The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15
WHO CAN CURE SICK TROUT?
COMMITTEES OF SPORTING CLUBS
WILL BUY THE P.ANACEA.
Baths In Salt Brine the Best known Remedy
Against the Dreaded Parasitic Disease
-lnsldlous Malady Has Depopnlated
Many OF the FavOrite Fishing Ponds.

Against the Dreaded Parasitic disease
-lnsldious Malady Has D%epopnlated
Many Of the FavOrlte Fishing Ponds.
Who has a panacea to keep in good health
the trout in retaining ponds at the private
fishing clubs There is a market waiting
for the boon. Trout fishing has been I'M
usually good this spring in the preserves
Of the sporting clubs on Long Island and
throughout New York State, but there is
an uncertainty as to what the season will
bring forth among all the clubmen. For
several seasons, hitting first one club and
then another, q malady has broken out
among the fish in the retaining ponds and
killed them of by thousands. Every
club that has been visited by the plague
has tried every remedy suggested by the
experts to avoid a recurrence Of the
infection, which seems to be most severe
on the likeliest trout In the pens, while in
the clubs that nave thus far been free every
effort Is being undertaken to maintain o
clean bill of health. The malady comes
like a thief In the night and the fear Of 1t is
the ever present worry Of the committee
men.
1t never attacks trout turned to forage
for themselves in the ponds and brooks
that the members FISH In, but only the
reserve stock kept in the supply ponds.
Although at every club there Is o Limit
on the daily catch Of each member, rang
ing from twelve to twenty trout a day
to each rod, in the season the aggregate
catch at a large private club will u to
10000 fish or more, at the minimum weight
limit Of fve-eighths Of a pound. To keep
the fishing good q great number OF trout
must be turned loose each spring from
the retaining ponds. At the largest Long
Island club, which has It's own hatcheries,
more than $4,000 trout were caught last sea-
son. This club matches out 1000, 900 fry each
year and 10000 trout are turned into its
fishing preserves az three-year-olds every
spring, the surplus being sold to other
clubs. Under artificial propagation all
but 5 per cent. Of the trout eggs are Matched
| out, the reverse Of the breeding situation
among the wild trout, when only the mini
mum percentage IL developed. The clubs
that do not keep up Matching plants buy
the trout needed as fngerlings INC keep
them in retaining ponds until they are Of
the age and size desired by the committee,
when they are passed on to the fishing
waters, to enjoy life while they can and
furnish sport in the catching at the end.
In each retaining pond there Is q con.
stantly flowing stream Of pure water, fed
from a supply pipe, and the bottom Is usually
of clear sand. The fish are fed regularly,
with chopped liver, white bait or other
provender, but everything Is done to make
the colonies as near to the simple life Of
nature as circumstances warrant. Beard
walks are about each retaining pond, which
may better be described as tanks or eluioe-
ways, and there are scapnets at hand to
sary.
sone may pass ons Of the ponds and not
see a fish showing indications Of Ill health
remarks a clubman, but on returning a
couple Of hours later there may. be two or
three floating with gills up and dying on
the water. By watching very closely. a
fish may be seen to show a discoloration
about the roots Of the fms. especially II
over white sand. and this denotes the pres
patches are found to be due to a gummy,
oolorless secretion, and this is also ap-
parent on the dead fish,
Segregation is the only cure, after an
immersion In salt brine, and In the early
stages this is said to be a reliable remedy.
The fish showing spots, or under suspicion,
are scooped out one at q time and placed
in q tub Of salt water for as long a period
as Is possible without killing them. They
are then turned into a hospital retaining
pond to awsit results. Sods Of marsh
grasses, roots and all, are placed in these
ponds, and the fish seem to benefit In some
way from the process. Whether they. eat
the grass, as q sick dog munches turf, or
sods is not determined. That they cleanse
their bodies on the grasses is another theory.
To place sods Of marsh grasses in the re-
tanning ponds is also said to be a prevent
i've Of the malady.
The disease is described variously as
parasitic or fungous. 1t resembles both
In the symptoms, but the origin Is a para
site and the probable cause the enervating
effects Of life In confinement. Overcrowd-
ing is not the seat Of the trouble, nor over
In ponds sparseiy stocked and when Care
has been taken to keep down the food sup
ply. Inbreeding at the hatcheries may
have something to do with the initial plant
Ing OF the germ, which may not develop
until a long while after and not until the
fngerlings have become ~yearlings, or even
big Ash, at the ponds Of the club to buy
the young stock from the breeder. This
is one theory; another is that the feeding
at regular times and the want OF the ex-
ertion thai keeps the wild trout on the hustle
is the creating cause Of the parasite. The
energy that would be exhausted In seeking
a livelihood, on this theory, makes the trout
too full blooded, as it were, just as high
living and snort exercise brings goue 10 d
gourmand.
One clubman is quite sure. that to scatter
bits Of rock with rough edges about the
ponds will keep the trout healthy. Small
pebbles and clear sand are all very well,
ne says, but to better reproduce the bottom
OF q natural trout stream there should
also be some, jagged edged stones. II is
his idea that the wild trout free Themselves
Of parasites by soraping against such rocks
and he would try out the idea on the trout
Long Island club thinks the notion worth
trying and the rocks are to be put into the
ponds that he controls. This club lost moro
than 1000 trout from the parasite last sum-
mer, all big ones that we're not to be turned
out until they were four Founders, which
would have beer this spring, If the rough
edged rocks fill the bill one may fancy
the trout rubbing against them as the old
Scots did against the boundary posts Of
the Duke OF Argyle and blessed their benc-
factor.
Regarding in~breeding of trout said a
member of a Canadian club, Il think the
New York sporting clubs are too careless
as to the vigor and clean bill Of health Of
the fngerlings they buy at the hatoheries.
I Tho broaJ;p0 ctnck ia IN ken from tha fraa