S60 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 13, 1910. 
Abating Disease Among Brook Trout 
I shall ask your kind indulgence at the be¬ 
ginning of this paper to give you a brief history 
of my own fishcUltural operations, as this is es¬ 
sential to the subject. 
I established the Spring Brook trout hatchery 
in 1895 without having had any practical experi¬ 
ence. The site on which operations were com¬ 
menced was a basin of about four and a quarter 
acres surrounded by high hills. 1 he water sup¬ 
ply originates at the north end of the basin at 
the foot of the hills where is a number of what 
are called in this part of the country (Michigan) 
spring holes. The land was covered with tama¬ 
rack, elm, ash, etc. These were all cut off and 
a dam 209 feet long was built across the site, 
flooding about three-fourths of an acre. Eight 
ponds were excavated by hand labor, as the soil 
was muck, and ditches were dug to carry the 
water from springs that were uncovered. I took 
about 20.000 eggs in the fall of 1895 from wild 
fish and hatched a good percentage; also bought 
35.000 fry in the spring of 1896. 
It soon appeared that conditions were not right 
for extensive fishcultural operations, as I had 
started too near the head of the supply and the 
water became too warm and stagnant. Some of 
the ponds contained a number of bottom springs 
which supported a limited number of fish. By 
1897 the reservoir had grown up to a dense mass 
of moss, which, although it \Vas raked out by the 
boat load, could not be suppressed. 
In February, 1899, there were three weeks of 
intensely cold weather, which heaved a 1 the race¬ 
ways and put the ponds out of commission. Early 
in the spring the remainder of the farm was pur¬ 
chased and a large reservoir constructed at the 
head of the valley. Here was a water supply of 
453 gallons a minute. The reservoir was 277 
feet long, had an average width of 58 f ee * an< ^ 
an average depth of 3E2 feet and was full of 
small bottom springs. 
In 1900 the pond built in 1895 went out during 
a severe storm. Meanwhile fry of 1899 had 
grown to good size and 1,500,000 eggs were taken 
that fall. Losses during the spawning season 
were normal. 
Early in the spring of 1901 an epidemic broke 
out among these fish. We could pick up from 
forty to fifty fish early in the morning, and by 
evening there would be just as many more. Most 
of them showed no marks of any kind; a few 
were fungused. The ponds were thoroughly 
cleaned and the fish shifted, but there was no 
abatement of the disease. 
About the middle of June the fish were netted 
and given their liberty' in the reservoir and the 
mortality ceased at once, only seven fish being 
lost. Here there was plenty of natural food and 
the fish were not supplied .with artificial food. 
In the early fall they were netted and trapped 
for breeding purposes and placed in a clean 
pond, but they commenced to die in large num¬ 
bers before they had ripened their spawn. ' It 
was apparent that they had the boil or ulcer 
disease, as they were covered with purplish 
blotches and bods. 
The hatch of 1900-1901 proved almost a total 
loss, caused by water pollutions. Early in 1902 
I started to build a new system of ponds down 
*By Albert Rosenberg, proprietor Spring Brook Trout 
Hatchery, Kalamazoo, Mich. Read at the annual meet¬ 
ing of the American Fisheries Society. 
the valley. All the brook trout on hand were 
disposed of. Two hundred and fifty thousand 
eggs were purchasOdtfrom Eastern sources that 
season, a number of flowing webs' were installed 
and it looked as if the troubles were over. But 
the sequel proved there were worse. Heretofore 
the fish had not been attacked by diseases until 
eighteen to twenty-four months old, but now the 
trouble commenced in the fall following their 
hatching and continued all winter, culminating 
in the spring with losses of from 90 to 95 per 
cent. None of these young' fish showed any 
symptoms of boil disease, but most of them had 
fungus on the gills and head. Not knowing ex¬ 
actly what the trouble was I continued to hatch 
fry frcm eggs taken from wild fish, but the re¬ 
sult always proved the same. 
I became thoroughly convinced early in 1904 
that brook trout could rot be reared on an in¬ 
tensive scale under exist, ng conditions, and so 
reported to persons interested with me, but after 
these continual losses they were discouraged and 
would not take any steps to better conditions. 
In 1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906 I lost on an aver¬ 
age 50.000 to 75*.ooo yearlings each season, and 
as no changes were made in methods, matters 
went from bad to worse. In the spring of 1906 
there were left only some 40.000 brook trout fry, 
and as I was unable through severe illness to 
give the work personal supervision, these shrank 
by Sept. 1 to 10,000. I then determined not to 
waste any more time and labor on brook trout 
until the existing conditions could be altered. 
I neglected to state that I had taken on rain¬ 
bow trout in 1898, and had become by 1906 very 
successful with these fish. 
The reservoir built in 1899 had become more 
or less filled with liquid muck and decaying 
vegetation. Tons of algae were taken off each 
year in the early spring and the water could be 
seen to work and boil. This would continue 
until about June 1, when all the trees had leaved 
and watercress had grown to good size, then 
losses in fry would cease until fall. 
In the fall of 1906 I secured complete posses¬ 
sion of the plant and at once cut out this reser¬ 
voir, laying dry the ponds it fed, disposed of 
all brook trout fingerlings on hand and con¬ 
tracted all eggs taken excepting 18,000 eyed eggs 
from wild stock. 
In the spring of 1907 I ordered made a gal¬ 
vanized iron raceway 277 feet long. 18 inches 
wide and 5 inches deep. This was put in place 
about June 10, and fry were placed in the pond 
about June 15. The water entering the race¬ 
way comes some 700 feet across the marsh, 
through a solid bed of watercress, and is very 
cold. 
The loss in brook trout fry before they left 
the hatchery had been very slight, and the still 
smaller losses outdoors were agreeably surpris¬ 
ing; in fact, from June 15 to Sept. 15 the total 
loss was 152 fry. This pond was drawn once 
a week and thoroughly cleaned. The fish were 
fed sheep’s liver, always absolutely fresh, and 
the pond was literally alive with water fleas and 
pond snails. About this time we became so busy 
with other work that this pond was not cleaned 
for about four weeks and the result was a loss 
of 110 fish, which had become fungused. con¬ 
firming my theories that unsanitary conditions 
had been the cause of all this waste of fish and 
time. 
These fish were moved and sorted into two 
ponds further down and estimated, by counting 
a series, at 14,000 in number. A finer lot of 
fry it would be hard to find. They were of a 
good size and color. 1 looked forward eagerly 
to spring, as I was not satisfied that this would 
be a permanent success. They were again moved 
and reassorted into larger ponds about April 22. 
1908. As a matter of course there is some loss 
in these fish—kingfishers, herons, snakes, etc., de¬ 
stroying some, and a few dying of disease. 
In addition to the above I have about 450 two, 
three and four-year-old fish. The losses in these 
have been about two fish per month since spawn¬ 
ing last fall. I have kept all of the hatch of 
brook trout this season, some 75,000. I am thor¬ 
oughly convinced that they can be reared suc¬ 
cessfully. In order to accomplish this desirable 
result the water must be pure and cold, the 
ponds kept absolutely clean and the food per¬ 
fectly fresh and sweet. 
I believe that if conditions permit of changing 
the application of the water supply, these re¬ 
sults can be obtained at other stations that have 
had this trouble, provided the water is suitable 
to start with. At stations which derive their 
water supply from brooks or ponds that heat 
and dry up in summer and freeze hard in win¬ 
ter. it will be obvious that the case is hopeless. 
In conclusion I will state that I will be pleased 
to give personally any further information that 
may be desired. 
Weakfish With Spawn. 
Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 6 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: In reading Mr. Hulit’s interesting arti¬ 
cle on salt water angling I note the statement 
that in his experience weakfish containing spawn 
have been rarely taken. While I have no scien¬ 
tific knowledge of the matter I would say that 
on June 1 and 2 I fished in Delaware Bay, off 
Maurice River Cove, in twenty-seven feet of 
water, and of the catch of some fifty r fine weak¬ 
fish fully one-half that number were heavy with 
spawn; in fact, the spawn was so well developed 
that our host at the hotel set before us a large 
platter of the delicacy served a la shad roe. 
On the night of June 2 three men caught about 
200 large weakfish at the same place—Elbow 
Cross Ledge Light—and many of these appeared 
heavy with spawn, although I did not examine 
them closely. W. H. E. 
Anglers’ Club of Massachusetts. 
Boston, Mass., Aug. 6. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Anglers’ Club of Massachusetts 
will hold its third annual fly- and bait-casting 
tournament Saturday, Sept. 24. The events' are: 
Distance fly, 85 foot class; distance fly, unlimited ; 
distance bait, half-ounce; accuracy bait, half¬ 
ounce ; accuracy bait, quarter-ounce; accuracy 
fly, five-ounce rods; distance salmon fly, 15-foot 
rods; distance fly. five-ounce rods. 
Call J. McCarty. Sec’y. 
Trout Season Was Poor. 
Massachusetts anglers have put away their 
trout flies and rods for another season hopeful 
that the year 1911 will be productive of better 
sport along the streams of the State than that 
enjoyed during the season which closed on Aug. 
1.—Boston Herald. 
