Texas State Aquarium suffers massive animal losses

The Texas State Aquarium is a popular place for families to visit in Corpus Christi. The attraction is vying to become the Best North American Aquarium.

The Texas State Aquarium is a popular place for families to visit in Corpus Christi. The attraction is vying to become the Best North American Aquarium. Photo: John Tedesco, San Antonio Express-News Photo: John Tedesco, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Texas State Aquarium suffers massive animal losses 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

The Texas State Aquarium has suffered major fish deaths during the past 24 hours after aquarium workers administered a treatment targeting a parasite Tuesday night.

It's unclear just how may animals died after the treatment but three exhibits were effected, aquarium spokesman Richard Glover said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Glover said workers sampled the treatment — used in aquariums nationwide — on fish in a smaller tank after finding the parasite was resistant to other forms of medication. A few animals had previously died during a weeks-long fight against the parasite.

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After seeing no adverse effects, the new treatment was given to animals in the three larger exhibits.

"We couldn't afford to let a parasite like that to continue and cause more deaths in our collection," Glover said.

The aquarium has sent water samples to testing laboratories to find out what caused the deaths that took place after the treatment was administered.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports