Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trout Worms?

Anybody that knows rainbow trout ever find their trout with worms? By worms I mean some sort of parasite that attaches to the body of the fish...it seems to burrow it's way into the flesh through the skin. sometimes there is very skinny worm like thingie sticking out of fish....but more often than not, the fish just has bumps like crazy.....under the skin.

It happened last year too....was fine all summer, now that water is cold, most fish have some evidence of this.

really ugly, people who catch these fish don't want them, which I understand. I'm quite worried about it.....anyone?

UPDATE

in case anyone is interested...the worms I have found out through EXHAUSTIVE research on the web are "lernea" or anchor worms. Not harmful to humans and their host is the tubeworms that are normally found in ponds. When the water heats up in summer they attack rainbows. they do not bother brook trout apparently but rainbows they love.

Now I can tell my clients that they won't die when they eat the fish

Thanks for that info. I'll be stocking Golden RB, Brk, & Brn trout in my pond. There aren't many trout guy's left on this site.
I did some research too but wasn't sure if what I found was your problem. The info I found wasn't specific to trout but warm water fish. If I remember correctly there is a parasite that spends it's adult life in the throat & mouths of fish eating birds & deposits eggs in the pond when the bird grabs a fish. The eggs hatch & infect another fish. They are also harmless to humans & are killed when the fish is cooked.
Ric

Here's the info (I found it again) from the NC State University site.
Ric
Fish Parasites
Wild fish normally carry a variety of parasites, and usually show no negative effects unless the infection is extremely heavy. Largemouth bass are commonly infected with the bass tapeworm, which lives in the intestine of bass; this species does not infect humans. Two other parasites frequently observed by anglers are the yellow grub, and the black grub or black spot parasite. The yellow grub is the larval stage of a trematode worm which forms small whitish or yellowish cysts in the flesh and near or just beneath the skin. Black grub parasites are also the encysted larvae of trematode worms, and appear as a small black spot about the size of a small pinhead, in or just beneath the skin.

Both of these parasites have a complex life cycle involving snails, fish, and fish-eating birds such as herons or kingfishers. The adult worms live in the mouth and throat of fish-eating birds, and shed their eggs into the water as the bird feeds. The eggs hatch and the free-swimming larvae infect snails. Later, advanced larvae emerge from the snail and penetrate the skin of a fish. When the fish is eaten by a bird, the cycle is completed.

While all these parasites are aesthetically unappealing, they will not infect humans and are killed by thorough cooking. There are no chemical treatments available to eliminate these parasites in pond situations. However, snails are a preferred food of redear sunfish, so establishing a good population of these fish in the pond may help disrupt the life cycle of parasitic trematodes.