Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[iRobertO]

Hey,

Just curious if anyone can add anything to this..
We caught this fish at a lake that will remain unnamed, last Saturday. It had all of these things on it, which someone told us was parasites. Can anyone shed any insight into exactly what they are? What caused it? What to do next time we catch one like this? Anything else you'd like to add?

Here is the pic...

[likely]

hey iroberto nice colors on that little guy to bad for the parasite. i would get ahold of the hatchery that stocks the lake and show them the picture . that looks like it could be dangerous if that was just on one fish

[Brook Trout]

i have caught trout in the South Thompson with a couple of those on them but ive never seen them that concentrated on a single fish. poor guy that looks painful

[Every Day]

Do you have a close up?
I can send it to my fish health teacher if you would like, but need a good pic copy. Send to steelheadfishing@hotmail.com
It looks like a really heavy infection of arthropods (aka sea lice in SW).


Cheers,
Dan

[iRobertO]

Sorry, that's as close as it gets.

So if that were to happen again, is there anything one can do? Would removing them help? They were in the gills too, so I think he was pretty much done for..

[Dave]

They are freshwater copepods, very common in some lakes like Cultus.  Interestingly these copepods prefer salmonids over fish like pikeminnows, chub or suckers.

[Banny]

Although I have never seen them at that density, they are not uncommon.  I have caught many fish in the Thompson/Shuswap drainage that have them.  They are a freshwater copepod if memory serves.  Superficially resemble sea lice, although I am not sure how closely related they actually are.

[silver ghost]

...It's all good I didn't want to eat dinner tonight anyways 

[Rp3Flyfisher]

You had a better look at them, did they look anything like this;

Freshwater Copepod


Close up;


Rick

[iRobertO]

Nothing like the first picture and a lot like the second picture. Like a little ball with 2 pieces of rice coming off them. Reminded me of the last time I had hot pot..

[Banny]

The first picture that Risk posted is a copepod well, but it is not a parasitic species like the parasites that you are seeing on that fish.  Many obligate parasites do not resemble their free living ancestral relatives do to specialization/loss of structures.  

Illustrates how the use of common names to describe broad taxa can be misleading.

The original parasites pictures could be a species in the Salmonica genus (Feel free to run a google search to learn more)

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Salmincola_edwardsii.html

[Bassonator]

Damn fish farms......