Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Fat heads are dying?

I have a fairly new pond that I built last fall. It is about 1/3 of an acre and about 12' deep. New spring rains have it full enuff to start spilling into the grass alittle. I put in 8lbs of fat head last fall with about 30 3" walleyes. I then put another 8lbs of fat heads over the winter. I have been noticeing lots of them dead on the bank and seeing lots of them alive in the muddy water. Not sure what is causeing all the dead minnows. Not sure if walleyes are alive or not. The run off that feeds my pond is not feild run off. I have been told that it should have plenty of oxygen in it, being a new pond. Does anyone know why I'm loseing minnows? The minnows are also trying to move into the grass where the water has run over the bank. Thanks for any responces.

Does the grass have any weed&feed or other herbicides on it? Any idea why your water is muddy if you have grass around the pond perimeter?

No weed feed&feed or any chemicals in the grass. We have had lots of wind lately. Only one end of the pond has grass, the rest of the pond shore line is bare. Do you think the muddy water could be hard on them. Added stress ect...
I noticed the dead fat heads when I whent down to add HBG and a few more walleyes. I was alittle worried about putting these new members in my pond. They were already bagged up,so I put them in any way. None of the HBG or walleyes floating yet.

1. How much visibility do you have? How deep can you see a white coffee cup lowered into the water? Silt is stressful on fish but it would take a lot to kill fatheads.

2. Do you use Aquashade or other blue dye in the pond?

3. Do the dead fatheads look thin-skinny or normal bodied or plump?

4. Are the fatheads at the surface, sort of listless or gaspng for air? Could you catch them with a dip net?

5. You do still see some fatheads swimming around the edges in shallow water correct?

6. When fish die they do not always float.

1.On the windy end of the pond visability is less than a foot.
2. I don't use any aquashade or blue dye of any kind.
3. The fat heads apear to be normal in size to me.
4. Some of the fat heads I have seen are litless and and do seem to be gasping for air. Some seem to have full energy and shoot away when aproached.

5.Yes I do see some swimming aroud the edges. I haven't noticed as many dead in the last few days. Still no sign of the HBG or walleyes floating. Hopefully they arn't sunk on the bottom.

6. Bill the only thing I have put into the pond are some red brick and some native feild stones for cover.

Fatheads should be able to tolerate the amount of silt laden cloudiness that you are describing. I am ruling out any toxic affects based on your descriptions. I am guessing that the cloudy silty water has suppressed the basic pond productivity enough that there has not been enough natural foods produced to sustain all the fatheads during late winter, early spring. Those you are seeing dead, I conclude have not gotten enough to eat and are dying of "natural" starvation/stress causes. Fatheads are tuff and pretty tolerant but they are still subject to nature's basic rules. You are losing the weakest ones that are least able to compete in a harsh situation.

PS: In my opinion 30 walleye are too many for the pond situation that you are describing if you are planning on them getting bigger than 12"-13".

Thanks for the info Bill. I haven't seen any new dead minnows in the last day or so. I hope this is a good sign. I'm not to sure what to do about the problem. Hopefuly I can get some grass growing around the banks to help with water clarity.