Head of division: Árni Kristmundsson
The services provided by the Division of Fish Diseases involve regular monitoring for pathogens in aquatic animals as well as diagnosis of diseases that occur in fish and shellfish, both in the wild and in aquaculture. The former is the basis for certificates that are necessary for produce sales by export and also domestically. The latter is the basis for disease prevention and treatment, such as with medication. A list of the services available at the Division of Fish Diseases can be seen in here, in the price list of the Institute.
Bacterial diagnosis is done using various culture techniques and antibody tests such as agglutination tests or ELISA assays. Further characterization is performed by various PCR and sequencing methods.
Virus screening is performed with RT-qPCR and cell culture techniques. The RT-qPCR method uses specific primers and probes to detect viruses with a high degree of certainty. However, the method only detects viruses for which the assay is designed. Cell culture techniques are used to screen for a broad range of viruses, and can detect both known or unknown viruses. If viral infection is detected by cell culture screening, further characterization of the virus is done using various PCR and sequencing approaches.
The diagnosis of parasite or fungal infection in fish and shellfish involves dissection and microscopic analysis of samples. Although such methods give a rough estimate of the types of parasitic/fungal species involved they are often sufficient, especially if the parasitic/fungal species is a common pathogen in aquatic animals. Various PCR techniques are used if further characterization is neccessary.
Environmental factors, e.g. water quality, can have significant effects on fish in the wild and in aquaculture. Examples of this are gas bubble disease and algae blooms.
General pathological examination is an important part in the diagnosis of diseases. Along with other research methods, such as PCR, pathological examination is a powerful method to detect pathogens and the pathological changes that they cause. This method is also used for general examination of the health status of aquatic animals.