Spiel

Asian Carp Treatment update December 7, 2009 / www.great-lakes.org After shutting the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to all commercial and recreational traffic at 8 AM, biologists working with the Asian Carp Rapid Response Workgroup began applying Rotenone Wednesday evening, December 2, on a 5.7 mile stretch of the canal. This was after a small flotilla of electroshocking boats worked their way over that 5.7 mile stretch looking for desirable game fish. What they ultimately found was a small sampling of some largemouth bass, which were relocated to the Des Plaines River. It was estimated that less than 3% of the fish that were shocked were game fish; the remaining were shad, common carp, and a few catfish and bullheads. Officials then launched what’s believed to be the largest deliberate fish kill in state history Wednesday night. Crews had earlier dumped 2,200 gallons of the toxin rotenone into the canal. Dozens of boats combed the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal starting in the pre-dawn hours on December 3, ultimately finding a lone Asian carp among tens of thousands of poisoned fish, about 50,000 lbs of dead or dying carcasses. The one Bighead Asian carp was discovered nearly 500' above the Lockport Lock on Thursday afternoon, December 3. Biologists with the workgroup believe there is a high probability that additional Asian carp were killed during the toxicant application but may not be found. It is generally believed Asian Carp respond differently to Rotenone than other fish, dying land sinking to the bottom. If they do surface – in spite of the increasingly colder water, it won’t be till they get bloated and fill with gas. An important question biologists will try to answer is how large a population of Asian carp exists above and below the electric barriers. Researchers collected fish DNA indicating that the invasive carp are present in the canal and have advanced beyond the barriers, but there have been no actual sightings of the carp in those locations. Illinois DNR spokesman Chris McCloud said some of the data collected last week will help biologists figure out the reliability of those DNA samples. "We have to know where they are and how many there are," he said. “The cold water temperatures on the canal this week means far more fish are sinking to the bottom of the waterway than will float to the top. Over the next several weeks and months, some fish may float to the surface but the majority of fish will break down naturally below the surface,” said Illinois DNR Fish Chief Steve Pallo. The workgroup had collected thousands of fish, mostly common carp, from the canal since cleanup efforts began on December 3. The workgroup is now focused on efforts above the electrical barrier system near the O’Brien Lock in an attempt to find Asian carp in areas where positive eDNA tests have been found. Positive Asian carp DNA evidence exists over nearly 10 miles of the Cal-Sag Channel and Sanitary and Ship Canal above the barrier. Maintenance on the electric barrier, IIA, was completed and the barrier was returned to operation at 10 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4. The workgroup has been using commercial fishermen, augmented with state and federal fisheries personnel, to deploy commercial fishing gear in a 5.5-mile stretch of the Cal-Sag Channel. Fishing operations used nearly 2,000 yards of fishing nets deployed for two overnight periods. Nets were deployed over portions of the reach since Dec. 1 and have been highly successful in collecting fish, although no Asian carp have been collected. Spokesmen for the workgroup say while the workgroup considered additional Rotenone application in specific areas above the barrier as a sampling option, there is no evidence to suggest Asian carp might be concentrated in any specific part of the 10-mile stretch of the canal where eDNA tests have been positive. Fishing nets would effectively sample the entire reach and provide the best evidence of the potential presence and abundance of Asian carp in this stretch of channel. It would also confirm the exact location of any fish collected. Any Asian carp collected will be removed from the system, providing a measure of population reduction. “The effort near the O’Brien Lock is fundamentally different from the action below the barrier. The purpose of applying Rotenone below the barrier was to ensure no Asian carp advanced up the channel while the barrier was powered down for scheduled maintenance. In addition, Rotenone would provide little if any information about the presence and abundance of carp in this reach upstream,” said IDNR Assistant Director John Rogner. Rogner added; "We are also looking at bubble curtains, a constant wall of live bubbles we've tested on some fish that repels them. We are also experimenting with steady streams of noise that bothers fish." "We also are studying methods that have been successful in controlling sea lamprey in the Great Lakes, such as capturing and sterilizing fish so they can’t reproduce" he said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers meanwhile, is reviewing all available data and may make a decision soon on closing down one or more of the Locks near Lake Michigan, to prevent potential or additional migration of Asian Carp into the lake. Many issues are being weighed including the impact to commercial barges and the movement of commodities such as raw building materials, coal and petroleum into the area. That decision could be made any day. The Asian Carp Rapid Response Workgroup includes the Illinois DNR, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USEPA, USFWS, US Coast Guard, USDA, and Wisconsin Sea Grant. Many other agencies supplied support and expertise. Fisheries management agencies from all eight Great Lakes States, Ontario and Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Canada provided manpower and support to the operation. More than 350 people contributed to the efforts on the ground during the week’s operation Potential Distribution – Silver Carp Potential Distribution – Bighead Carp These maps were peer reviewed and published in the primary literature (Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences) and use more rigorous scientific methods than those produced in the 2005 Canadian risk assessment. Using the two (2005 risk assessment and these maps from the 2007 paper) provide a good view of the assessment of biological risk of Asian carps. According to DFO, all Canada Rivers are at risk. Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2007

Lake Huron commercials want walleye Decmber 7, 2009 / www.great-lakes.org DETROIT (AP) — One of Michigan’s most successful commercial fishermen is suing the state to try to overcome a decades-old ban on catching walleye in the Great Lakes. Dana Serafin of Pinconning is forced to release thousands of walleye from his nets while catching other fish in Lake Huron. In 2008, he proposed a three-year study of the walleye population that included a provision for him to keep and sell some of his haul. No thanks, replied the state Department of Natural Resources. “They’re the bully in the lake, 2 to 3' long — we have pictures,” said Serafin’s lawyer, Anthony Calamunci. “In Saginaw Bay, there is cannibalization going on. It’s killing perch and whitefish at enormous rates. There’s not enough food.” Calamunci filed a lawsuit in April in federal court in Bay City, claiming the state’s ban on commercial walleye fishing is a constitutional violation that diminishes the value of Serafin’s license. The DNR is asking a judge to dismiss the case. “The restrictions on walleye fishing have been in place for at least 35 years, long before Serafin obtained his first commercial license,” Assistant Attorney General Louis Reinwasser said in a Nov. 13 court filing. Michigan law gives the DNR “complete discretion to limit the amount of fish taken by species and kind,” he wrote. The DNR describes Serafin, 42, as the largest commercial fisherman on Lake Huron, catching 990,000 pounds of whitefish worth approximately $1 million in 2008. His license is “indisputably” valuable, despite the walleye ban, Reinwasser said. A DNR official, James Dexter, suggested that the state does not want to change the policy because that could reduce the walleye population and disappoint recreational anglers. The fish can be found across the Great Lakes region, and Michigan’s neighbors have similar restrictions. “It is estimated that more than 2 million Michigan residents fish for sport in the state’s waters, and thousands more travel from all parts of the world,” Dexter, who oversees fishing regulations, said in an affidavit. “The economic impact is estimated to be $2-4 billion annually.” Calamunci accuses the DNR of treating walleye like a “sacred species.” He said Serafin at a minimum would like to keep some walleye as well as tag others and return them to the lake. “And then over a three-year period we could test the impact on other species. There’s a science to this,” the lawyer said. He noted that Canada allows commercial fishermen to keep walleye caught on its side of Lake Huron and sell them to stores and restaurants. U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 10.

New state-record brown trout is big, but bigger ones might still swim in Lake Taneycomo The world record is more than 10 pounds heavier than Missouri's current record. Tuesday, December 8, 2009 Jim Low / mdc.mo.gov Scott Sandusky caught this 28-pound, 12-ounce brown trout at Lake Taneycomo Nov. 20, setting a new Missouri state record for the species. The Missouri Department of Conservation says chances are good that larger brown trout prowl the lake's clear, productive waters. (Missouri Department of Conservation photo) BRANSON–For Scott Sandusky, the most exciting fish in the world is the Missouri state-record brown trout he landed Nov. 20. For the rest of us, the most exciting fish are the even bigger brown trout that might still be prowling the depths of Lake Taneycomo. Sandusky, a 49-year-old resident of Arnold, caught his 28-pound, 12-ounce fish on Berkley Power Bait and 4-pound-test line on a spinning rod and reel. The fish – which bore some resemblance to a football – bested the previous record – another Taneycomo fish – by more than a pound. It measured 37 inches from nose to tail. Sandusky's catch is dwarfed by the world record brown trout, caught from Michigan's Big Manistee River Sept. 9. That fish weighed 41 pounds, 7 ounces. However, the Missouri Department of Conservation says Lake Taneycomo could harbor even bigger brown trout. In September 1997, a Lake Taneycomo angler found a monster brown trout dead near the lake's 18-mile marker. The fish measured 41.75 inches long. Some estimated its live weight at 45 pounds. Mike Kruse, now fisheries administrative manager for the Conservation Department in Jefferson City, was the agency's trout research biologist in 1997. At the time, he noted that the dead fish could have been a world record. Conservation Agent Quenten Fronterhouse said he has seen larger fish in the Trout Hollow area. Fisheries Management Biologist Shane Bush said Conservation Department fisheries workers have found a number of brown trout weighing more than 30 pounds when conducting electrofishing samples. "With our annual stocking rate of around 10,000 brown trout a year, Taneycomo should have no problem producing additional world-class brown trout in the future," said Bush. "There is no telling how many world-class brown trout are swimming around in Lake Taneycomo," said Kruse. "The lake's natural food base is phenomenal, and it has an abundance of deep-water habitat that can hide big fish." Furthermore, said Kruse, Lake Taneycomo's slow-moving current allows big trout to grow rapidly, because they don't have to expend much energy. In contrast, anglers are likely to expend lots of energy looking for big browns at Lake Taneycomo, spurred on by Sandusky's success.

Yep, Trilene XL is definitely a line to avoid on a float reel. I'm currently spooled up with Maxima Ultra Green (6lb), it's okay but I think I'll be looking for something a little stiffer next season.

Glad to hear you are home and getting about. Just take her slow and easy, assuming of course that's how she likes it.

Nice work Drew. Looks like you're well organized for the upcoming ice season and I've no doubt it'll be put through the paces, many times.

I'm disappointed. Nothing here in Hamilton short of a few flakes on the grass. I had big plans of watching the GF run the snowblower for the first time.

Hey now we're talking. I'd like to make that happen too Bernie.

True, species is under genus but under the term "species" I can still say trout.

It's been a long time for me too but now that you've mentioned it you could be right. I'm gonna have to look it up.

Those are sweet, I'm gonna have to get me some (or make some).

Well we'll just have to make it happen. Hopefully I'll be up to it before the ice is gone.

Kids and water (minnow pails) can only mean one thing, wet hands. I always have a few kitchen type towels with me for drying hands on.

That could very well be the case Mike. I never side cast and hence that may be the reason I prefer stiffer lines and why I never use a swivel, above or below the float. Less terminal tackle and fewer knots. But hey, I'm old school and not likely to change my habits. But then again I am playing around with a new baitcast set-up.

Well since you asked for just one "species" I'll choose trout. Just don't ask me to choose only one genus.

Really? In over 30 years of using a center pin a LIMP line is exactly what I avoid, go figure.

LMAO....yep, stick with what works for you.

Solo has touched on my prefernece for line on a center pin. For me the line needs to be wirey, stiff with low/no memory. A line that wants to spring up and run off the reel. Soft, supple stretchy lines are a poor choice in my opinion. Find a stiff wirey line a minimum of 2lb greater than the heaviest leaders you use and you're all set.

The boat and motor restoration are pretty slick and admirable projects Bernie. I've no doubt you'll ace them.

Limestone quarry threatens prime farm land November 6, 2009 Ben Rayner / thestar.com SHELBURNE–It has been three years since John Lowndes began quietly approaching landowners in and around Melancthon Township, an idyllic stretch of rolling fields radiating out from the town of Shelburne, north of Orangeville. He worked his way through the area's numerous potato farms, generally offering to buy the properties at $8,000 per acre, above market value. Throughout, he touted a vision of becoming the province's largest potato grower. Since then, under the banner of the Highland Companies, he has accomplished that goal, acquiring more than half of the roughly 15,000 acres of arable land in the area and a couple of its largest potato farms, Downey's and Wilson's. Some of Lowndes' new neighbours were suspicious, however, that Highland – backed by a $14 billion hedge fund out of Boston called Baupost Group – wasn't all about potatoes. Just over a year ago, Highland sent a letter to Melancthon council indicating it planned to "explore additional land uses." Those additional uses included the far more lucrative "crop" of aggregate limestone to be found just a few feet beneath the region's honeywood silt loam soil, prized for agriculture. That plan has sparked a fight that has split several of the close-knit farming communities that sit atop the Dufferin Highlands, less than 100 kilometres from the GTA. Some were happy to sell their struggling farms. Others welcomed new investment in the area. But now that Highland has made clear it plans to quarry 2,400 acres of some of Canada's finest farmland, opponents say what is at stake is the most basic stuff of human life: water, food and family heritage. "Once he started talking quarry, there was no way he was gonna get this place," grumbles local potato and cattle farmer Jim Black, before taking a visiting reporter for a flight over the designated area in his two-seater plane. "I have six grandchildren – one of them's 19 now, two 15-year-olds – and we've got one here who just can't wait to get farming, so what are we going to tell them later on, our kids? We made a big hole in the ground?" The water table sits close to the surface on the highlands. In nearby communities such as Horning's Mills, there's a pond or running water seemingly in everyone's backyard. Any large hole in the ground thus troubles locals about their well levels and ability to water and wash their crops. Sitting on the highest point in Ontario at 1,700 feet above sea level, their lands also border on the headwaters of the Nottawasaga and Grand River systems, meaning any lowering of water levels or water quality at "the Roof of Ontario" could be felt as far away as Hamilton to the south and Georgian Bay to the north. Last January, a matter of days before Highland made explicit what "additional land uses" it was mulling for its newly acquired properties – wind-power generation, reinstatement of the rail line connecting Orangeville to Owen Sound and, yes, aggregate extraction on 2,400 acres in eight phased operations of 300 acres – some of the holdouts and other concerned residents banded together as the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce (NDACT). Since then, they have amassed 1,200 signatures on a "stop the quarry" petition and relentlessly hounded politicians and environmental groups. They hired an independent planner to assess the consequences for the nearby waterways. They filed complaints about what they claim is illegal tree-clearing on some properties, and they are lobbying the Melancthon, Mulmur and Grey townships to designate their honeywood soils as an "agricultural specialty crop," which has protected the Holland Marsh against development. "This has totally taken over my life, and I had it just the way I liked it," sighs Dale Rutledge, NDACT's chairman and the proprietor of Rutledge Farms, the second-largest potato grower in the area behind Highland's expanded Downey Potato Farms. "We may not be able to grow anything other than limestone. We were worried about our well, but now we're worried about the fact that if he drains all of our water or he lets our water go too fast out of the ground, that we've got no water, then, underground to feed our crops ... I'm fighting for my life if that happens." Rutledge, 61, is currently in business with his sons, Mark and Scott. If his grandchildren take up the trade, six generations of Rutledges will have farmed the fields near Reddickville and Honeywood. The core Rutledge Farms acreage now, however, borders on a vast tract of properties that could soon be turned into 75-metre-deep limestone pit mines. "We're totally surrounded," he says. Jim Black, too, is stressed by Highland's plans. "It's one thing to talk about growing potatoes ... and everything, but as soon as you start to destroy this land there's nothing left. It'll never come back again." Black has been one of Highland's most vocal foes, having grown sufficiently fed up with what he sees as duplicitous and strong-armed business tactics to have gone public with his complaints. Other farmers in the area have similar stories – of being given 24-hour deadlines to make decisions about selling, or of $100,000 cheques being surreptitiously left on kitchen tables – but are reluctant to go on the record. For its part, Highland "categorically denies" that it attempted to bully landowners into selling with 24-hour deadlines and that "any cheque was left in the manner that is seemingly being alleged," says spokesman Michael Daniher. "The provision of an offer and the provision of any cheques only occurred after a number of meetings and discussions that were held as part of the process resulting in the tabling of an offer. Cheques were, in fact, provided but they were attached – physically attached – to offers that were left with prospective vendors. People had asked John, `How will we know that an offer you bring is sincere?' So the company endeavoured to address that question by providing a cheque ... as indication of a sincere offer and as a down payment." Black and his wife, Marian, were actually considering selling the farm after a drought-prone stretch when an unfamiliar real-estate agent approached them in September 2006. The Blacks subsequently listed the property for a year with another agent, but there were no takers. They had taken it off the market when the first agent came back with an offer that, Marian says, "he felt we could not refuse." "The next time, John Lowndes himself comes waltzing in," recalls Marian, who found it odd that someone professing to be intent on buying their farming operation displayed no interest in examining the buildings that came with it. "He says: `I'm here, I'm going to buy your farm, I need to see you right now.' And I said, `I didn't know it was for sale. If it was for sale, there'd be a sign at the end of the road.'" After their refusals, the Blacks allege, a seed supplier from Saskatchewan called them to say that Lowndes was offering to buy a substantial debt they had accrued during their rough patch. Jim describes it "as just another way to get control of us ... The seed grower informed us right after (Lowndes) phoned him." The Highland Companies contend that the reverse was true and the grower actually rang up Lowndes – as the man behind "the leading farm operation in the area" – asking: "Is there anything you can think of or do to help us try and get our money from Mr. Black?" Lowndes himself does not personally respond to such matters these days. The voice of Highland in most of its public dealings belongs to Daniher, a public-relations pro affiliated with a Toronto company called Special Situations Inc. He has represented the company at several community forums held to discuss its intentions, not to mention "30 of the last 31 meetings of Melancthon council," says Daniher. Lowndes, he adds, has become "increasingly unavailable." The unfailingly cooperative Daniher takes pains to point out the diversity of Highland's interests in the 9,500 acres – 7,500 in Melancthon Township, 1,000 in Mulmur Township and 1,000 in Norfolk Township – it now owns near Shelburne. Potato farming and aggregate extraction comprise but half of the company's grand scheme. In promotional materials, Highland touts dreams of a four-tiered business that will include adding its own wind turbines to the many already dotting the horizon west of County Rd. 124 and an eventual relaunch of freight-rail service from Toronto to Orangeville to the Great Lakes port of Owen Sound. Presumably the rail lines would be used to ship aggregate. Those interests both remain at the "research" stage, says Daniher. "That's a vision we've tried to share with a lot of folks. Some just won't buy it. That's their right. But we're not the ones who've described this in the fiery language they have. We've tried to be fair and reasonable and responsible." NDACT and Highland both accuse each other of "misrepresentation." Highland maintains the quarry won't be the 2,400-acre environmental nightmare it's been portrayed as during the long run-up to a yet-to-be-filed application to the province under the Aggregate Resources Act – one that the company said in May would be filed within "three to six months." (Daniher says the company is taking the time to put forward the "best possible proposal.") "Active" open-pit mining will be restricted to 300 diligently "buffered" acres at a time, he says, and the dug-out land left in its wake will be re-soiled and returned to an arable state. NDACT's water anxieties should be allayed, says Daniher, by the fact that Highland is, in part, a potato farmer just like them. "As one of the largest landholders and active farmers in this township, water is as important to us as to anyone else... "The reality is that aggregate quarries in Ontario – of which there are a bunch south of here, in a lot more sensitive land than this – operate below the water table. There are a number of proven solutions that manage water. That's just something that has to be done as part of a quarry and that we have very knowledgeable folks dealing with it." Since an actual, official proposal to go ahead with the Highland quarry has yet to be tabled, the bodies that have a say in whether it will go ahead – the municipal governments, the provincial ministries of natural resources and the environment, the Ontario Municipal Board and environmental monitoring agencies such as the Nottawasaga Valley and the Grand River Conservation Authorities – have little but cautious comment to offer. "It's certainly the largest proposal of this nature that we've ever seen or heard of, so certainly we're concerned, and we want to know what sort of impact or effect it's going to have on the environment," says Chris Hibberd, director of planning for the Nottawasaga authority. Any aggregate extraction conducted below the water table has "large potential for impact," says Hibberd, and the Nottawasaga watershed encompasses a particularly "vast" area wherein the effects on everything from drinking-water supplies to fish and wildlife habitats to wetlands must be closely watched. The Highland Companies will thus be bound to provide "a significant, detailed list of technical studies" demonstrating they've attended to all of these details. "There is no doubt: we're being told this is a huge application and there's potential for significant issues, so we have to make sure that there's a careful review," says Wayne Wilson, chief administrative officer of the Nottawasaga authority. "The local citizens have made sure that it's an issue that has a high profile." Not everyone is down on the Highland Companies, mind you. Over at Downey Potato Farms, Trevor Downey, vice-president of marketing and sales, boasts that while most others are tightening their belts, his operation is investing in new gear and selling more – even growing "exclusive specialty potatoes" for clients likes Loblaws – since Highland bought in. Downey Potato Farms also now imports from California to keep the potatoes flowing to clients during the months when their competitors' bins are empty. "This is a 12-month operation," says Downey, "which is uncommon in Ontario." There are other quarries in the Shelburne area, although the largest hover around the 100-acre mark. What's compelling Highland to risk public outcry is the incredible value of the rare Amabel dolostone limestone – a commodity crucial to virtually every road and construction project on the planet – underneath all those potato fields. According to a formula devised by the Friends of Rural Communities and Environment, a group fighting a quarry in Flamborough, at current market rates the properties are capable of generating more than $18 million an acre in aggregate. Daniher, who points out that the quarry would create jobs in the community, says Highland is simply offering "a vision of a sustainable future for this community built upon its natural resources." For the farmers involved in this fight, however, the future doesn't look so sustainable. They see bleak, barren fields stripped of the homes, barns and fence posts that once demarcated family farms. They fret about "rural blockbusting." They've lost friends over the side they've taken – after all, the Highland Companies are now a substantial employer, taxpayer and corporate donor in a township of just 2,800 people; people chattering at local gas stations and chip trucks are careful to avoid letting too much slip, with the phrase "I'm a fence-sitter" coming up often. "My friends and neighbours that used to be my friends and neighbours, nobody talks to anybody anymore," says Rutledge. "I went to school with these guys, I played hockey with these guys." Another NDACT draftee, cattle and pig farmer Ralph Armstrong, says he has "lost a lot of sleep" over who's going to sell next, not because of NIMBY-ism at the prospect of a quarry at his back door but because of an erosion of "our own values, of what's important." The Crown deed to his farm is dated 1861. "Food has been rationed in my lifetime," he says. "It doesn't take much of a hiccup to cause a problem. We're talking about the generations following. It probably doesn't make much difference to me, but where's the good food going to come from if you don't have land to grow it on? What can you leave your grandchildren? Clean air to breathe, pure water to drink and good quality soil, secure, that you can grow food on. "What else can you leave them that's any more important?"

Hey Mike I spoke with my friend yesterday who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease and asked him if he'd be willing to talk to you directly about it, he said he'd be happy too. Might be worth talking to someone with first hand experience in the matter. If you'd like his phone number shoot me a PM. As a cautionary measure I ought to warn you, he'll talk your ear off.

Some might say your just "plain ole nuts!" I wouldn't be one of them.

Agreed.

UGA College of Veterinary Medicine researchers lead team in discovery involving freshwater fish parasite, ‘Ich' Dec. 3, 2009 / http://www.vet.uga.edu ATHENS, Ga. — Researchers from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine have made an unexpected dual discovery that could open new avenues for treating Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, or "Ich," a single-celled protozoan parasite that commonly attacks freshwater fish. With the aid of whole-genome sequencing, researchers found that Ich harbors two apparently symbiotic intracellular bacteria: Bacteroides, which are usually found free-living, and Rickettsia, which are obligate intracellular bacteria.The two bacteria represent new species. Five researchers from the college's department of infectious diseases worked on the project in collaboration with two researchers from the department of microbiology and immunology at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and a researcher from the J. Craig Venter Institute. Their initial intent was to map the genome of Ich; the DNA sequencing was done by JCVI and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Their study is published in the December 2009 issue (Issue 23) of Applied and Environmental Microbiology with an image from the study on the cover. It was the presence of Rickettsia DNA sequences found in the initial genome data that provided scientists with a clue that bacteria might live inside of Ich.Intracellular bacteria have been described in free-living ciliates such as Paramecium, but never in Ich, which is an obligate parasite. "It was unexpected; it was stunning to find bacteria in Ich. And, it came about due to the genome sequencing," said Harry W. Dickerson, a co-author who has been studying Ich in the veterinary college for more than 20 years and a member of the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, which has a focus on parasitic diseases, primarily of humans. "Ich occurs world-wide and is one of the most common protozoon pathogens of freshwater fish.It is easily recognized by most aquarists, and fish farmers often are confronted with massive epizootic outbreaks to devastating economic effect." Ich (which causes "white spot disease") is a ciliated protozoan parasite that bores into the skin and gills of fish where it feeds, destroying tissue and thereby blocking exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, usually leading to death of the host.Each parasite grows on the fish from roughly 40 microns, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, to approximately one millimeter in diameter, which can easily be seen as a white spot. The parasites leave the fish in about 5-6 days (a ciliate with its typical large nucleus is shown in the image). Each cell then divides multiple times to produce up to 1000 more infective organisms.The entire life cycle takes about 6-7 days.With subsequent rounds of infection the number of parasites continues to increase, and each wave of re-infection becomes more deadly than the last.By the second or third re-infection the fish population is usually overwhelmed and fish begin to die.Fish that survive mild infections can develop immunity. There are currently no drugs or chemicals that kill Ich while it resides in the fish skin or gills; they can only kill Ich when the parasite is in the water, and therefore all current therapies require a cyclical re-treatment program. The first major outbreak of Ich in North America was recorded at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.Ich is a well-known problem for aqua-culturists, aquarium owners, pond owners, hobbyists and retailers of freshwater fish.People and birds can also carry the parasite, unknowingly, from pond to pond. "Work to sequence the genome of this parasitic protozoan unexpectedly revealed that bacterial DNA sequences were also present," noted Craig Findly, one of the college's researchers on the project. "Following up this discovery led to our demonstration that two new species of intracellular bacteria use Ich as their host. We now need to determine if these intracellular bacteria play a role in infection." Next, the researchers will try to determine what role the two organisms play in the physiology of Ich and whether Ich remain infective if the bacteria are removed.The scientists hope their finding takes them a step closer to developing better treatments for Ich.

I couldn't agree more.