Lake Darling Perch Tapeworms

 Are they just in their stomaches? When I was younger, my dad and I would drive about an hour to fish bluegills in the summer.  Always brought them back in a cooler full of water.  Water wasn't exactly cold once we got home.  We would clean em and find a few tapeworms in their stomaches or in the water in the cooler. I actually used to poke at em with a stick while they were swimming around.  

I know when you pickle fish, the brine isn't proven to kill all parasites, but if you freeze your fillets for at least 48 hrs(I think) it's suppose to kill them.

Also, hot grease does a good job.

Just make sure to rinse your fillets before cooking.

 Thats just a little stomach turning. We got got a puppy for our 5 yo just before Christmas than that poor little guy crapped a tape worm. IMHO, the fish with a worm in it is garbage.

While clearly not very appetizing, you guys don't ever fish DL?   Seems like just about every time I catch a livewell of fish off that lake the livewell is filled with small tapeworms as the fish start to die.

Often times you can see them in the mouth of the fish itself.


Note, this is one of the reasons i rarely eat fresh fish anymore.  Freezing the fillets also helps to kill parasites.  Between that and the pan, I feel pretty safe.

Nelson lake crappies are a different story though! 

They are in the belly cavity of the fish, not the stomach. It seems they are attaching right behind the divider between belly and mouth. I researched it, and it said the meat is safe, but I just can't get past it, so those fish have been going in the garbage. Maybe someday, in the case of Devil's Lake, if I want to eat fish, I'll have to get over it.

If I ever see a fish with tape worms its headed for the trash. So they are safe if you cook them, what then your eating fried tape worms? Thats just as disgusting as eating live ones. Garbage= Winning

 Wasting perfectly good fish guys.  As long as you freeze the fish, or make sure the fish is done all the way through before you eat it you are fine, and no you're not eating fried tapeworms, unless you purposely leave one of them on a fillet.  The concern is their eggs and they die with heat.

If you're afraid of getting tapeworms from fish you should probably stop eating meat all together.

Walleye Whisperer Said:
 Wasting perfectly good fish guys.  As long as you freeze the fish, or make sure the fish is done all the way through before you eat it you are fine, and no you're not eating fried tapeworms, unless you purposely leave one of them on a fillet.  The concern is their eggs and they die with heat.

If you're afraid of getting tapeworms from fish you should probably stop eating meat all together.

+1

Kinda of topic but some of the MN gills i have caught had black dots in their meat, has anyone else saw this, if so are they any good?

Here is what the MN DNR has about it:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_diseases/neascus.html 

iceeyes Said:
Kinda of topic but some of the MN gills i have caught had black dots in their meat, has anyone else saw this, if so are they any good?

The black spots on the fillets are cleverly called the 'Blackspot Parasite' again, cook the meat thoroughly and it is safe to eat.

 http://www.fishingbuddy.com/blackspot_disease

 

gillgetter. Said:
 http://www.fishingbuddy.com/blackspot_disease

Never seen one quite that bad!

I brought in some walleyes from devils lake to a professor specializing in disease biology at UND and he found 2 species of tapeworms. Safe to eat but make sure your cook your fish well.

What happens is a human will consume meat tissue (in this case walleye) that has tapeworm larva. Once the mobile larva reach human intestines they develop into adults that can measure up to 50 ft. Thouroughly cooking your fish will destroy any chances of larva surviving and also freezing can help kill them as well.

It is disgusting but im willing to bet lots of fish have tapeworms in them across the state. Just deal with it and cook tthe sh*t out of your fish.

Allen Said:
While clearly not very appetizing, you guys don't ever fish DL?   Seems like just about every time I catch a livewell of fish off that lake the livewell is filled with small tapeworms as the fish start to die.

Often times you can see them in the mouth of the fish itself.


Note, this is one of the reasons i rarely eat fresh fish anymore.  Freezing the fillets also helps to kill parasites.  Between that and the pan, I feel pretty safe.

Nelson lake crappies are a different story though! 

Weird, I have never seen a tapeworm in any fish out of Devils Lake or seen them in the livewell.  I have seen a lot of regurgitated shrimp in the livewell but no tapeworms.

Those shrimp are actually called copepods, and are a major part of the life cylce for tapeworms!!!

• Unembryonated eggs passing in the feces of a human or animal and finding their way to a pond or lake.
• Once in water, the eggs will embryonate.
• Coracidia hatch from the eggs and are consumed by crustaceans. (copepods)
• While in the crustaceans, the coracidia becomes a procercoid larva.
• Small freshwater fish then eat those crustaceans, and the procercoid larva is released from the crustaceans to become plerocercoid larva.
• Larger, predator fish eat the smaller, infected fish.
• Humans and animals are infected after they eat those large fish raw or undercooked.

Enslow Said:
Weird, I have never seen a tapeworm in any fish out of Devils Lake or seen them in the livewell.  I have seen a lot of regurgitated shrimp in the livewell but no tapeworms.

Odd, little, and fairly transparent things about an eighth of an inch wide and generally up to an inch or so long.  While up on DL in the summer, take a look in the mouth of the fish you catch and you will see them.

I think the worst I ever noted was back around 2000 when I was fishing the Minnewaukan area a lot.  Nice fish loaded with them little buggers all summer long.

Haven't caught enough DL fish the past few years to know if they are still as prevalent.  Wouldn't know why not, but maybe the worms aren't as bad now.

Allen Said:

Enslow Said:
Weird, I have never seen a tapeworm in any fish out of Devils Lake or seen them in the livewell.  I have seen a lot of regurgitated shrimp in the livewell but no tapeworms.

Odd, little, and fairly transparent things about an eighth of an inch wide and generally up to an inch or so long.  While up on DL in the summer, take a look in the mouth of the fish you catch and you will see them.

I think the worst I ever noted was back around 2000 when I was fishing the Minnewaukan area a lot.  Nice fish loaded with them little buggers all summer long.

Haven't caught enough DL fish the past few years to know if they are still as prevalent.  Wouldn't know why not, but maybe the worms aren't as bad now.

I have never seen these worms and I have fished the lake hundreds of times.  Maybe I just don't notice them.

What color are they?

Last year I noticed worms inside of a majority of the fish we cleaned at DL.  They're still there.  Short little white worms.  I've never noticed them inside the livewell though, maybe I haven't looked hard enough.

Many times you cannot see them at all because the larval stage tapeworms are really small. The tapeworms that you CAN see are the adults or larger stage larva.  And yes the larva can penetrate the fishes gut and migrigate to muscle tissue aka fillets.