The Arkansas Department of Agriculture Fish Disease Diagnostic Laboratory offers services that include water chemistry testing, water biological/bloom evaluations, and tests to determine the presence of parasites, fungi, bacteria, and viruses.

It is recommended that clients get in touch with the lab as soon as they notice/suspect a disease issue. It can greatly hinder efforts to identify the source of the disease if fish are treated prior to being submitted.

We strongly encourage all clients to provide a separate water sample from affected systems for analysis even if no water quality problems are suspected.

The lab is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. Please contact the lab at (501) 823-1730 before preparing fish for delivery or shipment and with inquiries regarding available services.

Available Services

Basic services needed in most cases are water quality and water bloom evaluations, wet mount microscopic evaluation for parasites and external bacteria, and the processing of fish for bacterial cultures. To ascertain whether more testing is required, lab personnel will evaluate initial findings and work with the client to determine if further tests are needed or desired. The lab adheres to a strict policy of client confidentiality.

• Live fish exam – Wet mount microscopy (parasites, fungi, and external bacteria)
• Necropsy
• Wet mount microscopy
• Bacterial culture (systemic)
• Bacterial identification
• Antibiotic sensitivity
• Virology
• Water chemistry analysis

Water Chemistry Analysis

Samples should be properly collected and kept cool. The following four initial tests should be run on all samples:

• pH
• Total ammonia nitrogen (TAN)
• Total alkalinity
• Water temperature (on-site or in lab)

The following additional tests can be run based on initial results:

• Total hardness
• Iron
• Oxygen
• Chlorides
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) – on-site only
• Dissolved oxygen (DO – on-site only
• Hydrogen sulfide – on-site only