Black Spot Brookies

[Forrest Allen]

Morning everyone, 

I caught a brookie with the Black Spot parasites (http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/health/vol2issue8.htm) on it this past weekend in George Washingon and Jefferson NF. I was wondering if yall have seen this on other Virginia streams, rivers or fish? My google searches seem to show it mainly existing in Northern states. I understand that it can kill the fish, but is it something that ought to be reported to VDGIF?

Any thoughts? 

Forrest

[Carl Z.]

Of course you should.  And then let us know if they already know about it.

Carl

--

Carl Zmola

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/4aa6b4af-f114-4c43-82b0-39e02e3939ca%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Forrest Allen]

Just FYI - the response from VDGIF:

Forrest,

 

I have never personally seen that amount of black spot on an individual brook trout.  It is much more common for us to see black spot on other fish species like creek chubs, blacknose dace, common shiners, and other minnows.  The “black spot” (grub) needs a snail and a fish eating bird to complete its life cycle.  Where we see a high volume of black spot there is often high densities of snails.  Snails feed on attached algae which is driven by higher inputs of nutrients.  Thank you for sending the picture.  The brook trout in the picture should live a normal life.  Black spot is a natural parasite found in streams throughout Augusta County.  While I am not overly concerned, I would be interested in knowing the tributary where the trout was caught.  Excess nutrients enriching the stream (increasing the snail population) could lead to degraded water quality. 

 

 

Stephen J. Reeser 
District Fisheries Biologist 
Virginia Dept. Game and Inland Fisheries 
Region IV 

On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 3:40:30 PM UTC-4, Carl wrote:

Of course you should.  And then let us know if they already know about it.

Carl

--

Carl Zmola

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 8:38 AM, Forrest Allen <gforres...@gmail.com> wrote:

Morning everyone, 

I caught a brookie with the Black Spot parasites (http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/health/vol2issue8.htm) on it this past weekend in George Washingon and Jefferson NF. I was wondering if yall have seen this on other Virginia streams, rivers or fish? My google searches seem to show it mainly existing in Northern states. I understand that it can kill the fish, but is it something that ought to be reported to VDGIF?

Any thoughts? 

Forrest

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

[Dalton Terrell]

Forrest,

Thanks for the update from VADGIF. I caught some similar looking chubs, as your contact noted as common, during our bluegill tournament this year in a small stream in northern VA.

Dalton

On Wednesday, October 26, 2016, Dalton Terrell <daltonb...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 8:49:36 AM UTC-4, Forrest Allen wrote:

Just FYI - the response from VDGIF:

Forrest,

 

I have never personally seen that amount of black spot on an individual brook trout.  It is much more common for us to see black spot on other fish species like creek chubs, blacknose dace, common shiners, and other minnows.  The “black spot” (grub) needs a snail and a fish eating bird to complete its life cycle.  Where we see a high volume of black spot there is often high densities of snails.  Snails feed on attached algae which is driven by higher inputs of nutrients.  Thank you for sending the picture.  The brook trout in the picture should live a normal life.  Black spot is a natural parasite found in streams throughout Augusta County.  While I am not overly concerned, I would be interested in knowing the tributary where the trout was caught.  Excess nutrients enriching the stream (increasing the snail population) could lead to degraded water quality. 

 

 

Stephen J. Reeser 
District Fisheries Biologist 
Virginia Dept. Game and Inland Fisheries 
Region IV 

On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 3:40:30 PM UTC-4, Carl wrote:

Of course you should.  And then let us know if they already know about it.

Carl

--

Carl Zmola

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 8:38 AM, Forrest Allen <gforres...@gmail.com> wrote:

Morning everyone, 

I caught a brookie with the Black Spot parasites (http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/health/vol2issue8.htm) on it this past weekend in George Washingon and Jefferson NF. I was wondering if yall have seen this on other Virginia streams, rivers or fish? My google searches seem to show it mainly existing in Northern states. I understand that it can kill the fish, but is it something that ought to be reported to VDGIF?

Any thoughts? 

Forrest

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsubsc...@googlegroups.com.

[Andrew Chaney]

I caught a creek chub with similar black spots just last weekend in a Potomac tributary not far from Leesburg. That's good to know it isn't too serious. I caught a lot of other fish that day (smallies, crappie, sunfish, and a few other chubs) with no black spots that I noticed, so hopefully that stream doesn't have any excess nutrients in it. Would it still be worth reporting to VDGIF?

Carl

--

Carl Zmola

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Forrest Allen]

Based on the response, I'd say its not worth reporting unless you catch multiple fish with the spots, which would indicate an detrimentally large population of snails and poor water quality. I'm still no expert, of course!

Forrest

[Matthew Longley]

Fished a remote pond in northern Maine where all of the fish over 6 inches were riddled with these. Was definitely sad to see, but as I understand it usually doesn't affect the fish