Fish-killing virus found in mid-Michigan lake

A fish-killing virus has been found in Budd Lake in Clare County. The viral hemorrhagic septicema or VHS virus can infect a lot of species in the Great Lakes basin.

Gary Whelan, from Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division, says the number of fish at risk is small compared to the fish kill found in Lake Erie in 2006. 

"This one here is a much smaller scale one and probably because of VHS, we had not detected it for a few years and it probably reappeared because of obvious other stresses, perhaps late cold winter, late spring, perhaps spawning stress," Whalen says.

Whalen explains that a few bass were a part of the fish kill. The majority of the infected fish were collected live for an ongoing study done by Michigan State University.