- Hello Jeff - It seems that every die-off contains the
same statements i.e.
-
- 1. the die-off cause is suggested to be common bacteria
combined with cooler weather earlier this spring.
-
- 2. there's no threat to humans and other fish caught
in the lake are safe to eat.
-
- It almost seems like a carbon copy statement used for
each major die off.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- From: ProMED-mail Source: The State.com [edited]
-
- Fishermen Worry Disease May Spread
-
- Some fishermen wonder whether whatever is killing off
the common carp in Lake Moultrie could spread to the lake's popular bass
and catfish.
-
- There have been about 50 000 dead carp found during the
past weeks along the lake and the Santee River below the Rediversion Canal.
State Natural Resources Department biologist Scott Lamprecht says that
could be about half the carp population of the Santee Cooper lakes system.
-
- "I've never seen anything of this magnitude,"
Lamprecht said. "It is by far the biggest single-species disease kill
I've ever seen."
-
- Officials don't yet know the cause. Biologists suspect
common bacteria combined with cooler weather earlier this spring.
-
- Lamprecht says there's no threat to humans and other
fish caught in the lake are safe to eat.
-
- "It's not a water quality issue that we are aware
of," Santee Cooper spokesman Willard Strong said.
-
- Lamprecht advised people not to swim near floating fish
carcasses.
-
- The carp is not a favorite with fishermen and wildlife
leaders. A statement about the fish kill from the Natural Resources Department
on Tuesday said that the "removal of carp from our state waters can
actually be viewed as a positive thing, since they compete directly with
popular game fish in the organisms they eat and [by the] physical destruction
of gamefish nests."
-
- The agency said other states have spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars in carp removal programs.
-
- Some fishermen wonder if another species is next. "If
it's the carp now, which is a pretty tough old fish, is it going to go
from there to the catfish, to the bass?" said Ron Neal, one of the
lakes' few carp fishermen.
-
- Lamprecht says no other fish species have been stricken
by the disease since the carp began dying about 3 weeks ago.
-
- "The conditions apparently were just right for this
to jump on this particular species. I don't want to jump up and down, but
it's probably a good thing for the system," he said.
-
- Biologists think the fish kill is from one of two bacteria,
_Columnaris_ or _Aeromonas_. Preliminary tests have pointed to _Columnaris_.
The state wildlife agency expects to have test results for bacteria within
a few days.
-
- The scene on the lakes is a strange one. "You just
see white specks sitting out there. You pull up beside them, and it's carp
lying dead," Neal said.
-
- "They're floating wherever the wind blows them,"
said Kevin Davis of Black's Fish Camp, who counted more than 100 during
a circuit of Lake Moultrie this week.
-
- Lamprecht said vultures, turtles, and alligators will
eventually clean up the mess. Don't mourn for the carp, though. Lamprecht
says the hearty fish will survive and thrive again.
-
- "In three years," he says, "we'll probably
be back at the same population."
-
- http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/8760176.htm
-- ProMED-mail
-
- Until the test results are back, it is tough to know
what is killing the carp. However, other areas of the world have had varieties
of carp die from herpesvirus. If it is a carp herpesvirus, that could explain
why other fish have not [yet] been affected.
-
- Although this article does not give many details as to
the appearance of the fish, this could be an outbreak of Spring viremia
of carp. - Mod.TG
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health
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