Diseased walleye??

[garyk]

Last night below Gilbert, (Mult.Channel) we found a sick walleye floating on the surface. Good sized fish at about 26" and maybe 6#.

It seemed to be the victim of a dark colored fungus infecting the gills. Fungal masses were extending beyond the gill plates.

When I went to pick him up, he had enough life to swim away, so we didn't get the carcass for a better examination.

My question is -- have others seen walleye in this condition? Might it be related to post-spawning stress, similar to how large Deschutes redsides often die after spawning.

This spring's higher, cooler flows would not seem conducive to fungal outbreaks at this time.

What do you think, natural occurance or cause for concern?

[Fish Hunter]

gary, this is the third time I've heard of a big walleye floating near the surface in that location over say the last 3 years. The folks telling me about them didn't notice a fungus though. One guy cooked it up and brought it in to share at work! He got some grief about serving roadkill but I'm told it ate fine. I bet your right about the spawning stress. Cause for concern....????? Don't know. Will be interested in what the warm-water fisherman think about this.

[Stacie L. Kelsey]

Here is a link to our Archive Publications. At the very bottom of the page is an information sheet called, "What the Heck is That?" It is in PDF format and talks about common parasites and fungus/bacterial diseases in fish. It's regarding Washington, but may give you some ideas about the walleye you found.

http://198.187.3.50/archives/angling.htm

stace

[eats]

through 20 years of walleye fishing in Minnesota i've never heard of or seen anything like what you describe...but with all the crap (literally and figuratively) in that river nothing would surprise me.

[garyk]

Thanks Stacey, I looked at the link and thought we were getting somewheres with the 'cotton' bacterial disease but the symptoms didn't seem to match.

This fish was notable for what appeared to be a dark fluffy, fungal-like mass, exuding from under the gill plate. (Aaron, I'm pretty sure it wasn't just a torn gill due to the fluffy appearance).

It was nasty enough that I wasn't going to contaminate the landing net (although I went for a bare-handed grab, so maybe that says something about my priorities.)

We'll likely be back out tonight, and we'll keep a lookout for another.

[Jellyhead]

That's interesting gary. I've fished warmwater fish alot in that area, mostly bass, but have caught quite a few walleye there too.

I have never noticed anything wrong w/any of the walleye in that area. It may have been post-spawn stress, but I doubt it. Most warmwater fish live along time and go through many spawnings. If it would have been a 10lb. plus fish I would buy spawning stress, as the fish would be quite old. My guess is that it was a parasite. I've caught quite a few cutthroats out of the lower columbia tribs that have had white parasites hanging out of thier gill plates. All were in good condition, and were obviously feeding because they struck a lure.

Bass in that section of the river are a different story though. I've caught hundreds of them, and have noticed a red blotching on the sides of the largemouth in that area. Maybe one out of 25 will have it, usually larger (3 pounds and over) sized fish. I don't know if it is from contaminents in the river, or from handling due to weigh ins and multiple times being caught. I've never caught a smallmouth with the blotching, but they are more migratory, and less of home body than a largemouth.

To bad you couldn't have caught it to get a better look at it.

Just another reason to release warmwater fish in the multnomah channel :smile:

One other thought. Do you think it was actually part of his gill haning out of his gill plate? That may explain the dark color. Possibly a victim of a deeply inhaled dick nite?!?

Aaron

[ 06-04-2002, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Jellyhead ]