Confirmation that pulse and continuous peracetic acid administration does not disrupt the acute stress response in rainbow trout

Peracetic acid (PAA) is considered an eco-friendly alternative to other antimicrobial agents of common use in aquaculture. The literature suggests that fish can habituate to PAA exposure based on a reduction of the fish corticosteroid response to PAA administration after repeated exposures. If that is true, PAA would also be a good option from the point of view of fish physiology. However, stronger evidence is needed to confirm that the use of PAA is welfare-friendly to fish. Besides habituation, other hypothetical factors such as desensitization, physiological exhaustion or PAA-mediated endocrine disruption could potentially explain the reduction in the corticosteroid response after repeated/prolonged PAA exposure. In this study, rainbow trout that had been exposed to PAA for several weeks were challenged with a secondary chasing stressor: fish were pursued with a dipnet for 1 min and their acute response was evaluated by measuring plasma cortisol, plasma glucose, plasma lactate and brain serotonergic activity. All fish were equally able to mount a normal physiological stress response to the secondary stressor independent of previous exposure to PAA. This suggests that the decrease in the cortisol response after repeated exposure to PAA, as seen in previous studies, is a true habituation to PAA administration, which supports the use of PAA as a welfare-friendly antimicrobial agent in aquaculture.