Parasitic
🟡 Moderate
Kudoa thyrsites (Soft Flesh Syndrome)
🦠 Kudoa thyrsites · Kudoidae (Myxozoa)
📋 Definition
A myxozoan parasite that invades the muscle of marine fish, releasing enzymes post-mortem that cause "soft flesh" or "milky flesh" syndrome, rendering the product unsaleable.
📊 Key Facts
Causative Agent
Kudoa thyrsites
Agent Family
Kudoidae (Myxozoa)
Onset to Peak
months (post-mortem expression)
Geographic Range
Worldwide in marine fish (Atlantic salmon farming)
Transmission Routes
Unknown (complex myxozoan life cycle)
Primary Host
Atlantic Salmon, Pacific Salmon, Many wild marine fish
Vaccine
✗ None / Experimental
Economic Impact
Significant: affects product quality — liquid flesh unsaleable
🩺 Clinical Signs
No clinical signs during life. After slaughter, infected muscle liquefies within hours, producing a milky, watery texture unacceptable to market.
🔬 Symptoms
🔬
Post-mortem muscle liquefaction
Musculoskeletal Post-mortem
🔬
Milky muscle texture
Musculoskeletal Post-mortem
🧪 Diagnosis
Histopathology (pseudocysts in muscle), PCR, post-mortem muscle consistency test.
💊 Treatment
⚠️ No universally approved treatment is currently available. The information below covers supportive care and experimental approaches.
No treatment. Strategic harvesting during low-infection periods.
🛡️ Prevention
ℹ️ Prevention is the most effective strategy for managing this disease in aquaculture and aquarium settings.
Site selection, monitoring of wild carrier fish in area.