Sweetwater Fishing Forums
General Category => News Views & Press Releases => Topic started by: Editor on July 30, 2012, 11:13:53 PM
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Media release: Investigation continues into sick redfin in Lake Hume
26 Jul 12 - VIC Fisheries
Further tests are being carried out to determine the cause of sick redfin perch found in Lake Hume over the past few months.
The Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has been working with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to investigate the cause of red marks or shallow lesions appearing on some fish caught in the lake.
Initial frozen samples submitted to the NSW veterinary laboratory suggested a general non-infectious dermatitis condition may have been responsible.
Fisheries Victoria Director of Fisheries Management Travis Dowling said samples had also been sent to CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong to investigate whether a virus could have been responsible for the sick fish.
Mr Dowling said so far the CSIRO tests had suggested that bacterial or fungal diseases were not responsible.
“The CSIRO tests carried out to date have been quite extensive and appear to have eliminated bacterial or fungal causes,” Mr Dowling said.
“However this investigation will continue for another two to three weeks to make sure that there is no slow growing virus present that wasn’t identified in the tests carried out so far.”
Mr Dowling said water quality testing conducted by the EPA did not provide any reason to believe the lesions were caused by poor water quality in Lake Hume.
“No new reports of sick fish have been made to Fisheries Victoria and anecdotal reports from recreational fishers suggest very few fish with lesions have been caught in the last few weeks,” he said.
“While it is possible that the problem is now resolving, DPI will continue to investigate the potential cause and hopes to fully eliminate bacteria or fungi as the cause once the CSIRO testing is complete.”