Bender - what other fish are in the pond? Is the pond new or older? What is max depth and what is the available forage items? Goals for the fish in the pond will have a large bearing on if I would transfer wild fish into it or not.
Scott & Crossman (Fishes of Canada) list the known parasites of SMB to be: 12 protozoans, 49 trematodes, 12 cestodes, 13 nematodes, 9 acanthocephalans, 9 leeches, 1 mollusk, 9 crustaceans. Most common of the parasites of SMB from Great Lakes area were bass tapeworm, black spot and yellow grub. Whenever transferring fish in to a pond one should also consider what could microscopically be in the water that may be added along with the fish.
