This may be a dumb idea....but would it be possible and/or would it hurt a pond to somehow with pond dye or some other substance to greatly "cloud" the water to the point the water-turkey (anhinga) birds would have a harder time diving under finding fish than they do in my typically clearer winter water?
It may be a dumb idea, but it's one of the reasons I use pond dye. From Herons to Otters, if I can't see as easy into the water, neither can they. Without dye my pond clarity is better than 6 feet. Otters cleaned me out a couple winters ago. The deep growing seaweed is staying gone too.
Journeyman.... that's what happened to me last winter. It got so bad with the diving Water Turkey that I don't even mind the herons any more. The "cute little" otters have become a top enemy as well. Those rascals can eat some fish! Somebody told me a small family of otters eat 12 lbs of fish a day!
Originally Posted By: Dave Davidson1
I'm not too wild about the idea of no sunlight penetration. But, I know very little about it.
That's what I wonder Dave...in the dead of winter would it be overly harmful to greatly limit sunlight into the pond vs otters/birds eating all the fish? Which is worse? I dunno. And of course limited visibility wont stop the otters/birds but maybe slow them down a bit?
Perhaps another perspective...In Texas this might not be an issue, but in the North Country where ponds get covered with ice and snow, absence of sunlight means limited DO and can cause a fish kill. That is a main reason why we remove snow from the ice and/or use winter aeration to blow holes and let the sun in. All I can offer experience wise, is that I have kept sunlight in the winter to the pond for the last 5 years and the only fish I know that died was 1 fresh water drum that was an experiment I was running.
Bill that's an interesting theory about the snow I've not considered.
I've always likened the thought of ice on the pond to 'saran wrap', in the way it traps in toxic gasses and keeps oxygen out, the longer it stays - the worse off for the pond. In this area, 5 months of ice can be expected.
The previous property owner warned me of a recent early ice, late thaw year, that "left all the fish floating in spring". It's possible snow was a factor as well.
In the dead of winter the pond is gin clear. A couple years ago with new aerators installed, the result was, Otters had winter of field days diving into the open waters.
Last year, the dye project. It was a cold dark place at the bottom of the pond, with only one aerator in the shallows running.
I'm happy to report, no Otters hanging around, no dead fish in spring thaw. Fish were healthy.
Maybe Bill C will see this post and expand on his reasoning.