Article: Dead tilapia puzzle in Mengkuang Dam

Tuesday July 14, 2009

By DERRICK VINESH

BUKIT MERTAJAM: About 200 tilapia (cichlidae) fish bred in the Mengkuang Dam here have been found dead over the last 10 days.

Penang Water Supply Corporation Sdn Bhd, however, assured the public that the water in the dam was not contaminated.

Fishy business: PBA worker G. Sivakumar collecting the dead fish at the Mengkuang Dam in Bukit Mertajam yesterday.

Its corporate services manager K. Jeyabalan said water samples from the dam showed no traces of toxic material in the water.

Ruling out foul play, he said a preliminary report showed that the fish could have died due to a bacterial infection.

"At least 20 to 40 adult tilapia are dying mysteriously in the dam daily, which has caused us deep concern.

"The other fish in the dam such the siakap (barramundi), keli (catfish) and toman (giant snakehead), including the tilapia fry, are not affected," he said yesterday.

Jeyabalan said microbiologists from the state Fisheries Department were conducting further tests to find out why the bacteria only affected a particular fish genus.

He pointed out that it was rather odd that the bacteria did not affect the tilapia fry, which would presumably be more susceptible to infections.

He said the dam obtained raw water supply from the nearby Kulim River, noting that the dam supplied water to the water company's treatment plants only when there was a shortage of water supply. He said that the water there had not been used for almost a year.

State Agriculture, Agro-based Industries, Rural Development and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Law Choo Kiang said fish farms in the state had so far not reported any bacterial infection affecting their tilapia.

"There is no need to panic as the tilapia fish in the market is safe for consumption," he said.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Nation 14 July 2009