State Department of Environmental Conservation officials are investigating a fish kill on Cazenovia Lake that has affected mostly largemouth bass and a few panfish. Daniel Bishop, the DEC’s regional fisheries manager, said reports of bass being caught on the lake with lesions (red sores) were brought to his attention a couple of weeks ago. Four live bass were collected and...
State Department of Environmental Conservation officials are investigating a fish kill on Cazenovia Lake that has affected mostly largemouth bass and a few panfish.
Daniel Bishop, the DEC’s regional fisheries manager, said reports of bass being caught on the lake with lesions (red sores) were brought to his attention a couple of weeks ago. Four live bass were collected and sent to Cornell University for analysis.
Since that time, an undisclosed number of dead bass and a few assorted panfish have been spotted floating on the water by anglers. A DEC staff is on the lake today trying to collect additional live samples for Cornell, Bishop said.
Bishop and Paul Bowser, professor of aquatic animal medicine at Cornell University’s school of veterinary medicine, both said there’s no reason at this point to get overly concerned. There’s no evidence that the fish in the lake are infected with VHS (viral hemorrhagic septicemia) , a fish-killing disease that in recent years has resulted in restrictions on the transportation of baitfish from one body of water to another.
Also, Bowser added, it doesn’t appear that the fish were affected by milfoil defoliant chemicals that have been added to the lake this year and last to get rid of weeds. He said he’d probably have final test results completed by next week.
“Unless something has changed, this is not going to be alarming,” he said. “It’s probably a stress-induced thing from the incredibly hot summer we’ve had.”