Opinion on Wounded Fish

I would guess that is some disease. If that bullhead had just gotten chewed on by some other fish would it still be feeding?

I'd think disease too, but is there a preditor that can do that damage in there? Pike, musky??

I'd have to say disease. if it was another fish that did that, i would think the wound would a little more jagged in the middle.


Just don't eat it

RiverRat, You're supposed to skin,gut ,and fry them before you take a bite out of them. :lol: :lol: .

Disease, and to venture a guess based on those photos it's Edwardsiella septicemia.


From seaching the net:

The disease affects primarily channel catfish but also observed in goldfish, golden shiners, largemouth bass, and the brown bullhead. The lesions are similar to A. hydrophila with small cutaneous ulcers and hemorrhage observed both in the skin and muscle. Muscle lesions often develop into large gas filled (malodorous) cavities. Diseased fish lose control over the posterior half of their body yet continue to feed.

Cluricaun said:

Disease, and to venture a guess based on those photos it's Edwardsiella septicemia.

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That is a solid guess Cluricaun - I followed up and a member of that family is a very strong canidate. 2

Bowfisherman

RiverRat242 said:

Cluricaun said:

Disease, and to venture a guess based on those photos it's Edwardsiella septicemia.

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That is a solid guess Cluricaun - I followed up and a member of that family is a very strong canidate. 2

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It's definately a scepticemia of some sort, Edwardsiella tends to make more of a blister, but they can and do pop, which would leave just the ulceration. What's the water quality like in this pond? Diseases like this tend to happen in overcrowded lakes with high organic content. Is this a mucky lake with tons of dinks in it?

Sounds like he's been there before RiverRat :lol: :lol:

Nah, I just stayed in a Holliday Inn Express last night. :lol:

And I've read a few books about fish diseases from the library.

Yea you hit it on the head - tons of little hybrid sunfish. The pond is about 30yrds wide and about 300yrds long with a max depth of 9'. I've caught the following out of the pond: Sunfish(hybridized of all sorts) Largemouth, Smallmouth, Rockbass, Channel Cat, Flathead, Bullhead. Any ideas on what to do to get it back into a natural balance?

Catch 'em all and start over :lol: :lol:

jdisci said:

Catch 'em all and start over :lol: :lol:

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Actually that's not a bad idea in a way. One of the worst factors for something like this is the overcrowding because the fish come into too much contact with each other. These diseases aren't unnatural, but unbalanced lakes are. There should only be so many of a certain species in a given area before stunting and overpopulation happens and then instead of one fish getting sick and dying that fish passes on the virus to lots of other fish. There's not going to be enough predation by the bass and cats to make a difference in the population. Thinning the dink population is a great start, and so is making sure that the pond has plenty of aeration to keep dissolved O2 levels high.

Is this your pond or is this someone elses pond, like a neighborhood pond?

Uh, was it a wound caused by snaggers?


Marty

Nah, retention pond. Before I read Clurican and RR go back and forth my first thought was a turtle but it's way to early for them. I've fished this pond and can see the possibility of the stress within the population is probable(especially after last winter,the extended cold and Slaying 'em :lol: :lol: )I would imagine it's like if you have a fishtank and your fish start coming down with 'Ick'.

Where are the bucket-heads when you need them!?!?

turtles are mildly active this time of year, so its quite possible