Algae and lice-treatment probably killed 38,000 salmon

Salmon smølaSalmon at a fish farm. Photo: pixabay.com

Algae and lice-treatment believed responsible for death of 38,000 salmon

Algae, in combination with hydrogen peroxide lice treatment, probably killed 38,000 fish-farm salmon at Gratanglaks and Kleiva Fiskefarm in Sør-Troms.

 

‘It’s clear that algae can cause so much damage to the gills of the fish that they had problems with oxygen supply in connection with the hydrogen peroxide treatment.

The algae seal the gut tissue, which caused the fish to face major challenges when they received the lice treatment,’ said Jan Petter Berg of Fish Vet Group, the firm that carried out the post mortem analysis, to NRK news.

The salmon died the same day as they were treated with hydrogen peroxide. All the fish had to be destroyed, with a loss of 5 million kroner to the company.

Satellite images last week showed major concentrations of ‘Emiliania huxleyi’ algae off the coast of Troms. The algae is a plant plankton that flourishes in warm and calm weather, reported NRK news.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today