DISEASE IN TROUT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 3, 9 November 1906, Page 2

DISEASE IN TROUT.

[by " Kahikatea."]

At the present time, when every follower of Isaac Walton is assiduously persuing the speckled beauties through the streams of the King Country, as well as in other places, it it may not be amiss to draw attention to a matter which is of the utmost importance to all, and to anglers in particular. Disease in trout has often been discussed and it is said that the fish in the Rotorua district are in many instances developing distinct signs of disease. Many years ago, when visiting an old friendly acquaintance, who was a trout breeder, and while discussing their habits, etc., he told me that those who 'were then distributing trout throughout the country would find them diseased before many years, especially, where, as in lakes, they were confined in such a way, that they could not make their way to the sea. He told me the fish must make their way to the sea after reaching a certain age, in order to keep themselves healthy; that unless they did so, can-cerous-like growths would occur on different parts of their bodies, and the cure for these was salt water. To illustrate what he meant, he asked me to go with him to his fish ponds, as he was then going to dress his breeding fish. This I did, and was, I remember, much interested in what I saw him do. He netted the fish one after the other, and some of them were very much diseased. Large cancerous-like sores were distributed over their bodies, which, he said, had only lately developed; the fish too, were, if I remember rightly, in poor condition. He then, from a tin cannister with punctured top, dredged fine salt in large quantities on to the fish, especially over the sores. They were then put down on the grass, and left there, until I thought they were dead, when they were liberated into another section of the pond. I saw these fish some short time afterwards, and they were then quite clean, except for some white patches on the skin, left by the sores. This is as far as I can recollect, after such a lapse of time. If as he said, the fish must go seaward periodically to keep healthy, then, in situations like Rotorua, they must become diseased sooner or later. If my friend was correct, and salt is the remedy, why not establish salt-pans at different points around the lake, where the fish can make their way in arid clean themselves ? How to establish the pans is a mere matter of detail.