Black Spot Disease-turn into yellow worms?

So I’ve been reading up on “Black Spot Disease” in fish, and I’ve noticed in my area that some of the lakes in my area were getting super bad with the black spots in the panfish.. Some so bad that I quit fishing or quit taking fish home from those lakes.. Everything I have read says nothing about these black spots turning into what looks like little yellow mealy worms.. Does anyone know if that is what the “black spot disease” turns into or is it something else that is infecting the fish.. Anytime I see one of the mealy yellow ones, I pinch the sucker out of the fillet… I also make sure that all my fish is cooked thoroughly…
I found one of the yellow worms in a bass I caught today (now yesterday ) which also had the black spots.. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed the yellow worms or am I just being a little paranoid…. Had food poisoning once, don’t care to ever get that sick ever again…

The yellow worms are diffrent than black dots in the fillet I usually just pick them out I was very sceptical about the black dots if I’m right I belive its a parisite found in migatorry birds waste and fish like bluegills are affected the worst I’m told its safe to eat if cooked well I’ve noticed areas with geese / swans are more heavily infected areas gonna watch this post and see what else is filled in

If I see worms in my fish, I dig them into the flower bed for fertilizer.

I do not care for worms in my fish.

The cause of parasites is from the herons that fish your waters. The birds poop in the water, the fish eat what’s in the poop and ta-daaaa! Extra protein in every bite.
But work quickly, the bugs eventually leave with time.

We’ve found that moving out to deeper water will resolve the worm issues if you’re not up to the extra protein.

From the MN DNR:

Can I eat a diseased or parasitized fish?

It is advisable to thoroughly cook or hot smoke all fish to 140° F for at least five minutes, or freeze them at 0° F for 48 hours. If you are planning to eat an infected or infested fish, see the recommendations in the Parasites Table.

Although some parasites make fish look and taste unappetizing, very few fish parasites can be transferred to humans. Even when a fish exhibits obvious signs of disease or parasites, most likely the fish is still edible when cooked, hot smoked, or frozen. People have been infected with tapeworms (Diphyllobothrium latum) after consuming marinated, uncooked walleye and northern pike. In one incident, anglers marinated freshly caught fish overnight in lemon juice and ate them the next day. They were following a recipe for seviche, a South American dish. Generally, Minnesotans don’t prepare seviche, but they do pickle raw fish. Pickling alone may not destroy a larval tapeworm.

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Small round black spots under skin or in flesh
BLACK SPOT (Neascus spp., Uvulifer spp.)
Easy to recognize; caused by larval flukes burrowing under skin. Become adults in fish-eating birds.

Clean fish and prepare as usual

MN Sea Grant<<

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It’s taken me a long time to learn how to copy and paste.

Take a close look at the ins or lift a gill cover and take a peek at the gill filaments from behind. Often those yellow grubs can be seen in fins or on the gills, so the fish can be let go without harming it.

The birds may help the problem along, but current also comes into play. I have always thought that areas with sufficient current to help sweep the waters clear of the eggs or larval forms of these things are less likely to have fish with black-spot or worms. Waters with little or no current are I see this sort of infestation running rampant. Water depth/temperature probably comes into play too. The two largest of Rochester’s flood control reservoirs/lakes both have deeper spots and both have minimal flow rates within them. The fish in both look like they have been peppered at the table, even the catfish. Both lakes have fish full of the worms.

I won’t keep fish with black-spot or the worms. The worms can also be seen if a fillet is held up to a strong light too. I too have a garden so you can guess where they go if the fillet shows a worm.

Thanks guys, yeah most of the waters I fish don’t have a lot of current in them, and with sketchy ice conditions I hadn’t ventured into deeper water depths… Summer fishing is a different story, the one lake I frequent, most the panfish are in the shallower water for spawning and I know all the hot spots..
The bass I had last night only had one of the yellow worms so it wasn’t bad to squeeze it out, but I think if I found more than one it too would be making it to the fertilizer pile…
Are the yellow worms the start of the “fish tapeworm”? whenever I find em they are smaller than the size of a deer tick..
I found em in Deer Lake-Gill (St Croix Falls, WI) Long Lake-Gill (Centuria, WI), Balsam Lake-Bass (Balsam Lake, WI) and in Big Butternut-Crappie & Gill (Luck, WI)
We have more geese in our area than anything, very few heron.. I too had read about the feces, but the snails eat the parasite first and then the parasite gets transfered to the gills..

I have seen these for over 50 years…the black spots (like pepper flakes) and the yellow grubs. They will not hurt you if the fish if cooked properly, but I let those go. Here is an explanation… Blame the birds!

Yellow grub infestation

I think the transfer or the existance of these organisms is a real complex thing and much broader than what most of us are able to accept unless one has an extensive education on the matter. I think there has been a ton of speculation tossed around about how these things get spread but then again everything seems to have some value, so who knows.

I just don’t care for the look of black spots on or in the fish I eat. I don’t want any alien proteins in it either.

One thing I do see is that on some of the Mississippi River backwaters these little pests can occur quite commonly while less than a half mile away the same type of fish can be caught where the current is obvious and I’ll never see the stuff on the same species of fish and in the same general size range. I do feel that the quieter the water, the better the chances of this occuring.

Has anyone heard anything whether water depth or water temperature being a barrier to these parasites? I haven’t read a thing regarding either aspect but I do know that the winter sunfish I see don’t show a decline in ownership if they are infested with them. I have noticed that crappies are way less likely to have these things even where the sunfish can be smothered in black spots and have all kinds of worms in them. I hardly ever see either in a crappie. Maybe they are too active, even during the cold water period or maybe the parasite doesn’t actively infest when the water is below a certain temp. Who knows.

Sounds like more good protien to me
Fry em and eat em boys!

Jen, the gills will be right up there shallow with the snails when the dinner bell rings and the gills will be much faster at feeding time not caring what they suck in.
I just don’t worry about things like this I guess. Heck, if I did, I’d be dissecting my big mac for hairs and boogers and………………………

Would this be a good time to pull up the McRib thread?

Heck– If you cook it I’ll eat it.

Nope don’t care to see that BK, don’t even want to know… Hate McDonalds and refuse to eat there.. and the McRib just looks completely wrong lol
Yeah I guess I’ll just be making sure that all my fish is completly cooked and if I see more than one grub, it will be making it’s way to the fertilizer pile, I can stand pinching out one little yellow grub but I don’t think I’ll be alright picking out more than that per fillet…
Yep most men are like that too, if you cook it they’ll eat it, and if they say anything bad they know where they’ll be sleeping

There is a very good article about these parasites in the January/ Feb 2006 issue of MN Conservation Volunteer magazine. Not sure how to link to it. It opens as a PDF file. Titled: You don’t want to eat that raw. Great pics of the little pests.

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There is a very good article about these parasites in the January/ Feb 2006 issue of MN Conservation Volunteer magazine. Not sure how to link to it. It opens as a PDF file. Titled: You don’t want to eat that raw. Great pics of the little pests.

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On one of the discovery-like channels a few years back I saw a surgical removal of a flatworm from the intestine of a human. That sucker was long. Not wanting to eat one of those is an appropriate reference for a title.

One of the articles I have read was dealing with pickled fish and some of the facts surrounding home-pickling. Northerns are the most likely fish to harbor the cysts where the worms reside and because the meat is thick and yellowish they can go un-noticed. Pickling employing soaking and vinegar will not always kill what lies in the cyst and even methods that use up to moderate heat can leave these little guys viable. I don’t and won’t eat any pickled pike and I don’t care who makes it. Personally I pickle a little crappie and sunfish during the fall if the bites are decent, but those get filleted just like I would if they are going on the stove. The fillets can be held up to a light to check for cysts/worms….any seen and the fillet takes the dirt nap.

Life is short, pickled herring is too cheap. I can live nicely with store-bought herring and not have to worry about creepy-crawlers playing tag in my gut.

On another note. I have pickled lake herring taken out of Lake Superior. Its not a bad pickled fish, but it does have to be cold processed. If a person ever gets out on the lake and can catch a few of these guys they will make a great meal whether they get the oil bath as a fillet or pickled.

From what I have read the cysts in pike that cause the tapewroms in humans can be killed with heat processing or by freezing. The no no is pickling of fresh pike.

Tom, I damn near died just thinking about looking in your gut.

Yeah, there’s a post around here someplace from the DNR about pike, mostly in northern MN and tapeworms. I’ll have to go look for it when I get the time.

And that’s why the best chefs pickle bass only.