The FIWI examines the state of health of wild and domesticated fish and animals. This task covers:

• Diagnosis of diseases: The FIWI acts as the National reference laboratory for notifiable fish diseases as well as a ISO/IEC 17025 certified laboratory for infectious diseases in fish and wild animals.
• Research of infectious and non-infectious diseases: The main research focus are on pathogenesis, ecopathology, epidemiology and monitoring.
• Teaching, education, and consulting

The aim of the work is to understand possible interactions between the course of a disease and environmental factors. Thus, veterinary and ecological aspects are taken into account for the evaluation of the ehtiopathology of a disease.