I can't believe it, but its true - all my blue gill died. I don't know why. I scooped out over 50 of them 
When the ice finally all melted in the middle of March the shore all around the pond was coated with small and medium size fry. The morphed ones then came up, as the ground thawed. This is an awful event. I have had this pond since 01.
Today I saw one Bass, and two Koi's. That is it. We have a creek that feeds the pond - which we use to keep the water level high and to skim the pond junk off of it. So the water comes in and out. We had a bubbler on all winter. There was a hole about the size of a garbage lid that stayed open. Granted, the winter was awful in N. OH., but still not to lose 50 fish. I am now afraid to restock because maybe they died from disease, or perhaps the creek water ??? Or maybe when we breached the bank to do some digging and bank work in early autumn ?? I noticed after we dug about 5 fish died. There looks to be some sort of oil or perhaps, as my son said is pine sap in the water? Does pine sap look like oil??
I am ready to just give up. So much effort, so much work, money and now nothing.
Would appreciate any help.
Kay,
I'm sorry to hear that.
What size is the pond?
Did you get a lot of snowfall on the ice this winter? More than usual, and did it stay longer?
Our pond is not very large probably about 1/4 acre. It is deep about 15' in middle. Yes, there was about 10" of snow on the pond.at times, and the ice was was thick at least 4". But, we have had winters in the past, as bad, and never a fish kill such as this. Now I don't know what to do??
Yes the snow stayed on the pond all winter finally melting in March. Such a long miserable winter.
Thanks so much for the links, they are very helpful regarding those awful words "fish kill."
Sorry about the loss, I know how you feel, we had the same thing happen. we lost most of our bass & many many bluegill. Makes you want to just give up & let nature run the pond! I think our problem was running the aeration too long. with thick ice & a heavy blanket of snow, I turned the system on longer to make a hole in the ice, when the holes opened up it smelled like rotten eggs!
Its no fun to lose fish, but on the plus side, bluegill breed like rabbits. If you have any left they will probably come back in droves.
Like Mike said. As long as some are left they will put the population up fast. Why only a little hole in the ice?
I can only imagine how disheartening this is. I gotta believe something happened more than just the bad winter. Four inches of ice and 10 inches of snow is nothing. My pond is about 3/4 acre, on a normal winter I've got 24 inches of ice and we get 4 feet of snow. I will say that I plow about 30% of the pond to let some light in. But I think if I only had 4 inches of ice with a little snow things would work fine without plowing. I wonder if perhaps you aerated too much. I don't think you would want to run an aerator 24/7 in a very small pond or you would make the water too cold. But only some temeperature measurements would tell you for sure if that was causing a problem. I wonder what the oil slick was? Some real experts will have to chime in.
kay, I lost a whole shipload of BG last Winter. For a month or so after that, I was sure they were all gone. As ewst noted above, that is usually NOT the case (and fortunately it wasn't for me.
Don't lose heart. Try to figure out possible causes for them to die, and eliminate or reduce as many of the risks you identify as possible. Keep looking for survivors - there probably are some BG left, especially if other fish survived.
Lot's of us have been there, and if you stay at it and reduce fish kills risks, the pond and the fish will be better than before.
Kay:
Where was the aerator located? I ran mine 24/7 this winter and only found 1 floater (BG) this Spring. I have mine set so it's only 4' to 5' below the water surface.
Our pond is not very large probably about 1/4 acre. It is deep about 15' in middle. Yes, there was about 10" of snow on the pond.at times, and the ice was was thick at least 4". But, we have had winters in the past, as bad, and never a fish kill such as this. Now I don't know what to do??
Just a few more questions:
How old is the pond? Is there a lot of "muck" on the bottom?
Did it have a high density of fish before the winterkill?
Do you have a lot of macrophytes and or algae especially going into winter?
What size is your compressor -- I assume you are using a bottom diffuser?
Hang in there. I believe we can come up with a plan to prevent this in the future if we have all the details.
Thanks so much for your kind support and info. We had a compressor pump running 24/7 with a good quality bottom diffuser which was set in about 6-7' of water. The hole in the ice was small because, the pump probably wasn't strong enough to make a bigger one. It was so freakin cold here for days on end.
Today my husband installed the new Weathervane pump. Our son rakes the pond ( edges ) and beyond about x3 a year. No we do not have a lot of muck on the bottom, nor rotting weeds. We have a Amur which does a good job on the weeds. I use Curtine in the summer for the algae. There are frogs, bullfrog tadpoles, turtles, snakes,(northern water snakes ) and dragonfly. The eco system was doing great.
My son found another BG this morning which looked sickly. A small one with redness by its gills. I am not sure it is sickly because it was weak to begin with, and now fell victim to a virus. Or it is sickly because of some sort of pollutant in the creek water. We have a shut off in the creek, so when it storms we can shut it down. We also have a filter box in creek and in the box in the pond.
I would like to get some fathead minnows from Jones Fish Farm, next weekend, but not sure if I should do this just yet.
Our pond is 9yrs old, and the joy of my life. Destresses one just to sit by the water, especially after a long work day - in health care
Pullo, I am sorry to hear of your loss too. Did that happen this spring?
Thanks so much for your kind support and info. We had a compressor pump running 24/7 with a good quality bottom diffuser which was set in about 6-7' of water. The hole in the ice was small because, the pump probably wasn't strong enough to make a bigger one. It was so freakin cold here for days on end.
Ditto with what Theo said.
It should have made a bigger hole even in the "freakin' cold" weather of Ohio this winter.
Now Canada I can understand but not Ohio. I'm thinking it may have been undersized or there was some other problem. If it was undersized or not producing enough flow for some other reason, it may have allowed oxygen robbing muck to build up over the years due to less than adequate destratification. And it may not have exposed enough of your pond water to sufficiently prevent winterkill.
I have a 1/8th hp compressor for winter and it makes an opening 20 by 30 feet in the dead of winter. I'm actually going to move it closer to shore next winter as it stressed my caged fish somewhat. No problems in the pond however.
Today my husband installed the new Weathervane pump.
Do you mean rotary vane? If it's a 1/4 hp rotary vane it should have plenty of air flow possibly more than you need for a 1/4 acre pond. Not a problem most likely in summer, but I would move your diffuser closer to shore in 3 to 4 feet of water this time before ice up. Or put in an alternate line and diffuser to hook up for winter. If you have sufficient air flow during the other seasons it should not only eliminate an anoxic water layer, but subsequently keep oxygen eating sediments from building up that rob your pond of oxygen under the ice, that produce anoxic gases.
Our son rakes the pond ( edges ) and beyond about x3 a year. No we do not have a lot of muck on the bottom, nor rotting weeds.
Are you sure you don't have a build up of muck in the deepest water? With a stream running in, you would be amazed at how much silt and sediments you get that builds up on the bottom, and it if your pond truly is 15 feet at 1/4th acre you/ve got a steep sided bowl for a pond. With a steep sided pond all sediment will makes it's way to the deepest water where you can't see it. In some of our lakes here that are very deep (one over 100 feet deep) all the sediments slide down the steep slopes until they encounter a flatter bottom.
We have a Amur which does a good job on the weeds. I use Curtine in the summer for the algae. There are frogs, bullfrog tadpoles, turtles, snakes,(northern water snakes ) and dragonfly. The eco system was doing great.
The same species exist in shallow ponds and swamps but they can't support larger fish over the winter.
My son found another BG this morning which looked sickly. A small one with redness by its gills. I am not sure it is sickly because it was weak to begin with, and now fell victim to a virus.
Most likely bacterial, probably initially a water mold that started under the ice. Very common with winter stressed fish. Water molds (fungus) and bacteria are facaltative pathogens that are always present in a pond etc., but only cause problems when the fish is vunerable due to stress. Most of our native fish live below optimum temps in winter which means their immune systems are not running optimally either.
Or it is sickly because of some sort of pollutant in the creek water. We have a shut off in the creek, so when it storms we can shut it down. We also have a filter box in creek and in the box in the pond.
Some kind of pollutant is possible but 99.9 percent of fill kills are due to oxygen depletion/hydrogen sulfide build up under the ice. Coming out of winter if a fish kill has been observed that jumps to 100 percent! Typically if a water body is literally poisoned the fish die immediately. And poisoning rarely occurs in the winter. Also viruses usually cause quick fish kills and aren't active in really cold water. Bacterial infections are usually fairly slow compared to this taking a few fish at a time. Most likely your morbidity problem will take it's course and be over soon. Most of the fish that will die have probably done by now with most of them having expired under the ice.
I would like to get some fathead minnows from Jones Fish Farm, next weekend, but not sure if I should do this just yet.
It shouldn't be a problem now if your problem was oxygen depletion. Personally I'd wait and take an assessment of the damage first. I'm also not a big proponent of stocking fatheads unless it's a beginning fishery or they are able to reproduce and hide enough to sustain a population.
Our pond is 9yrs old, and the joy of my life. Destresses one just to sit by the water, especially after a long work day - in health care.
I know the feeling. Been there done that although I've never had a full fledged fish kill. However 9 years is plenty of time to have a pond build up oxygen robbing sendiments to a fish kill.
If it was me I'd wait until sustained temps in the 70's and do some fishing to determine the extent of your losses. If you have a good diffuser/compressor system going I'd run it 24/7 to keep the pond destratified and the oxygen levels healthy from top to bottom to get the benefical bateria working on the sediment.
Then decide from your fish population assessment what you want to do and what your goals are. If you don't have many fish left to speak of, get several dozen fatheads from a local baitstore and stock them. You'll have thousands by the middle of the summer.
Restock gamefish this fall or next spring?
I'm hoping we can get some input from others here especially the aeration experts. Theo has pretty much said the same thing I did but more succinctly.
Kay, yes this happened this spring, i keep waling the shore but only saw two fish so far.
I know the feeling to be waiting by the shore, and nothing. Have you had your pond for a long time? Here in Northern OH we broke a record for heat that last couple of days - I think it was 86 yesterday!! My water temp is about 56deg. The water is cloudy with brown algae and I can't see the bottom to well. I put in some Cutrine today, and it should be clearer in a couple of days.
I hope your fish show up, and they are healthy. My son, husband and I are going to do some fishing on Easter Sunday, and hopefully we can catch some BG to put in the pond to see how they do.
Hi Cecil, Thanks so much for all the info. You offer a wealth of info. I made a mistake regarding the compressor. We
NOW have a Rotary Vane 1/4 compressor. The one that was running this past winter was a piston pump - very loud. We kept it in the barn/garage my husband had built in 06. I don't think it did the job from what you wrote.
The creek doesn't flow into our pond. We have pvc pipe that carries the water into the pond. We have a filter on the intake and a filter box in the pond to catch sediment. The pond has shallow sides, and then goes deep, another shelf, and then drops off. I don't know how much sediment is on the bottom.
I did notice BG dying in late autumn, which was unusual. Maybe they were ill and spread some kind of "gilly plague" under the ice!!
Your pond and home are beautiful!! Probably awesome in the summer
Kay:
Cecil touched on it briefly. What type of diffuser do you have, an airstone or a membrane type? IIRC, airstones need to be cleaned periodically, and the membranes should be cleaned as well, I've just turned them off and on a couple times and that seems to work (the membrane type). Does your line running to the diffuser have a pressure gauge on it? If so, what's it read?
We have 4 9" airstones which we clean. Oh no, all this tech stuff. I think it does have a pressure gauge, I don't know what the psi is. Those that would know are repairing a boat motor :). I would go back and look but its a ways back in the yard, and I can smell a skunk FOR SURE.
I will let you know tomorrow re: the PSI. I DO KNOW this, this pump has more psi than then old for sure. Hopefully, this will help the pond maintain its health. Thanks so much for you info and help.
I did notice BG dying in late autumn, which was unusual. Maybe they were ill and spread some kind of "gilly plague" under the ice!!
Kay it sounds to me like you had a fall turnover that brought up anoxic water, which means your previous compressor was not operating up to snuff, as it apparently didn't completely destratify you pond. Now with the rotary vane you should be much better off. You may have actually lost many of your bluegills in the fall and they didn't come up until later. I had that happen with some brook trout once.
And Esshup makes some good points. You need to do some maintenance of your equipment, stones, membranes. Diaphragm pumps also wear out and need parts replaced. Be sure to replace your carbon vanes once a year with your rotary. Not hard to do.
Many people put pressure gauges on their compressors so they can tell if they are losing pressure.
Kay,
If it helps ya sleep better this weekend, I have been getting phone calls and emails from people everyday since the beginning of march about fish kills. This was definitely the worst year ever in Central Illinois. Here is the kicker though, usually winter fish kills in ponds are catfish and bass, but this year most of them are actually bluegill fish kills and the bluegill are still dying daily from fungus and disease from winter stress.
Your pond will bounce back faster than you can imagine and you can do a few things like transplant some larger sized bluegill to get things rolling even faster.
Nate,
Do you think mine and other speculations on what happened, and our recommendations are in line with what you think happened, and what you would recommend? You have a lot more experience than I do with these kind of things as that is your living. What do you think?
What a cute picture!!! Well, yes in a way, it helps make sense of the loss of the BG poplulation. I wonder why the BG took such a hit? The fellow from Jones Fish Farm told me that BG are usually the first to be distressed, as they are more fragile then bass?
The good news is this, my son and I went fishing today, on Easter Sunday, and we caught some big male BG and females. A total of 12 in all. Not bad for about 1/2 hour of fishing!! We put them in our pond. I pray that they will be ok. I hope that there is no disease waiting in the water.
I would think if the water had some sort of noxious waste or such then the frogs would have died too??
Kay, I have never seen a 100% fish kill but I haven't seen everything. It sounds like the winter weakened the fish and, like Cecil says, infections set in. I would bet that you will have some BG survival. That said, I like the idea of adding the new adults.
Oh no, I came home from work today, and found a morphed LMB. I found another bass on the shore line. It is very lethargic, and seems to be dying :(. We removed it and put it in another small pond that is not stocked, but filled with run off water. I don't think the fish is going to live. This is awful. My son examined the fish, and could find no lesions, marks, no nothing on it. We tested our pond water for just about everything, and all came out normal chemistry wise. How discouraging this is. One tries to be a good steward of the earth, and then it all falls apart.
Oh no, I came home from work today, and found a morphed LMB. I found another bass on the shore line. It is very lethargic, and seems to be dying :(. We removed it and put it in another small pond that is not stocked, but filled with run off water. I don't think the fish is going to live. This is awful. My son examined the fish, and could find no lesions, marks, no nothing on it. We tested our pond water for just about everything, and all came out normal chemistry wise. How discouraging this is. One tries to be a good steward of the earth, and then it all falls apart.
Rest assured Kay many of us have been there. This will have to run it's course and then things will be back to normal. Consider it a learning experience and do whatever it takes to prevent it happening in the future.
Thanks Cecil, and to all who answered. You are right, it will just have to run its course. Hopefully, this will be the last of it. Perhaps our new pump will help keep things healthy. At least the Blue Heron doesn't come around anymore, and thats a good thing. We are thinking of getting a Weimaraner to help out!!
Try to look on the bright side, it's spring and the best time to make corrections and try new things to improve the health of your pond.
Probably most people who have had a pond for any length of time are gonna run into some problems, I know I sure have but just keep plugging, you'll get there.
Good Luck.
Thanks Live free or Die you got that right!!!
I would not add any cutrine or other herbicides now especially if the fish are stressed. Cutrine is copper which is fairly toxic to everything. I would also check what you normally add for dosage and make sure you are not overdoing it. I am sure it was just a rough winter that caused the kill, but I would lay off the Cutrine until they get better or you re-stock to be safe.
My uncle's pond in NJ had a fish kill 5 years ago. Killed many fish. There were many bluegill killed but some did survive. However, all bass were killed. We waited for a year before restocking thinking some were left and would reproduce, but never saw any and the thousands of happy frogs around the edge and jumping in with no fear confirmed no bass!! We did restock some bass from another pond and everything is happy again. Even though a fish kill is not fun, it is actually fun to re-stock and track populations, etc.
Thanks Oldscony, your joyful note helped out. You are right about the fish kill being no fun. The fish well some, were almost like pets. Yes, even the LMB would come into the shore for their treats!! I miss them. I have seen only one BG and that may be one of the ones that we just put in. My son and I are going to go fishing again this Saturday for more BG. You are right, it is fun to re-stock, and track. We certainly know more then we did 9yrs ago.
Our frogs are back too jumping in with no fear. Nature sure know what to do, till man comes along and messes with things - sometimes.
I hope all is well with your uncle's pond. What happened with you Uncle's pond to cause such a fish kill. I really don't think any survived in our pond. I don't see any small ones in the iris where they usually hide. No I wont use any more Cutrine. I only used some along the edges where there was algea growing on the rocks.
I hope everyone has a joyous abundant pond season.
I assume my uncles pond just had a winter kill. It was stocked in the early 1980s by my cousin and me and this was the first fish kill that I know of. It is booming now. The scary thing is we went from LMB and bluegill to my "experiment" with LMB, bluegill and some green sunfish because they are pretty and fight well and also some pumpkinseed sunfish because they are very pretty. I also have been trying to add some chain pickerel to help add another predator but I never see them again probably due to lack of plant cover for them to hide in. I also put some mosquito fish in but they don;t last long due to lack of cover. The biggest issue we have is geese eating everything. No vegetation to provide cover due to geese and also red clay soil with low hardness/alkalinity water that I assume prevents the lily pads from growing (I have tried many times to add lillies and other plants even after liming and fertilizer to no avail - they last a few months and either die or get eaten - can't tell for sure as I only get down there 2-3 times per year). Other than that, there are plenty of fish and it seems healthy. The kids love it but not as much as me.
I don't know how large your pond is, but we found that using chicken wire fencing and stretching it out around the whole pond keeps the geese away. They are so messy and foul up the ground and water. This is the only thing we have found that works. Its difficult to stretch it out, but worth it. We lay it out flat and use rocks to hold it down. No more geese - finally!!
A shotgun will keep the geese away and add a meal to your table
Ditto to that ! I don't know why they are protected anymore.
They really aren't protected, they are a migratory bird that's has it's harvest regulated by the Feds. Talk to the local DNR and see if you can get a permit to remove nusance geese.
Kay, I might have missed it but have you had your pond water tested for any kind of poisons(sp)?
One thing to keep in mind is any poison that acts as a piscicide usually kills a lot of fish very quickly. Some viruses do too. A low mortality over a period of time is usually indicative of a bacterial pathogen.
Today was a relatively good day in Northern OH, with temps in the low 60's. The pond activity is not good. There are no more BG that come to feed,as they did for the past 9yrs. I only see the BG that my son and I put in. There is one bass that I caught sight of, and not sure of the Amur whose name is Scarborough. The fish that came to the feeding bank for pellet food all had names.
We have talked with the folks from Jone's Fish farm, who seem to think that the water temp was too cold, because the bubbler was not in the correct place ie to deep. However, this was not the case. Or the fish died from some sort of pathogen.
I think, perhaps, there might have been some element in the creek water. All the dead small fry BG lined the pond like aluminum foil. I can't believe that they would all die off. I guess we will never know. On a happy note, the BG that we put in are doing well. The don't come in a V when they see me walking down to the pond, because they aren't pellet trained. Now I wonder if they have enough to eat. We are going to get the golden shiners on the 24th. Maybe we should purchase some .11 goldfish for the fish?
I wouldn't put goldfish in your pond... A small number of BG in a pond will find plenty of wild food to eat. The BG you stocked should learn to take pellets, it just may take a while.
We are so relieved that the new BG we put in the pond are doing well. I think the worst is over. I also saw a LMB that survived!! Thanks to all for your help and support.