Thousands of dead fish wash up on Kansas lake shores
Over the past month, thousands of bloody and wounded dead fish have washed up on the shores of three lakes within an hour’s drive of each other in northeastern Kansas. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism has been investigating the situation and sent tissue samples to a lab to determine the cause.
“It’s been going on for so long we don’t have an accurate count,” said Doug Nygren, Fisheries Division Director for KDWPT. “The most likely suspect is the Koi Herpesvirus.”
The most dead fish have been found at Pomona Lake, outside of Vassar, Kansas, but Clinton Lake and the Hillsdale Reservoir have also been impacted. Since fish of all sizes are dying, and since only common carp are affected, KDWPT has ruled out the possibility that the die-offs are due to oxygen depletion or environmental causes.
The lab will take 2-3 weeks to test the samples before KDWPT will know whether the disease is responsible.
“There are some other diseases that they’re going to be checking for and there’s a possibility that that it may come back inconclusive and they may not have an answer for us at all,” Nygren said.
Koi Herpesvirus affects fish with an 80-100% mortality rate in warm water temperatures and causes bleeding gills, sunken eyes and lesions on the skin. It affects common carp because they are similar species. Currently, there is no treatment for the disease.
Nygren said it is unlikely that KDWPT will be able to discover how the disease made its way into the Kansas lakes.
The Koi Herpesvirus does not affect other fish species or humans directly, but people should still steer clear of the dead fish, a KDWPT spokesperson said.
“It’s always best to steer clear of any kind of an animal that’s in decay but the herpes virus itself is not going to be a problem for humans,” Nygren said. “The smell, of course, is also not good when you have a bunch of carp on the shoreline and you’re trying to camp nearby.”
Fish die-offs should be reported to KDWPT.
“We really appreciate when people call and let us know that there’s an event going on,” Nygren said. “Be patient with us and when we get the results, if we have one way or the other whether they’re conclusive or not we’ll report back.”
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 1:42 PM.
