KHV epidemic hits Niigata

The escalating KHV epidemic in Japan has hit Niigata, the world's top Koi producing region.

The outbreak, which has killed 4000 carp in a single week, occurred in Ojiya, central Niigata.

The fish were kept in separate ponds, but were on a centralised filtration system, so the disease spread through the facility quickly.

An official for the Association of Carp Growers in Ojiya told the Daily Mainichi News: "We don't know the exact scale of the damage or where the carp came from (before being grown-on there)."

An outbreak of KHV also occurred in western Niigata on November 14, so fish movements around the prefecture have been stopped in an attempt to contain the disease.