Lab tests inconclusive, officials will try again, says MNR
Jul 10, 2007 - 02:31 PM
By Chris Hall
SCUGOG -- It appears the carp caper that has left officials and residents scratching their heads over the sudden and surprising death of thousands of fish in Lake Scugog, will remain a mystery for at least another month.
While government agencies had hoped to provide some answers by early July to the puzzling question of why so many fish, mostly carp, have been found belly-up in recent weeks on the waters of Lake Scugog, preliminary results from tests recently completed at a Guelph area lab have come back inconclusive.
Those tests, explains Dan Taillon, have "not identified clearly the cause for the carp kill."
There wasn't "anything abnormal" about the Scugog fish samples that were submitted for testing, adds Mr. Taillon, an area biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources' (MNR) Peterborough district.
Tests carried out at the lab were conducted at a certain temperature, however there were no signs of bacteria growth as a result, he says. Those same tests will now be run again, but at a different temperature. Once again, it is expected results will take between 21 and 42 days to become clear.
"We're not exactly sure what is occurring now. We're going to keep testing and trying to find out what is going on," says Mr. Taillon. "We're going to keep sending fish (to the lab) until we find out why they're dying."
Large numbers of dead fish began showing up in Lake Scugog and along the shoreline in late May and early June, causing a ruckus of sorts in the community as different levels of government argued over who was responsible for any clean-up, while the carcasses began to rot and smell. Eventually, the municipality and Region teamed up and offered a special garbage pickup for the dead fish.
Since the dead fish were first noticed here in Lake Scugog, other area lakes have begun to exhibit the same problem. Fish carcasses have started to wash up places such as Cameron, Pigeon, Balsam and Sturgeon -- the latter of which tests have shown has an infection of the columnaris bacteria.
While not found in the Lake Scugog samples, the columnaris bacteria -- which attacks fish mainly when they're stressed out due to spawning or warm-water conditions -- has been identified as a cause in the death of fish in Sturgeon Lake, says Mr. Taillon.
"We're not saying (the columnaris bacteria) is responsible for all the deaths, but it has been associated with fish deaths in the past," he says.
Columnaris bacteria, continues Mr. Taillon, is a common bacteria found in fish across the globe, poses no health risk to humans (although officials still urge people to wear rubber gloves), and gives fish a greyish-white or orange-yellow colour. That, says Mr. Taillon, could explain the white markings found on some of the Scugog fish.
With no concrete explanation yet for the dead fish found in Lake Scugog, and with more answers sought for other area lakes, officials will look to tap into other resources, such as federal laboratories, in an effort to solve the carp caper, adds Mr. Taillon.
Recommend :