Here are a few trout that I have lost due to stress and low DO Can somebody tell me why the one brook trout turned yellow just before it died?

SP, sorry for your loss! I know you were doing what you could to try to prevent that.

I can't explain the color change but I'm sure someone else will.

And hopefully it's not a complete loss!



Keith

Just a guess, but the light colored one probably died a few hours earlier than the other two and is a little farther along in the process of decomposition.

Do you have any survivors?

Copy and Paste.....

Stale trout can be recognised by their sunken eyes, loss of colour and bloom from the skin, and the accumulation of yellow slime on skin and gills.

SMPD, sorry about your loss. Hopefully you will get some rain in the next couple of days. This system was a big rain maker in Florida the last few days so you may get a good soaker. If you don't get the rain you may want to take the rest of them out. I haven't been able to go to my ponds for a month and went yesterday. The bigger pond looked like we may have had a kill also. The bad thing about owning stuff is that you have problems with it. Take care and the best of luck to YOU.

Found same article...Got busy and didn't post fast enough...lol

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5945e/x5945e01.htm


Handling fresh trout
Rainbow trout should preferably be starved before slaughter. The newly caught fish should be gutted, washed and packed in ice to keep them in good condition. Gutting can be done by hand or by machine, and it is preferable to remove the gills at the same time in order to reduce bacterial contamination. Trout that have been left ungutted long enough to become stiff after death are often difficult to gut by


machine; they should be processed before the onset of rigor. The head should be left on because beheaded fish keep less well, and because the customer is often reluctant to accept headless trout. Blood remaining in the blood vessel along the backbone after gutting should be scraped or brushed away before the fish are thoroughly washed and packed in ice.

Gutted rainbow trout packed in ice keep in first class condition for 1 week and remain acceptable for 2 weeks; the shelf life of ungutted fish is much shorter, and chilled storage of ungutted trout cannot be recommended. Stale trout can be recognised by their sunken eyes, loss of colour and bloom from the skin, and the accumulation of yellow slime on skin and gills.

SP, I can not give you a scientific answer, but can say that I have come across similar situations with my trout. They seem very sensitive in regards to keeping their out-of-the-water look. I will catch one, and no sooner am I heading to the house to clean it, the color is fading. I have also noticed that if I set it on the ground to take a photo, where ever the back side was touching the ground it is mottled and changed in color and never changes back.

Hope the others you have make it thru. We are in the same weather pattern as you, with no rain while everyone else seems to be drowning.

I don't know if it's just the appearance from the picture, but it looks like a golden trout to me. Don't know if you stocked any, but they'd appear that color even when small. I know you didn't stock too many fish so you'd have noticed if you had a golden in the mix of fish you put in, but, again, it sure likes that way to me from the picture.

It does kinda look like a golden rainbow from the picture but I know for a fact that rainbow trout golden rainbow trout and brown trout will not survive in my pond due to the low PH.

since the water is very low cause I drained it I went and spread lime over the whole bottom of the pond and Next week I will fill the old spring house with lime stone and let the water seep through it into the bottom of the pond that should raise the PH enough so that this winter I can stock some goldens and browns.

Well, then I'm at a loss other than to agree with the other theory that it just may have been dead a little longer and have lost more coloration as a result.

Anxious to see pics of your renovation project. Good luck with getting it all to come together.

Dang that's looks delicious. Heading to creek first chance I get. Some wild rainbow trout sounds good.

Small Pond, what was the pH? If CC can survive it, I am surprised brown trout couldn't? Have you considered tiger trout?

That's an easy one. It was dead longer than the other brook trout or just faded faster when it died.

When I harvest my big ones I euthanize them by overdosing them with an anesthetic. Once dead they lighten up. However upon immediately freezing them open air on a nonstick surface they darken back up.

Well that's interesting Cecil. I have thought that when my water temps are colder, my trout a more colorful. I suppose when they die, they have all the warm blood in them, and usually the outside temps are warmer(part of the reason why they might die naturally), but apparantly the flesh/skin when froze still has the ability to change back. Neat...

The ph is normally 5.5-6.0 I couldn't believe it that the brown trout wouldn't survive in it too but I have tried to stock them before and they did the same thing that the rainbows did. I did look into stocking some tiger trout before but I couldn't find any body close that raised them. This Fall I will probably drain the pond once again harvest every fish that I don't want in their. and stock with golden rainbows and browns. Thankyou Cecil That's very interesting.

Just curious How long does It take the fish to die once it's been put in the anesthetic?

Is the fish edible if killed that way?

Trout and most other fish are poikilothermic -- no warm blood -- they take on the temps of water they are in. Pretty sure water temp does not effect pigment. Diet and hormones have the biggest effects on the color of a fish. Light penetration and background colors do too.

Depends on the dosage and water temps. For me it's in less than 10 minutes.

Not advisable. As you know Scott my fish are not grown to eat.

Ok, then I am confused (not hard to do ).

The fish go pale at death then because of hormones?

Then the color comes back in the freezer because of the darkness?

I think you were on to something about the fish going pale because of lack of blood flow. Just it's not due to '"warm" blood. Not sure why they darken back up apon freezing. Btw conversely my bluegills turn dark when they get stressed or die and stay that way regardless of freezing.

Yep Cecil, I know that your fish are sold to taxidermists for mounting, but SP asked, and I assumed that he eats the fish. Maybe an incorrect assumption on my part.

I don't eat too much fish but I guess that's just because My mom and dad always bought fish from the supermarket and they always seemed to have that fishy taste but I do like fresh trout catfish bg ect.

I plan on harvesting the fish this fall eating most and getting the biggest one mounted.

However, these fish can be smoked, or, if one prefers, baked into brownies.
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And even though I responded to you I posted it for his benefit. I had the same assumption as you.

I grew up not really liking freshwater fish because my parents really didn't know how to cook them although I sure liked to catch them. Once I learned different ways to cook them it made a big difference.

Still nothing beats freshly caught fish or scallops like when I lived in Massachusetts. Once you freeze fish the quality declines IMHO.

Are you sure? The FDA won't allow fish to go on the market within so many days of being anesthesized. I also use much more than the normsl amount for euthanizing.

Cecil, if you ever get tired of taxidermy, let me know. We can take our show on the road. Penn and Teller, Abbott and Costello, they won't have anything on "Baird and Sac".

Mmmmmm...can't stop with just one.....

It sure does help knowing to cook the fish did you know that most mc donalds in Maine sell lobster rolls The crab they use has to be from the previous years catch. Maby It's none of my business but How long did you live in Massachusetts?

Mmmmmmmm.... Fresh Bluefin steaks or fresh Wahoo.

P.M. sent.

Yeah I saw the lobster rolls last time I was out there. One of my favorite seafood restaurants is called the Weathervane but I ate at a restaurant once right on a wharf in Boston and it didn't get any fresher than that as they were bringing in the catch of the day we ate.

There are some restaurants out therec that are outrageously expensive but the fish isn't any better. Learned to avoid them.

Lived in Mass from 67' to 71' on an Army Post when my dad was in the military. Had 35 acre lake pretty much all to myself right behind quarters surrounded by a deep woods. Caught a lot of brook trout in that lake along with some browns and rainbow, bluegill, yellow perch, and largemouth bass.

5000 lakes and reservoirs in a Mass which is a third the size of Indiana. Bluegill are considered trash fish out there by most anglers so the bluegill fishing is phenomenal.