Piscirickettsia salmonis tissue collection

This video explains how to collect samples for Piscirickettsia salmonis tissue imprint examination

Collection Materials:

  • Glass microscope slides
  • Clean forceps
  • Gauze
  • Alcohol and flame
  • Slide storage container

Procedure:

  1. Use clean forceps to gently dab a pea-sized fresh kidney sample onto a sterile gauze pad to remove excess blood/fluid; if there is too much blood/fluid on a sample, it can result in WADDL being unable to evaluate the tissue imprint.
    1. Use clean forceps (remove debris, dip in alcohol, and flame between each sample) and gauze for each sample to prevent contamination between samples.
  2. Firmly touch the tissue to two sets of glass microscope slides. Allow tissue imprints to air dry.
    1. Each microscope slide can fit three tissue imprints total.
      A slide with three unstained kidney imprints.
  3. Save one set of slides and ship the other set to WADDL for testing.
    1. See “Packing guidelines” Resource for information about how to properly package slides for shipping.
    1. Since this test requires lethal sampling of fish, it is valuable to have backup samples in case slides are damaged or lost during shipping.
  4. At WADDL, slides are fixed, stained, marked, and then evaluated via light microscopy for P. salmonis.
A slide with three Giemsa-stained kidney imprints.