The distribution of iridoviruses in five freshwater ornamental fishes, pearl gourami (Trichogaster leeri), dwarf gourami (Colisa lalia), silver gourami (Trichogaster microlepis), blue gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus sumatranus) and freshwater angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare), imported from Singapore was examined in 2004 and 2005. The presence of iridoviruses in 56 sample groups was determined using PCR technique and showed PCR positive in 11 sample groups. The proportion of fish infected by iridovirus was differed depending upon species; 31.8% (7/22) for pearl gourami, 18.2% (2/11) for dwarf gourami, 16.7% (1/6) for blue gourami, 9.1% (1/11) for silver gourami and 0% (0/6) for angelfish. In quantitative comparison of viral DNAs isolated from infected tissues, the DNA concentration of iridovirus in pearl gourami was higher than that in dwarf gourami. Although pearl gourami infected naturally by iridovirus showed 100% mortality in keeping experiment for 3 weeks, only 57% of those was positive in PCR. In the comparison of nucleotide sequences of the PstⅠ fragment known as the most variable genomic region, both iridoviruses isolated from pearl gourami and dwarf gourami showed identity more than 99% with infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) isolated from mandarinfish (Siniperca chuatsi).