Survey of New Zealand trout hatcheries for whirling disease caused by Myxosoma cerebralis

Fourteen hundred trout, mainly Salmo gairdneri, supplied by the four Government and nine Acclimatisation Society hatcheries in New Zealand were examined for the presence of spores of Myxosoma cerebralis (Hofer, 1903) (Protozoa: Myxosporida) in their head cartilage. The only positive result obtained was of a 24% infection rate in fish from the Otago Acclimatisation hatchery at Waitati, near Dunedin, which has since been closed down. Sixty fish were examined from Acclimatisation Societies hatcheries and 200 from Government Hatcheries to give a 95% chance of detecting infections of 5% and 1.5%, respectively, of the fish in these hatcheries. A formula is given for estimating sample sizes on the bases of probable infection rates and the degree of certainty of detection that is required.