Following on from my post last week about the planned Koi Herpesvirus (KHV) release (https://thefishvet.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/exotic-carp-killer-virus-planned-to-be-released-in-as-little-as-5-years/),
has anyone given a thought about whether this will be any more effective than goldfish herpesvirus that “accidentally” introduced into Australia some 10 years ago? Today, it is clear that it has had no effect on feral goldfish.
Dr Rodman Getchell from Cornell University presented the findings of the 2005 KHV incident at Chautauqua Lake, at this year’s Aquavet II workshop. Imagine your once pristine lake, becoming littered by tonnes of smelly, decaying fish. There was an initial high level of kill and there was a massive clean-up effort undertaken by the local association and by the New York State Dept of Environment and Conservation. Many fish were trucked to a huge trench that had been dug at the local landfill. There was no way of containing the virus and it subsequently spread to other water bodies and to residents’ home ponds, killing these fish as it swept across the state. Today, the wild carp population has rebounded.
