EM was acquired from commercial product. The product was
based on the original formulation developed by Higa and Parr (1994)
known as EM-1. It was inoculated inside an autoclaved 40% (v/v)
molasses which was mixed with dH2O. Activation of the EM-1 was
carried out by incubating the broth inside the incubator (Memmert,
Germany) at 35 ± 1 C. Activation was carried out for 7 days where
microbial activity was assayed through changes in pH and sugar
concentration. According to standard EM inoculation procedure,
activated EM-1 were introduced with 40% (v/v) molasses into the
aquaculture wastewater to ensure sufficient carbon source.