Chemical Composition of Water from Tiger Shrimp Penaeus monodon Culture Ponds at Malacca, Malaysia

The present study analyzed chemical characteristics of pond and pore water of Penaeus monodon culture pondsin Malacca, Malaysia for one production cycle. Major cation concentrations (Ca, Na, K & Mg) both in pond and pore water were found to decrease with the increases of culture duration. The increase was however, recorded when pond water was exchanged with the water from reservoir. Similar types of observation was found for few trace elements i.e., Al, Fe, Cu, Pb, V, Zn, Ti, Sb, As and Ni. Water element concentrations were found higher in new ponds than aged ponds. Almost all elements concentrations in pore water were found higher in the new ponds than old ponds. This study suggests that decreases of cation concentrations over culture time may probably be due to accumulation of biotic components or deposition onto the pond bottom together with suspended particles. (C) 2012 Friends Science Publishers