Researchers Say Something In The Waters May Be Killing Fish

EAST HAMPTON, CONN. (AP) — Studies by a University of Connecticut biologist working with state and federal fisheries officers are indicating that something lurking in the waters of Lake Pocotopaug is killing thousands of fish.

“There’s no virus or bacteria or anything fungal that’s causing this,” said Bill Hyatt, supervisor of the Department of Environmental Protection’s inland fisheries division. “There’s no pathogen.”

Conclusions by UConn pathobiologist Richard French increase the chances that fish are dying because of something in the water, Hyatt said.

Mr French and his team, along with officers from the state DEP and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have been trying for more than two weeks to determine the cause of a sudden and unprecedented fish kill in this popular eastern Connecticut lake.

They believe something is affecting the gills of all types and sizes of fish, causing them to die by the thousands. Mr French and his team still have to look at slides of internal organs of the fish, and plan to view gill tissue under an electron microscope.

“Hopefully, they’ll see something that is doing damage to the fine gill tissue,” Mr Hyatt said. Thus far, Mr Hyatt said, French’s test results and conclusions coincide with those reached by the state Department of Environmental Protection lab.

The most recent tests taken from fish in the 510-acre lake shows that the fish are suffering from damage and excessive mucus in the gills. As a result, the fish, in effect, may be suffocating.

Hyatt said investigators have not yet found any obvious environmental contamination in the water, but will continue looking.

Researchers are also searching for microscopic plants and animals that could be attacking the fish or producing chemicals that are toxic to the fish.

“We’ll be looking for clues within the organ tissue,” Mr Hyatt said. “And we’ll be looking at species of alga that are not easily observed.”

Since recent tests have shown that fish placed in samples of the lake’s water continue to survive, there is a possibility that the fish may have been previously contaminated, but are only now beginning to show the symptoms, Mr Hyatt said.

“But the gut feeling is that there is still something out there,” Mr Hyatt said. “We saw fish dying as recently as last week.”