Does anyone out there know anything about salmon? I am trying to find out about the large patches of what appear to be scab all over the body of our wild salmon in the river. Some patches are 4"-5" in big circular patches. Just wondered if its a fungi or sea lice and if the fish is affected in anyway from it. it looks most unsightly but the fish otherwise seem healthy & are spawning. I saw 10 adults yesterday and 8 were covered in it .

I asked Rob:

"Not sure, they do get affected by both fungal infections and sea-lice.
Depending on when the fish entered the river - if they are fresh run it
could be sea-lice, if the fish has been in the river a while it may get
fungal infections through stress etc. I could ask our fishery team if
you want?"

Do you want him to ask?

Helen

yes please Helen. best way to describe it is to say it looks like big white patches or birth marks.

His advice:

"The fish with white patches (fungal infections) on are almost certainly
under some kind of stress. Sea lice tend to stay on the underside of
the fish, and are not really noticeable until you have your paw on the
said fish. I would recommend she contacts the environment agency via
their website and tells them location and symptoms etc. It could just
be that they've been in the river a while, though its best to tell the
EA just in case there has been a pollution incident"

Sam

There's all kinds of diseases they can get.

Marine Lab Aberdeen

Your best bet would be to report your concerns to the Environment Protection Angecy, the Fisheries board for the river (if there is one), the local Ghillie or one of the big local estates that you know rents out salmon fishing. They WILL be interested if they think it will affect stocks.

Hope you get something sorted.

9th

hi 9th, thanks for the info/link. I seem to only get half of this site loading, so the photos of diseases fish don't actually load so I still don't know whats up with the fish! I will keep trying.
Sam

One of my Koi has "carp pox" - this is white, unslightly fungus type stuff. It does the fish no harm in themselves (if this is what it is). Bit like viral warts in humans - the virus can eventually burn itself out and disappear. If the fish seem well otherwise, I would think its pox as most other fish diseases make the fish ill. Usually lice is more noticeable as lice attaching to the fish, whereas pox looks white and slimey.

Shirley