MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Jeff Starck – “Thousands of black crappies on Lake DuBay and the Stevens Point Flowage are dead of a virus and wildlife officials are trying to figure out why the disease is affecting just one species.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologists and fisheries technicians learned of the fish kill April 25 and determined that the cause appears to be a virus primarily affecting 3-year-old black crappies.

‘(If it was a widespread problem) other fish would be dying,’ DNR fisheries biologist Tom Meronek said. ‘This is just limited to crappies. We’ve seen cases on other bodies of water (in Wisconsin). This might be a similar virus.’

The symptoms are not consistent with viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, a virus that has sickened or killed large numbers of fish in the Great Lakes, according to the DNR. Wisconsin has mandated in recent years that all water must be drained from boats to prevent the spread of VHS and other viruses and diseases.”  Read more.