after ice left we had another bunch of bass & baby bluegill float up dead. we had holes in ice from aeration system most of the winter, maybe I needed to run shorter times to not stress them too bad? learning experience. every now & then more are dying even creyfish are dying! i noticed a few live. one small bass looked skinny & was gasping he looks like a gonner! we had a neighbor across the pond put in a new drain field it is on the pond side, just wondering if this could of caused problems?

I noticed some pukinseeds gasping at the surface, they had a mold? on thier back almost look like grey hair!? any ideas on what could be causing this?

Water mold (fungus), or now that your water is warming up they may be getting hit by bacteria since they are in a weakened state. Sounds like you had a bad winter and your suspicions may be correct about potential over chilling of the water column. But there are other possibilities too.

Another factor which can cause fish to not fare well in winter is their condition going into winter. Perhaps not enough lipids stored up. Also sudden drops in temps before ice formation can be a stress factor in pond fish.


I lost fish in my cages this winter while others in the cages were perfectly fine. This winter was especially bad but I may have put my diffuser too close to a couple of the cages.

Now you just have to let it take it's course. The ones that are beyond help will die while those that are not will recover.