Worm Infested Crappie

[mighty]

I caught alot of fish on my cali trip. When I began to clean them they all had WORMS. Not just in the belly but under the skin. When I was fileting them and I removed the skin, worms were rolled up. I guess they were tape worms.

Has anyone ever experience this?

Some people said they find worms in the fish during the winter. Is it a winter thing or a California dirty delta water thing?
I have not seen this in Alabama.

Whats up with the worms?

[crappieseeker]

mighty, you were lucky if none of the fish we caught that day didnt have them. Alot of the crappie I catch on Guntersville have them in them. The ones I cleaned the other day had them. Some people throw the whole fish away, some people just cut the worms out. I have heard cattle and farm runoffs cause this to happen. I'm not sure what causes it

[mighty]

I have seen them in the belly but not in the meat. The ones you cleaned had them under the skin also?

[Charger]

I have never heard that. I have filet'd of lot of crappie and have never seen that.
What color worms? Size?

[mighty]

They were like white and clear, they were rolled up so I think maybe about an inch. They were blood suckers.

I think the were tapeworms.

[crappieseeker]

Yes they have them under the skin also. Here is a pic I took of one. It's hard to see, but I took it to show another guy cause he had never heard of it either.

[DENNIS BOWERS]

Back when I was a kid we used to catch Rock Bass out of a run off from a quarry.About 1/2 the time these would have the same thing!!Never did figure out why, but sure didnt eat them!!

[hogster]

Fry-em up boys just alittle extra protein. The pond fish around here always have them.Asked a conservationist once they said the herons bring them in in thier mouthes. Some sort of snail larve.Wont hurt you just think of it as fish fry escargo.

[Crappie Reaper]

The fish in coal pits, stagnate ponds, or any body of water that very rarely has any kind of flow will have these here in Okla. I have always just removed them while cleaning and fry the fish. I too have seen people refused to eat fish that had these in them. Never had any probs with them, just toss em in the guts sack while cleaning. Sometimes would toss a whole fish if there were too many of them, but, most times, would only come across maybe 4-5 per fish. Sometimes they were borrowed down into the meat.

[tuffy]

They are called anchor worms and I have seen then in Alabama. I actually had my Koi pond infested with them, they either came with some goldfish I was given or a Bream I put in there from the river. Takes a while for them to die and the fish to heal too. Left untreated and it will kill the fish.