Glenbawn Bass deformities

[Ben@Tamworth]

Hi,

Went out on Glenbawn yesterday, did alright for my first trip there finishing the day with 7 bass to 38cm, the guy I was with took two bass and a 48cm yellowbelly. Anyway, my question is that about half the fish we got in had mouth deformities like nothing I had seen before. Anyone know what would be causing this? I thought it may have been from rough hook removal earlier in life, sound feasible?

Oh yeah, for anyone interested, we couldn't raise any interest using lures. If anyone saw us - we were the fools pulled up at random banks chasing locusts worked great though!!

[Paul_C]

I've fished a few of the ABT events at Glenbawn and have seen a lot of the deformities that you mention, including one fish that appeared to have only about half of it's bottom jaw. It is a common belief amongst quite a few of us that they are genetic defects from too small a gene pool in the breeding stock at the hatchery, so much inbreeding that we started calling them Cletus and Billie Bob.

Regards
Paul Cade

[basserman]

yeh agree with paul i belive it is all about how they are breeded ether the low gene pool or the way they fertulise the bass ether wrong water temp or too much or too little salt water or could be a combo of all of these
but i do dout it has anything about the hook removal as they have a very hardy mouth that heals very qickly!
i have seen the same thing i have seen at gleanbourn at socked rivers so it sure looks like a breeding thing!

[Ben@Tamworth]

Interesting,

Does eating inbred bass make me inbred? lol - they sure tasted good though, bbq'd a couple last night. The yellowbelly was a bit fatty though which made it a bit err flavoursome

Oh yeah, I have caught a LOT of wild Macleay bass and I would go close to saying that these stocked dam fish pull harder than the wildies, a lot fatter though!!

[Fitzy]

Have seen this alot on bass we stock into lake in SE Qld. We used to think it was some genetic thing, but are now almost positive its from the mesh in the nets when handling them as fry & fingerlings. Their lips are very fragile & basically get stuck in the mesh & are torn off. The main couple of hatcheries we (Somerset & Wivenhoe) purchase fsih from have changed the fine mesh in the small nets (flour sieves) & the problem is nowhere near as prevalent since.

Fitzy..

[Strewth]

Did you catch any with pink ulcers on their bodies and fins? At least half of the fish I caught there 2 weeks ago were covered in these things.

Cheers

Strewth

[Fitzy]

Did you catch any with pink ulcers on their bodies and fins? At least half of the fish I caught there 2 weeks ago were covered in these things.

Cheers

Strewth

Those will probably be anchor worm. A naturally occuring parasite that usually only gets a hold in a spot when the fish are either stressed or in poor condition. Can still happen in healthy happy fish tho. Got 1 in Big W (Wivenhoe) yesterday that had a small anchor worm cyst. (see pic below)

Cheers,

Fitzy..

[Strewth]

Fitzy

I wondered what the problem was. 50-60% of the fish we caught in the upper reaches of the dam had many pink cysts. Fewer fish in the lower reaches (near the wall) appeared to be infected, but the problem was still there too. The water appeared clean enough, with little sign of algae.

Cheers

Strewth

[Remo]

I've caught bass in Moogerah Dam with mouth deformaties as well. These did look to me as being damaged goods in their youth.

Regards
ray

[Fitzy]

Fitzy

I wondered what the problem was. 50-60% of the fish we caught in the upper reaches of the dam had many pink cysts. Fewer fish in the lower reaches (near the wall) appeared to be infected, but the problem was still there too. The water appeared clean enough, with little sign of algae.

Cheers

Strewth

Dont really know all that much. The worm is present at most times in most waters. When there's an inflow it can see a new bout of them spring up in a lake. Info I have is that the fishes immune system normally fights the worms but if the fish is in poor condition or stressed it is more suseptable to them. Dont think algae has any influence in them.
Maybe the fish near the wall are on a better paddock ATM (more food). Maybe the water condtions are better there?
Has Glenbawn had a recent inflow?

fitz..

[Ben@Tamworth]

No really recent rain in the Glenbawn catchment, at least a month....

The fish we caught at the weekend had the worm, The very first bass I ever caught was in Glennies Creek (not the dam) it had the worm so bad on the tail that it really didn't fight (I was actually pretty dissappointed because this bass was not all that they cracked up to be - boy was I wrong on my second fish!!)

Fish I have caught in the Macleay have also had this worm. When it is on the body though it doesn't seem to affect the fish...

It's a pity about the damage caused as it tends to remind you that you are catching a stocked fish....

Anyone know how old a 38cm bass is?

[Graham_N_Roberts]

I've wondered if it was due to prolonged periods with no inflow .ie drought. At the local pond in low water levels, I've caught yellas with no cysts nor gut worms, yet any spangled perch or strippy grunter had varying degrees of infestation.

Would drought conditions contribute to the incidence of cysts and worms, and are the good old goldens resistant?

Thoughts anyone?

[Ben@Tamworth]

The yella we caught had a cyst on it.

[Fitzy]

I'll see what other info I can dig up on the topic.

Ben, a 38cm bass in a lake situation could be as young as 18 months to 2 years. A wild fish?? Could be upto or over 20 years. Dont know how old bass can get to.

Researchers aged a 23cm bass from the Brisbane River, it was 7 years old. In Wivenhoe immediately upstream a 23 cm bass is 11 - 12 months old. The older they get the slower they grow.

Fitzy..

[goodoo2]

People may not be aware that these mongrel anchor worms or Lernea are almost certainly an introduced parasite.

And yes, fish get them worse in drought and low flow conditions.

Other parasites that are almost certainly introduced are Saprologenia fungus and Chilodenella, which the Cod species in particular are susceptible too.


Simon