Fish Kill!!!

[Master Carper]

Have any of you guys with ponds had a "fish kill" lately?

Two days ago, when going down to the pond to feed the fish, like I do every evening, I was sickened by the sight of dead fish all around my pond...

I lost my 3 breeder blue cat - 32 lbs., 36 lbs. and 42 lbs...

I also lost 23 channel cat that weighed from 7 to 12 pounds...

Seven bass from 4 to 9 lbs. were also floating and were drug out of the pond with all the rest. I also counted 21 or 23 channel cat that averaged 11-13" in length...

Yes, I cried over the loss of my fish. I spent a lot of time and money in raising these fish and to see them all die overnight like this, it was almost more than I could stand...

Anybody else???

 

[fishfurlife]

Have any of you guys with ponds had a "fish kill" lately?

Two days ago, when going down to the pond to feed the fish, like I do every evening, I was sickened by the sight of dead fish all around my pond...

I lost my 3 breeder blue cat - 32 lbs., 36 lbs. and 42 lbs...

I also lost 23 channel cat that weighed from 7 to 12 pounds...

Seven bass from 4 to 9 lbs. were also floating and were drug out of the pond with all the rest. I also counted 21 or 23 channel cat that averaged 11-13" in length...

Yes, I cried over the loss of my fish. I spent a lot of time and money in raising these fish and to see them all die overnight like this, it was almost more than I could stand...

Anybody else???

I hope your pond was big, otherwise I am afraid that your breeder fish were most likely more like vacuum fish that ate anything that came near them.

Its a crappy thing for sure. The Red river is dieing out and the die out is getting closer to the mouth of Texhoma every day. Rocky lake had a die off, Altus Lugert has to be close to dieing off. I can't keep up with all the farm ponds that I know of that have been killed out. It sucks to be a fish this summer

 

[Oklahomabassin]

My buddies pond hung in there till it nearly dried up. The fish were still swimming around with dorsal fins and tails sticking out. It catches lots of wind for aeration. If I had a pond that hadn't died off, and didn't have fresh water running in, I would definitely be trying to find a way to aerate it. Solar pump and fountain perhaps. Gas powered trash pump to suck and return the water in the air to collect oxygen to return to the water.

 

[chefsamuel]

it's blue green algae. It's in all bodies of water but usually in such small amount that the toxins it produces are no harm. With the heat and lack of fresh running water it creates a perfect breeding ground for it. I read an article ( can't remember where) recently about all the problems they are having in Grand lake and closing swimming areas. In sufficent numbers it is dangerous even to humans, especially small children.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

it's blue green algae. It's in all bodies of water but usually in such small amount that the toxins it produces are no harm. With the heat and lack of fresh running water it creates a perfect breeding ground for it. I read an article ( can't remember where) recently about all the problems they are having in Grand lake and closing swimming areas. In sufficent numbers it is dangerous even to humans, especially small children.

Its primarily lack of dissolved oxygen. Deer Slayer will hopefully be by to explain it better.

 

[DEER 24/7]

when i seen the thread i thought oh no clinton lake fish where dying and i was sick to my stomach,then i read it and find out it was your pond and read what you lost.then i was double sick.i am so sorry for your loss.thats a lot of trophy fish.on these hot still days the water is vry hot and needs more aeration then would normally because hot water will not let the oxygen dissolve into and it will not hold oxygen,and ponds being low because of no rain just makes matters worse.so when it this hot the wind better blow or a guy may lose fish .man oklhomabassin i am sorry again ,i know a man that had about 2 acre pond that was 4' deep this was about 20 yrs he had around 1500 channel cats in there 3 to 5 lbs when it would get hot and no wind he would take and back his brushhog that was on his tractor into the water and turn it on and spin the crap out of it.it really aerated the water.he would let it run all day but has high as fuel is these days that would cost alot i am sure there are cheaper ways

 

[Oklahomabassin]

D&T, sorry to hear about the lost of your fish. If you still have some fish you might consider some kind of aeration.

 

[DEER 24/7]

d&t i am sorry for some reason i thought it was oklahomabassin pond that had lost the fish.i am sorry about your fish. how big of pond was it

 

[Perplexed]

Its primarily lack of dissolved oxygen. Deer Slayer will hopefully be by to explain it better.

This is what's happening. As others here have said, when the temperature of a body of water rises, there is a corresponding decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) that the water can hold. By and large, a typical static body of water (i.e., a pond with little water movement) will contain anywhere from 5 to 10 parts per million (ppm) of DO, depending on time of day, amount of sunlight, presence of wind, influx of nutrients (such as lawn fertilizers), etc. Typically, the DO levels in a static body of water will rise through the day as the aquatic vegetation produces DO, and the DO levels will fall through the night as oxygen is absorbed by organisms and the decay of organic material. As the body of water heats up, overall DO levels begin to drop, until the levels in the early morning are so low that fish and other aquatic organisms suffer. In general, fish need a bare minimum of about 3 ppm DO just to survive; at this concentration, the fish become stressed (coming to the surface, "gasping" and swimming lethargically with flared gills). When DO levels drop below 3 ppm or so, death occurs. As fish die and their carcasses absorb oxygen through decay, the DO levels drop even further, causing more die-offs.

Aerating the water, as people here have suggested, will definitely help, as will having a pond of sufficient depth (at least 7-8 feet) where the deeper areas will remain sufficiently cool. However, deeper areas of a static body of water will hold less DO simply because there's less vegetation at these depths to produce oxygen, so what happens is a "sandwich" of three layers of water, more or less. The upper layer is hot and low in DO; the middle layer is somewhat cooler and has more DO; and the bottom layer is cool and low in DO. If and when that happens, fish seek out the middle layer, but this layer gets thinner and thinner as the hot weather continues, until the fish are squeezed out into one of the other, less favorable layers. Aerating the water should cause the layers to mix to some degree, so that the overall water temperature drops and DO levels rise. This helps the fish to survive, unless the hot weather is so bad and so prolonged that the overall water temperature continues to rise despite aeration, that the fish die anyway. In most ponds of any respectable size though, this should be unusual.

Yep, I studied this stuff in college

 

[Deer Slayer]

Ok, fellas Perplexed is 100% correct. I have had a call or two regarding ponds dying. I have designed and installed several aeration systems for ponds, most notably, the"close to Home" fisheries for the ODWC in Oklahoma City. The problem is that there is insufficient wind action to provide oxygen transfer plus hot water holds little oxygen. Fish need a minimum of 5 ppm of DO to survive and at 3 ppm they are stressed. The pond will crash between 5:00 am and 7:00am because, over the night, the DO has been consumed and we have a domino effect with fish dying and ammonia levels rising.

Perplexed - You gave an excellant explanation.WTG

I use a subsurface aeration system that will pump/mix/aerate 200,000 +gallons/day/unit and is economical to run during the summer. I typically suggest to pond owners to run them during July,August and September and Mother Nature does the rest. There are some other tricks that help ponds too that I suggest to owners when I am consulting with them.

I am a water and wastewater consultant and help manage millions of gallons of sewage for municipalities in several states.