63,000 more disease-ridden fish killed at Nevada hatchery

Martin Griffith

Sunday, March 12, 2000 | 9:23 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Another 63,000 Lahontan cutthroat trout were destroyed at a federal fish hatchery Saturday after a new outbreak of a disease that prompted last month's killing of 350,000 of the endangered game fish there.

Randi Thompson, spokeswoman with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the latest action came after attempts to treat the cutthroat with antibiotics failed at the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery south of Gardnerville.

Coupled with the earlier deaths of 80,000 of the fish, the disease claimed nearly 500,000 of the hatchery's fingerling cutthroat in recent months.

"What happened today marks the end of a sad and very unfortunate chapter out there. This was demoralizing today," Thompson said Saturday.

The action left the hatchery with virtually no cutthroat until next month's arrival of 1 million eggs from Pyramid Lake, 30 miles northeast of Reno.

The hatchery raises about 600,000 cutthroat for annual release into the region's Pyramid and Walker lakes and Truckee River.

The hatchery met its goal of stocking Walker with 135,000 cutthroat this year, but won't be able to send any to Pyramid because of the disease. Pyramid Paiute tribe officials said they would be able to provide plenty of stock, however.

In early February, the hatchery destroyed 350,000 of the fish in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. Another 80,000 fish had died before the action.

Biologists had been struggling since November to treat the fish afflicted with Furunculosis, a bacteria found naturally in northern Nevada's watersheds

"We thought we had the disease handled in February, but apparently some fish didn't take to the antibiotics the first time and the disease stayed," Thompson said.

"It spread to the point where our mortality was increasing daily and we had no choice but to take this action."

Saturday's action also was taken to help save a crucial brood stock of about 100 Pilot Peak cutthroat. They are kept in separate ponds and have not been affected by the disease, Thompson said.

In all, more than 400,000 cutthroat were suffocated in recent weeks by an infusion of carbon dioxide pumped into shallow water-holding tanks.

Biologists theorize the bacteria that destroys fish's organs was carried to the hatchery by birds from the nearby east fork of the Carson River.

Officials plan to begin sterilizing the hatchery this week to prevent another outbreak of the disease.

The 63,000 carcasses will be taken Monday by Reno Rendering to be turned into fertilizer and feed, Thompson said.

Lahontan cutthroat are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Though protected, they are allowed to be caught by anglers because of hatchery production programs.