MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Tony Moore – “Scientists are investigating whether a virus is the cause of the deaths of thousands of catfish in the Brisbane River.

A major clean-up is happening in Lowood today, west of Ipswich, with Somerset Regional Council staff helping scientists and rangers clean the Brisbane River of thousands of decaying catfish.

Crews began removing dead fish at Twin Bridges, Wivenhoe Pocket and intend to work their way towards Lowood.

Somerset mayor Graeme Lehmann said the dead catfish were still being been found in a stretch of the Brisbane River between Lowood State High School and the Lowood Water Treatment Plant, run by Queensland Urban Utilities.

He said scientists had told him this morning they believed “something natural, perhaps a virus” had triggered the fish kill.

Now the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is checking to see if there have been previous fish kills in the area.

brisbanetimes.com.au understands dead fish were first located last Tuesday, but the issue was only brought to the the council’s attention this week.

A spokeswoman for Seqwater, which monitors water quality, said they had not been notified of any unusual discharges from the water treatment at Lowood to the Brisbane River.

“Seqwater has no knowledge of any issue at Lowood Water Treatment Plant and is co-operating with the state government in any investigations into the fish kill,” she said last night.” Read more.