Fish disease detected at Welsh trout farm – Fishupdate.com

Fish disease detected at Welsh trout farm Published:  19 June, 2006

TROUT at a commercial farm in Wales have tested positive for bacterial kidney disease (BKD), according to the BBC.

Routine testing reportedly revealed the disease, which poses no risk to humans but can cause large numbers of fish deaths, at a fish farm in Ceredigion.

The assembly government said the farm is the only site in Wales to be hit. Investigations are continuing, and all movement of fish to and from the farm has been stopped.

The assembly government issued a statement on Friday confirming it was a commercial farm which had been hit.

The disease is not weather dependant, although the majority of outbreaks in Europe tend to occur in the spring and summer.

Measures have been put in place to prevent the disease spreading, and the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) is working with the owner to eradicate the disease.

Farms that have received fish from the affected farm have been contacted, and advised to contact the FHI if they notice unusual numbers of fish deaths.

In a newspaper notice, the assembly government said the disease had been found in a trout sample during routine fish health-monitoring.

It said BKD was first discovered in Atlantic salmon on the River Dee in Scotland in the 1930s, and in 1976, the first notable case occurred in farmed rainbow trout.

The notice said that while the disease is considered serious, it is not widespread in the UK.

It said infected fish may display protruding eyes, a swollen abdomen, pale anaemic gills and haemorrhaging at the base of the gills.

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