Bream with red spot

Just noticed your post on the DohDohDohDohDohDohDoh site madfish, I caught a bream in the Murray yesterday with a bad scar like that and Kurt and josh got one each. Three from the same stretch.

In the Murray there are heaps of homes around and that but man in the Franklin you'd think it would be safe. Any idea where that DohDohDohDoh is coming from?

[madfish]

It was horra I didn't even want to touch it, the dude at Waters & Rivers reckons acid run-off. I thought we were safe, he reckons it would of came from some resently drained land. I caught that one right next to a creek which comes out of land that has been cleared and excavated in the last couple of years, spun me right out stopped fishing not long after that. Marine Parks Acid Soil what next.

[Evan]

Far out thats grosse madfish

did the fish appear to be in any pain like did he fight as hard as normal????

did he go back into the drink or did you put him out of his misery?

Yeah that is about as dodgy as ive seen!
Poor fish...i cant believe that came form the frankland...that river is sooooo crystal clean!!!

Dave

[Craig H]

oh man... that sucks

[madfish]

It fought really hard, on the first glimpse while fighting it I thought it had a huge bight out of it, then I saw it up close horra. I blew it, I released it should of took it home and froze it to send to the dude at Waters & Rivers. It released well and swam away strong, I'm still spun about the acid leach into the Frankie this is bullshit.

[Evan]

Just finished looking at the paper - page 5... this stuff doesnt look good... the figures dont look good either. one angler reported 1 in 3 have the disease in the Serpy and 5-10yrs and possibly no more black bream

how much more of a beating can these fish take.

first netting followed by algal blooms and now this.. poor little guys..

[dan_WA]

Nasty News (and pics)
If only some of the fools developing on top of our estuaries drew a few leaves from the NSW/QLD lesson book.
The disruption of the sensitive areas will lash back and sting us worse than we ever expected !!.
I used to always shudder when driving down Mandurah and seeing the dozers moving tonnes of soil right on the banks of the Estuary, thinking to myself "gee, this looks just like northern NSW !!"....
I wonder how much Rexie is getting for his ads for the "canal living lifestyle" down in Port Bouvard - complete with lesion infected bream + other species. - I'm sure a blue swimmers shell wouldn't hold up well to a pH of 3-5 which is what was detected in some parts of the Clarence

[winfield]

this gear looks a bit ruff doesn't it? what chance does the poor bream stand? if it isn't pro's, netter's or joe public with no respect then we get acid to contend with.

it's enuff to make a grown man think about taking up knitting.

[Brody]

pH of 3-5 which is what was detected in some parts of the Clarence

geez, that is nasty. i hope we can get it sorted out over here before that happens.

cheers, Brody

The potential prescense of acid sulphate soils on the southcoast shopuldn't surprise us Madfish. We have known about acid sulphate soils down there for almost 100 years now.

Back around about 1914 - 1916 (during WW1) the successful introduction by Fisheries dept of Murray Cod into Lake Grassmere just east of Albany was destroyed by clearing & draining of marsh land alongside the lake to grow market gardens for food to feed the populations and troops during the war effort.

This exposed the soils down there to oxygen and created the sulphuric acid runoff that killed out most of the big cod in the lake - some reportedly in the 60 pound class.

Since then we've now had the disaster that was the beenup mineral sands mine at Augusta...again acid suplhate soils being exposed o the air on the south coast, and the same predictable result - a potential ecological disaster just waiting to happen.

A cynic might wonder of course, given that the beenup site drains into the Scott river which enters the Lower Blackwood R. behind malloy island - why the govt want to create a marine park in the hardy inlet??? Is it so no one will be able to catch the red spot affected bream from the lower Blackwood R and realise what an ecological time bomb the various govts have created in approving the Beenup mine site?

Now of course we have Lake Jasper in the De Entrecasteaux National park - with yet another mineral sands mine on the south coast, mining right to within a couple hundred yards of the edge of the lake thans to our govt thru CALM doing a LAND SWAP of ational park for some farmpand to plant bluegums so that the mining can take place.

Definitely NOT allowed to stock any fish into Lake Jasper even thos it is 6 square kilometrs of currently fresh water up to 40 ft deep with camping facilities, toiletts and a concrete boat ramp.....definitelyNOT allowed to stock any fish in there, ohhh noo - that would be an ecological disaster - what if someone caught them and found the red spot caused bye the mine??????

Can't have that better call it a national park (or marine park ) anything to keep the people out so we can mine it and kill everything in it without anyone knowing about it.

I'm afarid I have a pretty cynical view of the current creation of marine Parks and National parks - nothings safe if theres a quid in it for CALM to sell it off or swap it etc and more often i reckon they create them so we WONT getto find out what damage is being done to our environment by the mining they are allowing / encouraging right alongside.

I'mof the opinion, we will be seeing an awfull lot more red spot in fish yet in a great many places once considered pristine and "protected" from all that nastyness bye those good fellows in CALM we all trust to look after our ecologcal values and resources.

Often I think such Park vestsings (marine and national) are just a smoke screen to hide what development damage they KNOW in advance is going to be created by their developer buddies they have already done a deal with next door!

Don't be surprised Madfish, like i said we've known aboutacid sulphate soils for near on 100 years now I've got the original fisheries dept notes that PROVE they have known for this long that exposing acd sulphate soils on the south coast is a recipe for aquatic ecological disaster, but it didn't stop Jangardup mine or national park landswap, nor did it stop Beenup mine east of Augusta on the scott plain. The serpentine is just the start as you are all soon to find out.

Red spot - comming to a river near you courtesy of CALM and their land mismanagement practices.

Cheers!

[Richo]

Disapointing few facts there Trouty - don`t blame you, just another example of the Govt taking the side of the money makers.

One thing I have learnt is that NOTHING suprises me anymore.

cheers

Just got this from Fisheries this morning.........

"Fisheries Scientists say the occurrence of the fish disease red spot in WA’s South West may not be related to water quality and fish stocks have not declined.

Senior Fish Pathologist, Dr Brian Jones will be available to speak about the disease this morning.

Red spot is a fungal infection that has affected fish in the SW for nearly a decade.

Dr Jones said: “There is no indication that stock levels have declined in the past nine years.

“Fish are very active at this time of the year and are susceptible to skin damage and infection.”

A PhD student is working with Fisheries and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation to develop a quick test for Red Spot.

Red Spot is non toxic to humans and fishers are urged to return affected fish to the water where they are caught to prevent the spread of the disease."


mmmmmmmmm...........................sounds like a load of DohDohDohDoh to me?

[Richo]

A carpet and a big broom

I haveto say I'm not Dr Jones greatest fan, but enough said on that.

Heres something might shed a little more "accurate" light on what he's said tho..

From: Steve Appleyard [mailto:appleyrd@ozemail.com.au]
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 9:46 PM
To: Quickstrike
Cc: WONG Stephen; DEGENS Brad; RECFISHWEST Frank Prokop
Subject: Re: red spot


Hi Kev,

I dont have a lot of information at the moment, but there is a lot of dispute locally about the triggers for the disease. This is what I know so far.

"Red Spot" disease (or Epizootic ulcerative syndrome or EUS) is a fungal disease caused by a fungus called Aphanomyeces (not sure of the spelling at the moment). This disease has come to australia from SE Asia sometime in recent history. It can only infect fish with damaged skin.

There is a lot of research from the eastern states and SE Asia that
indicates that outbreaks of Red Spot only occur when the fish have been exposed to acid water (does not have to be violently acidic - pH values of 5.5 or so can be low enough) leaching from acid sulfate soils. The acid water removes the protective mucus membrane from the fish and make the fish vulnerable to attack.

Many people in the Dept of Fisheries and Water and Rivers Commission do not believe acid exposure is an issue in WA, and believe that fish are damaged by hitting snags and then get infected.

Up until a couple of years ago, noone thought acid sulfate soils were an issue in WA. However, following a major groundwater acidity problem in Stirling a couple of years ago, out work group have been finding these soils are widespread near many estuaries in the South west. A good indication that acid is leaching from soils near an estuary where there is a very large
amount of iron staining on river banks and the water in drains etc is red or red-brown full of iron precipitate.

What I am trying to do is relate the distribution of diseased fish to our acid sulfate soil mapping program. I suspect fish like black bream get exposed to acid water seeping into rivers when they are hiding near the river bank for long periods.

We are tring to manage development to prevent disturbance of acid sulfate soils as much as possible (to stop acid leaching). Acid and metal leaching from acid sulfate soils on the east coast has decimated commercial fisheries in some areas (not just red spot - also reduced spawning, fish kills)

I am happy to come down your way some time and give a talk about the issue to interested locals and provide some guidance about how to recognise acid seeps. Acid sulfate soils are a serious problem on the Scott Coastal Plain to the east of Augusta, and there are some signs that some agricultural
drains are starting to carry acidic water.

The attached photo shows mullet with the disease

Regards

Steve Appleyard

I'd take anything Jones says with a grain of salt personally.

Cheers!