Fish disease, what kind of disease is this?

caught this in Simcoe, a very big whitefish and that’s what I saw when cutting it open. It was bled out before and these were more like blood clot or sand and blood mixed all over the meat. Disgusting scene but just curious as what kind of disease it may have. It ended up in trash obviously.

I would send the picture to the MNR they will know for sure. I posted some stuff on diseases in fish a while back. I don't want to guess at what this is without seeing the outside of the fish as well. I showed the picture to my friend, we both agree it's caused by a parasite but which one. Ask the MNR they will give you the best answer, and advise you on disposel etc. They will also have a few questions for you like, where, when, how deep you caught it etc. Always good to let MNR know about totally infected fish. They keep track on these occurrences.

Wooow, I had never seen any thing like this. It is definitely a disease if not chicken pots

You can also Send the pic to MNR if you want to and lets see what do they say

Something like that would of been good to contact MNR and see if they would of taken the fish for tests you just had to keep in the fridge or freezer always see what they would have suggested. I ve never came across fish like that fished simcoe many years over 30 yrs.

holy


never seen anything like that either........would be good to know what it is

Yea weird never seen anything like that in any fish I’ve caught let alone simcoe

Same, have never seen that

Probably covid...seems everything else is ...lol JK... Yeah it would be nice to know whats going on there. Hopefully not contagious

I talked to another friend and he said it could be Barotrauma (decompression sickness) in a big old whitefish. But like me he said he would need to see the fish. Decompression sickness can cause hemorrhaging and hematomas in the meat, as well as other things not seen in the picture. I still think it's a parasite that enveloped the poor old whitefish. I did find a picture of a fish cut open that had decompression sickness. I hope the original poster sends the picture in to the MNR. It would be nice to know exactly what this is. I have seen fish with parasites inside and out, viral hemorrhagic septicemia and or red sore disease etc. But that whitefish is another story, filled with all those little blood clots. So weird.

looks like that fish got pulled out of deep water real fast,blood vessels all exploded.

Very good point.

I'm curious to know how deep you were fishing, substrate (if you know). It would be good to provide this info to the MNR is you send them the picture.

Please keep us posted.

VHS possibly?

I heard Simcoe was in that range now

Yes as I mentioned, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia might be a possibility. There are a few possibilities. Just another great reason for people to clean their boats and live wells and equipment when going from lake to lake, or river to river etc. I even clean my bucket after transporting fish I take home or if I start fishing at Balsam and then move to Sturgeon. We can't stop everything, but we can try. Being lazy and not protecting the fishery is unacceptable.

I've seen this in a few Simcoe whitefish over the years.

One reason why I am in no hurry to target them.

I have only seen 1 pike 2 muskie 1 walleye and 1 rock bass infected like that. And no where near that bad, but bad enough to destroy. Also I only really fish Balsam and Sturgeon in the Kawarthas. I consider that rare. I have not caught a parasite filled infected fish in about 5 years. Just the odd fish with a few black spots or white spots. Nothing wrong with the fish overall.