Re: NANFA-- Collecting Equipment?
BR0630_at_aol.com
Tue, 11 Jan 2000 13:33:37 EST
One thing I have noticed in collecting that is especially prominent in
dipnetting sunfishes: on the second to fifth day after collecting, some fish
develop fungal growth that often proves to be fatal. It happens sometimes
with killies, too. So..... I think some of the cause would have to be net
caused injury plus the taxation of stress combine to overwhelm the fishes'
immune system. But I wonder, has anyone collected wearing rubber gloves and
noticed less than normal disease-caused mortality in fish kept? Although I
always ensure that my hands are wet when releasing fish when I sport fish and
again before I empty collected fish from my dipnet (so as to minimize slime
loss/injury for the fish), I'm wondering if my hands might contain some
pathogen that can cross mammal/fish boundaries to infect the fish? Anyone
have any input on this? Also, I haven't had this problem dipnetting catfish,
which is surprising considering the fact that they become entangled in the
mesh of my dipnet worse than the other kinds of fish I collect. Maybe they
have more protective slime to compensate for their lack of scales?
Bruce Scott
Meridian, Idaho
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