An AAHL Fish Diseases Laboratory staff member in action.

AAHL Fish Diseases Laboratory

The AAHL Fish Diseases Laboratory (AFDL) provides diagnostic services and R&D to support and protect Australia’s growing aquaculture industry and our natural aquatic resources.

• 14 July 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Services available
• Submitting samples 
• Training 

The AAHL Fish Diseases Laboratory (AFDL) specialises in research and diagnosis of diseases of aquatic animals, including finfish, molluscs and crustaceans with an emphasis on exotic (foreign) and newly emerging diseases.

AFDL works closely with the Crustacean Disease Laboratory, located at the Queensland Bioscience Precinct in Brisbane, and the AAHL Biosecurity Microscopy Facility.

AFDL has seven major roles:

• disease diagnosis and the identification of infectious agents (pathogens)
• research on diseases of aquatic animals
• development of diagnostic tests for exotic and emerging diseases
• export certification testing and health surveillance
• training and technology transfer
• provision of advice to Australian State and Commonwealth Government agencies and industry.

Services available

AFDL services include:

• cell culture
• virus isolation and identification
• confirmation of bacterial pathogen identification
• mollusc pathogen identification
• histopathology (including immunohistochemistry)
• electron microscopy (including immunoelectron microscopy)
• microbiologically secure aquarium facilities.

AFDL's capabilities include a range of molecular assays such as:

• immunoassays including enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunocytochemistry, western blot, dot blot
• polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• DNA hybridization in situ
• real-time PCR (qPCR)
• nucleic acid sequencing.

Submitting samples

The AFDL is accredited by the:

• National Association of Testing Authorities
• United States government for export certification testing
• United Kingdom government for export certification testing.

All samples should be accompanied by a completed Specimen Advice Note (SAN).

For information on submitting samples, please contact afdl@csiro.au, Tel +61 3 5227 5118

Training

We can provide training courses covering:

• exotic aquatic animal disease detection
• prawn virus PCR
• aquatic animal disease diagnosis.

Learn about the work CSIRO does in Aquaculture & Fisheries.