Just out from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources:

               Preliminary laboratory results from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service analysis of crappie from Stonewall Jackson Lake indicate that the recent fish kill is the result of a heavy columnaris infection found in the fish, according to Bret Preston, Assistant Chief of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Section.

             “While we are awaiting final reports from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Fish Health Center in Lamar, Pa., initial findings suggest that the fish died from a bacterial infection,” said Preston.

            Columnaris bacteria are commonly found in water and generally do not cause problems in fish. Fish health can be affected by a number of environmental conditions. Individually, these conditions usually do not pose problems for fish, but a combination of conditions may cause enough stress to allow a disease to spread rapidly through a population. 

             DNR fisheries management staff are cooperating with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review water quality data to determine if conditions such as water temperature or dissolved oxygen could be associated with the fish kill involving more than 1,000 fish, mostly crappie.

             “Columnaris outbreaks and fish kills in other areas of the country have been linked to unusually high or rapidly changing water temperatures or low dissolved oxygen levels,” said DNR District 3 Fisheries Biologist Kevin Yokum, who is investigating the fish kill at Stonewall Jackson Lake.  “We are looking at the possibility that high water temperatures and earlier than usual stratification of the lake may have coincided with the spawning period of crappie in the lake. The added stress during spawning may have affected crappie and made them vulnerable to a columnaris infection.”

             The DNR also has sent fish samples to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Leetown Science Center and the Cornell University Veterinary School for additional analyses. The preliminary report from Cornell showed that the crappie did not have viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a disease that has caused fish kills and concern in Great Lake states.  The Cornell sample also did not indicate a heavy presence of columnaris bacteria. This could be related to a smaller sample size and a later sample collection date. The primary reason for the Cornell analysis was to rule out VHS, according to Preston.

             The DNR has consulted with the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health and there is no indication of a human health concern associated with the columnaris infection.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 4, 2010 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Fishing, West Virginia, WV DNR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.