Bad Fish

[Tommy]

I posted a pic of a fish last year that appeared to have something wrong with it. I have seen discoloration in fish before but never anything like this. The problem seems to be getting worse this year and was just wondering if anyone has since seen this. The first pic is the fish from last year and the one on the ice chest is a fish from yesterday. I have been taking fish to the Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries biologist and from there they have been sent to LSU to a fish pathologist. Apparrently the pathologist didn't see anything in the samples that we sent last year due to the fact that they have to be whole and on ice. We made sure that he had one this morning before sending them off. Out of a dozen fish that I cleaned yesterday, all of them had discoloration and were thrown away. The other 38 are, or should be on their way to LSU to be analyzed. I have posted the same 2 pics on the brag board if anyone wants a better quality pic. Need all the help we can get right now.

[Crapbie]

Maybe you could get a large tank to hold some and you could see if after a few months of your personal care they still have it, this is ofcourse only if nearly all have it because it would be very hard to cut and see if they have it and then keep them in a tank. Fishy exploratory surgery. With such good pictures maybe you could send some pics to some pathologists from neighbouring states to see if the problem is coming from one of them.

[bhodges]

is it just me or is that second really mushy lookin?

Maybe it's some kind of parasite or something.

[Fishin_Magician]

Hmm Tommy after looking at the pics I have never seen anything like it. I am only 24 but I have cleaned a bunch of fish from Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

Only yellow parasite I have encountered was the Yellow Grub. Thats really the only fish parasite that I regularly look out for when cleaning fish from a new water body.

But I do not think the problem in Caney is Yellow Grubs. They look like this when under the skin of the fish...



And They look like this in the flesh.



Guess that is not help except excluding one source of the problem. I do agree with bhodges that the flesh looks a bit mushy in the pics on the brag board. Was that just an illusion of the picture or was the meat real soft?

~Fishin' Magician~

[Tommy]

I don't know about that Crapbie. I might get attached after petting them for so long. LOL

That’s what I am thinking it is BH, just due to the fact that is showing up where parasites normally do. Every time I see this it is just inside the peck and dorsal fins. Or it appears to be coming in through there. By the way the meat is mushy and later it will harden so that you can actually dig it out with a knife blade.

[Crapbie]

This is one very sad thread. I wish pictures like those did not even exsist. What possible good could those parasites ever do. Seems like a waste of space. Maybe they are mutant fleas from a mutant dog that got bite by a radiactive bat?

[crappster]

I too cleaned a fish last week that had half of its meat a darker brown color. It was on both sides. There were no visible problems on the outside of the crappie. I ate it anyhow, and I've been twitching alot lately. I just figured I was a little nervous. What do you guys think?

[LakeHardingSpirit]

That fish had alot to be desired.

[unknown 5]

I don't think I would eat fish that had obvious paracite damage and If I did, I would be sure it is well cooked.