Whirllng Disease Confirmed In Bow River

[Walton]

http://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=433953CA3458B-B50E-57D4-A97FD2549BE284E2

 

CFIA confirms whirling disease in Bow River

Today, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the lead federal agency responsible for preventing the spread of animal diseases within Canada, confirmed the presence of whirling disease in the upper Bow River, downstream from the confluence of the Bow River and Cascade River within Banff National Park.

 

[bcubed]

Yikes, but not unexpected. People who are headed outside of the province should really be contemplating a second set of waders/boots, or doing one hell of a job cleaning everything before they go.

[McLeod]

Cutty lakes in Banff now closed.

 

It will be interesting when all the samples are done . i suspect its been around several years and spread . Most likely started in the bow but hopefully it has not spread into the Highwood.

[Sage]

Sure hope this can be contained.....

 

I for one will begin the light bleach solution on my wading boots that Lornce suggested last week.

[Ricinus]

Unfortunately that might be too late..

 

Mike

[bowbonehead]

Cutty lakes in Banff now closed.

 

It will be interesting when all the samples are done . i suspect its been around several years and spread . Most likely started in the bow but hopefully it has not spread into the Highwood.

Much more likely from hatchery fish stocked in a lake (Johnson etc....) but its possible a traveling angler may have brought it via dirty equipment from Colorado,Montana or elsewhere

[BurningChrome]

There's a chance we'll never know for sure how it was introduced. Instead of playing CSI: Bow River we need to get the word out about cleaning gear and ditching felt to slow/stop the spread to other water bodies. Hopefully the province will also let other groups like OHV users know that they should be cleaning their vehicles after every trip. Lots of Jeep guys I know like to drive around muddy from their last trip because they think it makes them look cool.

[angler]

Bowbone. To my knowledge no stocking in BNP since mid/late 80s. So doubt hatchery is source.

[trailhead]

Don't know if I'm wrong or not but I caught a whitefish about 20 years ago or so in the Bow across from Edworthy. It pretty much fit the bill for the description of whirling disease. It was twisted off to one side had a big hump/lump just behind the shoulders and the tail was kind of shrunken. I thought that it was caused by the chemicals coming into the river at that spot because it was by the sewage outlet from the U of C.

[TroutPanther]

Don't know if I'm wrong or not but I caught a whitefish about 20 years ago or so in the Bow across from Edworthy. It pretty much fit the bill for the description of whirling disease. It was twisted off to one side had a big hump/lump just behind the shoulders and the tail was kind of shrunken. I thought that it was caused by the chemicals coming into the river at that spot because it was by the sewage outlet from the U of C.

Interesting -

I got one smallish brown earlier this year and one rainbow last year at POL that fit the description as well, with kinked/misaligned/humpy rear spines and shrunk tails. Didn't think much of it before all this whirling disease stuff hit the news and I began reading up on it... That said the deformities could have been caused by something else. I didn't take a tissue sample from the poor bastards. Looked like this pic: https://goo.gl/images/pGj0xI

[Dangus]

Ya it makes you wonder how it could be south of the border for ~70 years and only make it up here now. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been here for quite a few years

[sallinger]

I remember fishing a stocked lake when I was a kid.. 20 years ago approx.. Watch a few trout exhibiting behaviour that now I would probably think was whirling disease..

[BowLurker]

I was reading a bit about Whirling Disease, and it's been around for over a century in Europe. Kind of freaky that the higher-altitude areas seem to have the most difficult time with it. One point was that farmed fish (and hatchery fish) were the most susceptible, and that the fish parts of farmed fish run through garbage disposals still showed the spores. Surprised water treatment doesn't kill it off..?

 

A lot of the affected countries practice fish farming/stocking, so it was probably just a matter of time. Maybe the 'accidentally-stocked' fish from the early days of BNP had it and it's just now starting to proliferate due to the strange weather over the years? Where do the fish for stocking come from nowadays? Just thinking out loud.

 

http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hitchhikers/others_whirling_disease.php

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxobolus_cerebralis

 

-M.

[ericlin0122]

Interesting -

I got one smallish brown earlier this year and one rainbow last year at POL that fit the description as well, with kinked/misaligned/humpy rear spines and shrunk tails. Didn't think much of it before all this whirling disease stuff hit the news and I began reading up on it... That said the deformities could have been caused by something else. I didn't take a tissue sample from the poor bastards. Looked like this pic: https://goo.gl/images/pGj0xI

Im pretty sure I caught couple fish like that in Arbour lake. I thought it was due to poor handling fish from bait chucker. These fish come from hatchery somewhere.

[trailhead]

Yeah I agree with pretty much all said, I think it's been around here for a while. But it isn't until it hits the media that the feces hit the rotating oscillator.

[alan2]

I mentioned on this forum a few years back when I watched a small fish literally twirling as it swam near shore in the Bow at Cranston. Maybe it was whirling disease then after all and not just born deformed as I had thought.

[Swede]

Ya i agree with you alan2 about 5 years ago someone posted a photo of a trout that he thought was deformed. It had the crooked back trout get that have whirling disease. I even commented that it looked like whirling disease and am thinking for sure it was now.

I would just like to add that we know dam well its been here for awhile they didn't just start testing out of the blue They know for years its been up here. they just didn't bother saying anything.

[bcubed]

Woah there conspiracy theorist. They apparently only tested as a vet with parks noticed the fish and was able to get the testing done.

[jpinkster]

I would just like to add that we know dam well its been here for awhile they didn't just start testing out of the blue They know for years its been up here. they just didn't bother saying anything.

 

We knew hey? Maybe take off the tin-foil hat for one thread.

 

I won't argue that the province could have done a lot more to prevent this from happening, but suggesting we they kept us all deliberately in the dark for years is an absurd comment to make.

[trailhead]

I don't think there is any conspiracy, there is no point of focus, it's just what's in or out and if it isn't in the news then there isn't an issue.

[Swede]

Well maybe they didn't know years ago.

 

But that photo that was posted on here 4 or 5 years ago was differently a trout with whirling disease. I cant remember what it was posted under but all try and find it.

[fisher26]

Does this mean that the fishing is going to go down the drain?

 

Most of the comments here seem fairly nonchalant, but apparently many rivers in Montana noticed the destruction of the rainbow population after the introduction of whirling disease. About 20 years later however the rainbow population is at 70% of the pre-disease levels.

 

Is this alarmist? How much of a threat is whirling disease?

[jpinkster]

Well maybe they didn't know years ago.

 

But that photo that was posted on here 4 or 5 years ago was differently a trout with whirling disease. I cant remember what it was posted under but all try and find it.

It was definitely a trout with whirling disease? Did you see the results from a necropsy study that proved that? I'm leaving this one to the biologists instead of a bunch of fishermen that think they may have caught a fish a bunch of years ago that looked kind of funny. Dealing with whirling disease can't be about what we feel, it needs to be about what we know. Right now we don't know enough to make any definitive statements one way or the other.

[BurningChrome]

Well maybe they didn't know years ago.

 

But that photo that was posted on here 4 or 5 years ago was differently a trout with whirling disease. I cant remember what it was posted under but all try and find it.

Is this the one?

 

http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?showtopic=9443&p=94056

[BurningChrome]

Does this mean that the fishing is going to go down the drain?

 

Most of the comments here seem fairly nonchalant, but apparently many rivers in Montana noticed the destruction of the rainbow population after the introduction of whirling disease. About 20 years later however the rainbow population is at 70% of the pre-disease levels.

 

Is this alarmist? How much of a threat is whirling disease?

It is a threat and it can potentially be devastating but there's no point in running around like your hair is on fire. What we need to do right now (like I said in my earlier post) is start to be diligent about cleaning gear between water bodies or even using different gear on the Bow than you do elsewhere.

 

http://whirlingdisease.montana.edu/about/faq.htm