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Cleaning your fish to the benefit of the system

Started by Wildfisher, December 29, 2006, 12:45:39 PM

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Traditionalist

#10
Quote from: admin on December 29, 2006, 12:45:39 PM
Consider cleaning your fish  at the waterside and  returning  all the waste  parts. This returns at least some of the nutrients from the lost bio-mass. In North America, it has been proven that this provides an overall benefit to systems  in places  where commercially caught salmon offal is  returned  to rivers.

This sounds sensible but in actual fact it is very very dangerous and should NEVER! be done with freshwater fish unless you intend cooking the fish immediately after cleaning.  Once you open a fish you allow immediate ingress to all the various waterborne bacteria etc.  This will send the fish "off" in a very short time producing very dangerous toxins which you will not notice. This can result in very severe poisoning.  Even when the fish is cooked later.

If you are going to eat freshwater fish then take them home whole while keeping them as cool as possible and only clean them under running tap-water.

TL
MC

Traditionalist

If the water is not contaminated then it is not dangerous, but there is no way to check that under normal circumstances.  Surface water is often contaminated.  Human waste often being the cause, but there are many others like various animal wastes. Also, if you are used to certain water it has little or no effect on you, whereas it may well make somebody who is not used to it violently ill. This usually results in things like diarrhea or various other upsets but it can be far more serious.

I would never drink untreated surface water anywhere, it is just too potentially dangerous.  The same applies to cleaning fish in it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterborne_diseases

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/purifying-the-water-while-camping.html

TL
MC


Wildfisher

I certainly would not drink any lowland or roadside water. I have been drinking out of high hill burns for a long time with no ill effects (or none that I notice, others might have their own opinion  :lol:)

It reminds me of a story, Hamish Brown I think, was taken to task for drinking out of a hill burn. He was warned  about some parasite carried on sheep or deer  "it's what the  old shepherds die of  you know?"  He replied "as long as it's the old shepherds who are dying I'll risk it"  :lol:

High on the hill I think you'd have to be pretty unlucky to pick up anything serious.

Traditionalist

I knew two people who died as a result of drinking "spring" water in the Bavarian alps, they had each filled bottles with the water at the spring, which was how the cause was discovered.  The cause was directly traced to canine feces ( Dogshit!), which had been deposited near the spring outlet. So while it may well be safe ( or safer at least ) to drink water from some sources as opposed to others, there is no way to know, so I prefer not to take the chance.

The risk of eating fish that has been cleaned in surface water is also a much higher risk than I want to take. I have seen analyses of rainbow trout fillets cleaned in spring water and not immediately refrigerated. After twenty minutes the intoxication toxins had reached levels which could easily be fatal. The problem with intoxication toxins is that they are not removed by cooking.

TL
MC


Traditionalist

Also, since I was bitten by an infected tick some years ago and contracted borreliosis ( Lyme disease  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease  ), I am a great deal more careful in regard to other things as well. 

Quite a few people have told me that they have been bitten loads of times and nothing happened, indeed I had also been bitten quite a few times before but simply removed the ticks with no consequences.  This time however the consequences were quite dire and I could easily have died as a result.

There are enough things that can happen as a result of being unlucky with things you can not control, I see no good reason to take any risks at all with things I can control.

TL
MC

Traditionalist

Quote from: guest on January 07, 2012, 12:59:04 PM
Aye way! The septic tank is an old brick built job - huge by modern standards, and providing you don't flush to much bleach and chemicals down the drain it just does what it's supposed to do.



I think he meant that you only having consumed one bottle of malt in 15 years was unlikely! :)   

Presumably you meant that you paid the guy who emptied your tank with a bottle of malt?

TL
MC

Buanán

Generally, round me, above habitation sheep fanks (with they're chemical dips) and forestry; flowing water is fine to drink. Until the EU caught up with me and my neighbours wee too had a supply straight off the hill, untreated un filtered. All agree it was better then, unfortunately newer arrivals to the village freaked at the sight of peat stained water coming from the taps and they reported it, our tame waterboard man who had been neglecting the treatment on our behalf got a right bollocking and since it's been back to the nasty treated stuff.

Flooks need still or very slow water to lay eggs and are more a feature of the glens and valleys than the hill. And there are so few people or dogs around as to make human or dog wast issues, a non issue.

Limes desease is an issue, but you just need to cover up and keep a weather eye out for the signs.

Inchlaggan

Several of the water supplies around here are "off the hill", and the water is coloured.
Most homes have some form of filtration and/ or UV treatment.
Shared supplies, and those used by B&B's hotels etc. are regularly tested by the local authority and frequently found to be below the acceptable standard.
This is usually down to poor maintenance or failures, and easily remedied.
Occasionally, supplies are declared unfit for consumption and establishments have to close until the problem is solved. Bottled water can be used as a stop-gap, but even showering and bathing are prohibited.
If it is a single supply to a private home no testing is carried out.
As it is unlikely that the filtration failed immediately prior to the testing, it would appear that residents and visitors are regularly using "contaminated" water.
I have not heard of any illnesses being directly linked to such water supplies.
Take a stroll around any UK hospital these days and see the hygene precautions in place, I doubt such strict practices are followed in your home or local pub etc. That is where the real risk lies, and, not to put too fine a point on it, there are many common ailments that are ONLY transmitted by whay is known as "the faecal-oral" route.
Take care out there.
'til a voice as bad as conscience,
rang interminable changes,
on an everlasting whisper,
day and night repeated so-
"Something hidden, go and find it,
Go and look beyond the ranges,
Something lost beyond the ranges,
Lost and waiting for you,
Go."

Wildfisher

Quote from: Buanán on January 07, 2012, 01:50:59 PM
unfortunately newer arrivals to the village freaked at the sight of peat stained water coming from the taps and they reported it

not much scope for them in the highlands then .Most cottages I  have rented if you filled the bath it was like strong tea.

Inchlaggan

Quote from: admin on January 07, 2012, 02:48:45 PM
not much scope for them in the highlands then.

Regular complaint at the hotel.
After a downpour it can be quite spectacularly dark, you come out of the bath with a fake tan and get charged extra for this service.
'til a voice as bad as conscience,
rang interminable changes,
on an everlasting whisper,
day and night repeated so-
"Something hidden, go and find it,
Go and look beyond the ranges,
Something lost beyond the ranges,
Lost and waiting for you,
Go."

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