[01] Okafor Ugochukwu Chukwuma, Department of Applied Microbiology and Brewing, Faculty of Biosciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. [02] Ezeanochie Philomena Echezonachukwu, Department of Applied Microbiology and Brewing, Faculty of Biosciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. [03] Obubu Maxwell, Department of Statistics, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.

Selected Fish ponds in Awka Metropolis were analyzed for the presence of microorganisms. The presence of these organisms may be an indication of contamination of the fish pond which may be pathogenic to the fishes and humans as well through the consumption of these fishes. Their presence in fish intended for human consumption may constitute a potential danger thus causing diseases. All the samples were positive for bacterial and fungal growth. The total heterotrophic bacteria counts range from 3.3×103cfu/ml to 4.2×103 cfu/ml, the coliform counts range from 2.6×103cfu/ml to 3.7×103 cfu/ml. These microbial counts were statistically modelled using probability distribution. The bacterial isolates include Staphylococcus aureus (30%), Escheichia coli (40%), Klebsiella spp (10%) and Salmonella spp (10%). The molds are Aspergillus spp (75%) and Mucor spp (25%) while the yeasts are Saccharomyces spp (33.33%) and Candida albicans (66.67%). The result showed that there was no fish pond water sample that was free from bacteria and fungi contamination, an indication that the entire fish pond water samples were contaminated by microorganisms. Also, it was shown in this study that the gamma distribution provided best fit for the microbial count. It can be concluded from this study that there is need to monitor the quality of wastewater from fish ponds before being discharged into the environment since such wastewater harbours potential pathogens.

Microbial Assessment, Fish Ponds, Microorganism, Microbial Count, Probability Distribution

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