Carp carcass decomposition and water quality: implications for the release of CyHV-3 as a biocontrol agent for common carp in Australia

Richard Walsh; Tyler N. Dornan; Sanjina Upadhyay Stæhr; Hamish J. Brookes; Matthew R. Hipsey; Mark Laws; Phillip Cassey; Justin D. Brookes

doi:10.1071/MF24183

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Next Contents Vol 76(2)

Carp carcass decomposition and water quality: implications for the release of CyHV-3 as a biocontrol agent for common carp in Australia

Richard Walsh ^A ^B , Tyler N. Dornan

^A ^* , Sanjina Upadhyay Stæhr ^A ^C , Hamish J. Brookes ^D , Matthew R. Hipsey ^E , Mark Laws ^A , Phillip Cassey ^A and Justin D. Brookes ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

^B Department for Environment and Water, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.

^C Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark.

^D Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

^E School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: tyler.dornan@adelaide.edu.au

Handling Editor: Gerry Closs

Marine and Freshwater Research 76, MF24183 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF24183

Submitted: 20 August 2024 Accepted: 12 December 2024 Published: 17 January 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC)

Abstract

Context

In Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin, the invasive common carp (Cyprinus carpio) poses a significant ecological threat. Efforts to manage their population include the potential use of cyprinid herpesvirus (CyHV-3) as a biological control agent. The environmental benefits of carp elimination could be substantial in the long term; our knowledge of the immediate ecological consequences resulting from large-scale fish die-offs remains limited.

Aim

This study sought to investigate the effect of a large-scale fish-mortality event on water quality.

Methods

Experiments of an increasing scale (bucket, mesocosm and whole wetland) were conducted to assess how decomposing carp carcasses alter dissolved oxygen and nutrient concentrations in water.

Key results

In mesocosms, dead carp decayed more rapidly at 18 than 12°C, yielding oxygen demands of 1.022 ± 0.029 and 0.496 ± 0.239 mg kg⁻¹ min⁻¹ respectively. This carp decay released phosphorus, yielding 2121.1 ± 140.4 mg kg⁻¹. In the wetland experiment, carp addition of 2400 kg ha⁻¹ resulted in anoxic conditions over the following 2 weeks. The release of dissolved organic carbon and lipids led to a peak biological oxygen demand of 95.3 mg L⁻¹.

Conclusions

Carp decomposition considerably contributes to biological oxygen demand and algal growth through nutrient enrichment and is strongly influenced by carp density.

Implications

The finding highlights key factors to consider before using biocontrol agents causing mass carp mortality, including hypoxia, anoxia and increased risk of harmful algal blooms.

Keywords: biogeochemistry, CyHV-3, Cyprinus carpio, ecology, eutrophication, fish, freshwater, introduced species, limnology, Murray–Darling Basin.

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