1 Assessing links between water quality, river health and Ceratomyxosis of salmonids in the Klamath River system

• Main Authors: Richard W. Stocking, Jerri L. Bartholomew
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Pacific; Beaver Creek
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.498.3544; http://www.klamathwaterquality.com/documents/klamath_cShasta_Stocking_Bartholomew_2004.pdf

Ceratomyxa shasta in the Klamath River. The myxozoan Ceratomyxa shasta has been implicated as a significant source of mortality to out-migrating juvenile Chinook salmon in the Klamath River during recent years (Foott et. al 2002). This again became evident in early May of 2004 when dead and moribund salmon were found in screw-traps along the river between the Beaver Creek confluence and the estuary. Examinations readily identified C. shasta as the cause of mortality. A second myxozoan, Parvicapsula minibicornix also appeared to be having some effect on these outmigrants. In 2002, the public became aware of a fish kill in the Klamath that implicated low flows, elevated water temperatures, and the combined effect of pathogens (particularly Ichthyoptherius multifilis and columnaris) in the deaths of over 33,000 returning adult salmon. Once again, C. shasta was present although its role in this outbreak is not clear. In the Klamath River, as in other river systems in the Pacific Northwest, C. shasta exhibits a variable distribution within the main-stem and appears not to be present in the smaller tributaries. In summer 2003, cages containing live trout that are susceptible to the pathogen were placed in various locations within the main-stem Klamath between Beaver