Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Parasites in my Bass....

I just moved to my new home a few days ago and live on a pond. The pond is fed by an artisian well and is areated with three different units. The fishing is amazing but I have noticed that every few fish will turn up a very skinny, big headed fish that is obviously difficient. Yesteday I decided to keep 5 bass and a monster bream. All bass were about 2 lbs with one being super skinny. While gutting the skinny one, I observed it was LOADED with parasites inside its intestinal track. In fact, each bass I cleaned had the same parasites but to a lesser degree in developmental size. The bream had no parasites that I could detect. Is this a condition that has a cure??? I'm worried as this pond is a bass fishermans dream! One thing to note, the pond is on a barrier island and there are TONS of birds that loaf in the trees (and crap). I am looking at 13 wood storks, 5 night herons, 1 green heron 11 wood ducks...( you get the point)as I type this. Could these birds have anything to do with the parasite situation and is there a cure? Thanks for reading!

Do you have any RES in the pond? They will help with some parasites as they eat snails which are a part of the life cycle of some parasites. Example.

Thank you so much for the response but unfortunately I'm not sure what RES is?...I can certainly verify I have a ton of different herons, storks, etc that crap in the water. The illustration sure makes me think you are on to something!-appreciate it...

Ok..I think an RES is the same fish I call a shell cracker..lol..and yep, we have some true monsters in the pond.

SGF,

Keep in mind that these parasites, birds, fish etc have been involved in this relationship for thousands and thousands of years and the fish are still here. I see parasites all the time in the trophy fish I take in as a taxidermist and it doesn't seem to keep them from becoming trophies. There are are nonlethal ways of keeping the birds out of the water and the use of shellcrakers is a good idea. But don't fall prey to declaring war on the birds as I did at one time (with federal permits). They are only doing what is natural.

RES = Redear Sunfish

See pic below. They are common in Ga.

Aeration is another possible aid, as you reduce muck you might knock out some habitat (muck) and reduce success of that one stage of the life cycle. I noticed you mention aerators in another thread- what type?

We see this condition quite frequently in smaller, nutrient rich ponds that are usually over crowded with bass or bluegill. Bass will harbor a variety of intestinal parasites while often a high percentage of the bluegill will have Philometra present, a nematode that invades their eyes. Keep in mind most of these parasites are always present in varying degrees of abundance. Fish densities coupled with the nutrient load seems to be the culprit in our experience. Aeration as Greg mentioned is a good option as well as bacteria treatments to reduce the nutrient cycle. The birds are a part of coastal life- fun to watch but complicate water quality when rookeries become established.

Hey Greg, Joe here...your ol pal down in Taylor county...there are three aerators in the pond. Bubbles are pumped up from the bottom 24/7 in 3 locations and there are 3 fountains that are set on timers. The lake was built in the 60's and had a major fish kill around 2000 which led to the installation of aerators (from what Ive learned). The water is still very very clear but does stay stirred up from the aeration. Being a life long fisherman, I have seen parasites in fish tons and tons of times. However, I have never seen bass with hunge heads and thin as a piece of paper(they literally have spines showing in front of the dorsal fin where as the healthy fish have meat). I will get a pic of these fish but they are clearly very sick. I removed about 25 of the "sick" looking ones with the fly rod last night. As far as the birds go, they are safe..lol..we love watching them and are one of the reasons we moved here. The ducks in the marsh are in for it though! Thanks for the help folks!

Looks like you landed in a good place. You know the number call if you need anything. The aeration should be helping, now what?

SGF, sounds like you may be lacking in the larger forage that those bigger bass would need. What size ranges of BG do you have in the pond?

Hey folks! Been a while but I have been doing plenty of lurking and learning. I just have been given the title of "Pond Boss" and am now in charge of our community pond. I look forward to my first copy of Pond Boss Magazine and soaking up all the info I can to make the lake I live on as well as some farm ponds I own the best they can be. I really want to thank yall for the HELP and FREE information yall continue to give folks! Guys like Greg Grimes and ALL of yall who have made aquatic/fisheries mangement your Professions but continue to "give it away" on here certainly prove you love what you do!-thank yall! Ok, the diagram showing the parasitic lifecycle that was provided earlier in this thread seems to hit the nail on the head. I noticed that when the water cooled off for winter, there were less affected fish. I assume that warmer water temps would serve as better conditions for all involved in the chain and this seems to have held true. With that said, I removed and continue to remove every bass under 14" and all that are really thin. There are 16 homeowners on the lake but I am the only one who fishes. I have several needy families that I take fish to maybe three times a week now that the bite is red hot. CJBS2003 asked about my forage fish and this is an area that bafffles me. I will post some pics of the different sun fishes I have been catching daily. I love to fly fish and have a special love for these guys. What I am confused about is the fact that they are ALL big....I have not seen or caught a "small" bream yet and I caught over 70 in one day last week. Is there a forage size that is "missing"? None of the bream have the parasites and are fat as mud. Got to go feed my new baby girl but will post pics when I return. Any info in regards to specific species, condition or general comments are appreciated!

LMB need food that is 1/4 to 1/3 their body length to flourish. A LMB needs 10# of forage to gain 1# in body weight. So, you can see that removing mouths to feed is the quickest way to get larger LMB.

The LMB are eating all the small BG, leaving a lot of food for the "bigger than the LMB can eat" BG to grow fat and happy.

If you want to manage the pond for large BG, you are well on your way.

makes sense to me.....thanks for the reply...looks like my files are too big so lemme see what I can do.

sorry for the poor quality but any observations are appreciated....

also have RES in the pond...just started catching them two weeks ago

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Those are some huge Bluegill. Wow. No chance the bass in that picture gets to eat one of them.

I'm presently overrun with birds and snails, luckily no signs of parasites to date. I don't have a lot of RES, I only catch 1-2 a year, but they're very plump.

thanks for the comments and suggestions folks...just got my official Pond Boss subscription ordered and am looking forward to soaking up as much knowledge as I can from the magazine and this site.

There definately seems to be a gap in the bass forage as all the bream I catch are monsters. Wondering if stocking shad would be a possible solution here on the GA coast? I LOVE catching big shouldered BG's on the fly as much as anything but my goal is to take this 6 acre pond and try to make it as balanced and healthy as I can. Still love having big bass to sling frogs at early and late.