Project: Dynamics of Whirling Disease on the Cache La Poudre River

Primary Investigator: Eric Bergersen
Project Summary: This study examined the role of a whirling disease infected rainbow trout rearing unit, and headwater impoundment stocked with infected fish on the distribution of M. cerebralis in the Cache La Poudre River. Densities of T. tubifex were 163,000/m2 in the rearing unit, while river sites averaged less than 1/m2, although desities in alcoves reached 50/m2. While worm densities in the river were lower than in the rearing unit, species diversity was higher. T. tubifex comprised about 98% of the worms in the rearing unit, and about 50% in the river. More worms were infected below the rearing unit (6%) than above (1%) or in the unit (2%). Elevated infection rates in young-of-the-year trout below the rearing unit were attributed to the high numbers of TAMs entering the river from the unit. TAMs were low below the impoundment, but all tested trout were infected, suggesting that low TAM rates can infect an entire fish population.
Funding Period: 1998-1999
Final Report: Bergersen_98-99.pdf
Dataset(s) associated with this project:

There are no datasets associated with this project.