Experts investigating fish deaths at Anantnag's Martand Sun Temple found the cause to be water quality derailment leading to stress and bacterial infestation. The team recommended periodic cleaning of water bodies and using standardized feed.
An expert team from the Department of Fisheries visited the Martand Sun Temple on Wednesday to inspect the reason behind the deaths of fishes.
Expert Findings on Fish Mortality
One representative from the Fishery faculty, Aadil Husein, shared the findings after testing the water and fish. He said they had come into contact with opportunistic pathogens due to stress from the water derailment. "There was some water quality derailment. The fish samples revealed bacterial infestation. This has caused stress, which has most likely led to the dominance of the opportunistic pathogens and resulted in the fish mortality."
Precautionary Measures Recommended
When asked about what the next steps should be for the outbreak, the representative said that they have mentioned the precautionary methods to limit the infestation. "First and foremost, there should be a periodic cleaning of water bodies as the fungi and bacteria mostly lie at the bottom and without cleaning, they can dominate the fish stock," he said.
Additionally, he mentioned that the feeding of the fish plays an important role in their health. "We should use the standardised feed with proper nutrients for the fish. And, even if they are being fed by others in goodwill, we should ensure that they are not being overfed," he added.
Temple President Appeals to Public
President of the Martand Surya Mandir, Ashok Sidha, also shared his experience with the faculty in this matter. He mentioned that they acted swiftly after being made aware of the situation. "A team of 16 people came to this place to conduct tests and took samples for the report. They asked us to wait for a week for the results, but the fish in the three ponds kept dying during that time," he stated.
"We are happy that the team is here with the report since we were panicking about the fish's deaths," said Sidha. He appealed to the public not to feed the fish, as using unapproved feed could harm their health. "After they shared the findings with us, I appeal to people not to feed the fish without permission," he concluded. (ANI)
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