin compared to the control group. In general, adding folic acid to the food of goldfish fry improved growth parameters along with blood and immune parameters. According to obtained results, a diet containing 10 g/kg diet proposed to enhance growth performance and immunity of goldfish.