I have a small pond that has a very limited population of yellow perch in it. These fish are offspring of fish I stocked from a local lake. Nearly every fish I catch in that small pond has worms as we call them, but I guess the proper name is some sort of parasite. They look like a small tan colored cyst in the flesh when filleted, but can also be seen through the skin around the lower jaw and gills. Are these a treatable ailment or is this just something common to perch in warm water? I fillet them out and often fry fish with them in the meat, never worried about it, but I have considered stocking some of the smaller fish in my new larger pond, just wondered if these were an inevitability in my new pond regardless of measures I take to stop them? Obviously I would prefer not to have them if I could. Anyone else seen these?
Another question, a guy recently told me that stunted fish could pass their "stunted" genetics on to their offspring. This sounds false to me as stunting is a nature vs. nurture condition, i.e. starved equals stunted. Would stunted fish start to grow again if density was reduced and feed was increased?? I may use some of these stunted fish for my first cage project to see how they fare, I just wanted some input from the knowledge base of this board first.
