Advances, challenges, and directions in shrimp disease control: the guidelines from an ecological perspective

High-density aquaculture has led to increasing occurrences of diseases in shrimp. Thus, it is imperative to establish effective and quantitative strategies for preventing and predicting these diseases. Water quality indices and investigations of specific pathogen abundance provide only a qualitative evaluation of the risk of shrimp disease and can be inaccurate. To address these shortcomings, we introduced intestinal indicative assemblages as independent variables with which to quantitatively predict incidences of shrimp disease. Given the ignorance regarding the niches differences in the shrimp intestine throughout its developmental stages, the use of probiotics in aquaculture has had limited success. Therefore, we propose the exploration of effective probiotic bacteria from shrimp intestinal flora and the establishment of therapeutic strategies dependent on shrimp age. Following ecological selection principles, we hypothesize that the larval stage provides the best opportunity to establish a desired gut microbiota through preemptive colonization of the treated rearing water with known probiotics. To employ this strategy, however, substantial barriers must be overcome.