Yes i've seen it in catfish here. Are they round circles with blood in the middle.
I was fishing this spring on Barkley Lake the last two weeks of April. I have fished there for the last 14 years. I am north of Dover in Tennessee. I caught about 5 crappie that had sores on them . On had a bloody spot that almost covered one whole side. The others had spots on thier mouths and also on the sides. These spots looked bloody. I found a link on the internet that looked exactly like what I saw. It was called Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia. I sent an email to a women on the TDNR about what I just put here and of course I never got a reply. Has anyone here seen anything like this? Thanks!
Yes i've seen it in catfish here. Are they round circles with blood in the middle.
I've caught fish with round circles with blood in the center caused by a type of lamprey eel (silver lamprey) in Tippee Dam in Michigan. Also caught them with the eels still attached.
If those sores are not round like the eel marks it could very well be VHS.. It certainly sounds like VHS. If it is it should be controlled immediately. I would keep on the DNR about it. Demand some sort of reply. If not contact someone above them. Could be disasterous if not controlled.
It is not about the equipment you have to use,
It is about how you use the equipment you have. :D
we get a lot of that kind of thing in missouri, are there small lumps on the side? if so are they kinda clear looking, some small lumps on tail and bloody looking, here that is some kind of fungus, not virus hope you don't have the vhs thing I googled it and it could get bad, keep in them folks till they answer you.
How in the world would you go about controlling something like that on the Cumberland River? (Lake Barkley is just a wide spot on the river but what is known as the lake stretches for over 118 miles by itself)
From what I have read, if indeed it is in the lake is most likely came from recreational fishermen from the north dragging it with them or contaminated barges that have been there as well.
Last edited by Quackrstackr; 05-29-2010 at 03:14 PM.
Three of the fish just had spots on their mouths. The other two had bloody looking spots on their sides also. The worst one I caught had one side 2/3 covered with what I'll describe as road rash! There is blood under the skin . I was wondering if anyone else has seen this. I'm 56 yrs old and this is my first time seeing it. I have seen sores on them from eels and even worms but not this. I found the virus on the intenet and I really believe that it is what I saw. I caught these fish from Saline creek and Crocket creek on Barkley Lake Tennessee in April. I wished I would have taken some pics.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Game are calling our recent crappie kill in our region a "fish flu." They don't know, but theorize that the recent malady attacks the gills and suffocates the fish. We have lost an entire crappie hatch in Pymatuning Lake and Shenango Reservoir due to the ecological disaster that seems to be primarily affecting crappie.
At Pymatuming Lake tens of thousands of dead crappie have been quickly scooped up and removed from the water. Officials there have posted a warning against eating ANY FISH from the waters until they figure out what the virus actually is.
At my local Shenango Reservoir we can catch a few crappie, but primarily males. If you do catch a female, there are almost no eggs. We are able to catch them at the entrance to running water INTO the lake.
We crappie enthusiasts are discouraged. There are few to none of the beautiful crappie hitting in our highly rated sportsman crappie hot spot.
Does anybody have any comments?
KrappieKiller
I just recieved a reply from the TDNR about what I reported finding. They were sorry that they took so long to reply ( about 1 month ) but what they said was ( They feel that what I found was stress from spawning!) I don't think so . I have crappie fished many many years and have never seen this. I sure hope it is not what I thought . That could be very bad. Thanks !
Krappiekiller the fish are there. I had no problem catching the big ones. I just don't fish the shallows like every one else. Deep water only for me. Caught 15 or so the other day in 18 fow. I could have brought home at least 10 that were over the 12 inch range but I don't keep any crappie after the end of April.