Screening of sturgeon farm wastewater bacteria for microbial treatment of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate of wastewater on a laboratory scale

Subject Areas : Environmental Microbiology

Mehran Avakh Keysami ¹ , مسعود ستاری ² , Hojatullah Zamani ³ , mohsen Pourasadi ⁴

1 - MirzakochekKhan Higher Education Unit, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Rasht, Gilan, IranAquatics and Fisheries Research and education Department, ,Associated Professor
2 -
3 - Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
4 - Mirzakochek fisheries sciences Education Unit , Technical and Vocational Higher Education Institute of Jihad-Agriculture, Guilan Agricultural and Natural Resources and Education Center, AREEO, Rasht, IRI .

Received: 2025-07-09 Accepted : 2025-09-01 Published : 2025-09-11

Keywords: Screening, Wastewater, Bacterial Flora, Huso huso.,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: This study was conducted to screen the bacterial flora of sturgeon aquaculture wastewater for the purpose of treating ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in wastewater.

Materials and Methods: Antibacterial activity tests were performed using three methods: well diffusion, disc and cross-streak method. Antibacterial activity was also investigated under the influence of different pH, salinity, temperature and time. A mixture of dominant bacteria isolated in nutrient broth medium was prepared and then their purification performance was evaluated by small-scale experiments (inside a laboratory Erlenmeyer flask) and then inside small aquariums under aerated and non-aerated conditions at times 0, 6, 12, 15 and 24 hours.

Results: The results showed that four wastewater isolated bacteria (Bacillus licheniformis, Corynebacterium ammoniagenes, Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradskyi) have antagonistic activity against fish pathogens. The candidate species showed significant inhibitory effect against the pathogen in the disk diffusion method with a 20 mm inhibition zone diameter. Adding 10 ml of the candidate species to Aeromonas minimized its population in 12 hours. Optimal growth and production of antibacterial compounds were observed at pH 8 and temperatures of 37 and 30 degrees Celsius. The results of treatment of different concentrations of ammonia nitrite and nitrate in Erlenmeyer and aquarium water with different concentrations of the candidate species for 24 hours showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the water quality of the treatment groups and the control.

Conclusion: Accordingly, the candidate species obtained can be used in the treatment of wastewater from sturgeon farms.

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