Nephew called. Came home to a fish kill.

Details:
Southern Illinois
5 years old
3 acres
Half covered with watermeal (no chemical treatment since last year)
Crystal clear water
No big rains in last three weeks
No crop spraying in immediate or upstream area
Cool front did come in last couple days
No dead fish as of this morning
Guessing 230 dead fish seen as of few minutes ago
Bluegill, Bass, Channel Cats

Pond is close to his house. Encouraged him again to consider an aeration system for future.

I think he is going run boat motor on in hopes does at least a little good.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Test the PH??? That would be one thing that he could adjust with Alum or lime.

could it have been a turn over from the cold front cooling the surface water cooler than the bottom water?

I live in So. Ill too, Fayette County. We have had quite a cold snap. I have full pond aeration and my water temp dropped from 82 to 78 in about 5 days.

FB

Oh no. Sorry to hear this. No suggestions other than what others have already shared. Hope you can save some fish.

I'm a little stumped. More dead fish; but not huge numbers more (probably 3XX total). At same time, other fish are apparently biting well.

Tempted to blame on cold snap.

Nephew going to purchase / install a 4 diffuser aeration system designed for up to 4 acre pond since pond doesn't receive much wind action or anything.

I'm in Clay County and had a bad fish kill last year about this time. Per my experience, I had dead fish show up for about 5 weeks before it stopped. Not all fish succumb at once. I had a weird pond anyway, but it wiped out all but my forage and panfish. I restocked and have aeration now. My sympathies.

I have been there its not fun. I know my kills have been from low DO. In my cases it has been fast turn over do to heavy cold rain in a stratified pond without enough aeration. Anything that kills off vegetation in the pond will also do it, even a plankton bloom. Lets hope your passed it, if other fish are biting that's a good sign. I fully support adding aeration. I wish I could offer more.

This is Ponds 101 and y'all probably already know it. I'm suspecting the water meal. Plants emit O2 in the daytime and suck it at night. Get 3 or 4 days of low sunlight via clouds and the plant life, including microscopic algae, keep sucking it. The bigger fish seem to go first from DO crashes.

Suspect you're right. Lots of watermeal. Cold front came through. Combo killed fish. The aeration system should help. Not sure how soon he is getting it.

Plus if it's 50% covered, that is 50% of the pond water that is NOT getting sunlight to grow phytoplankton, which puts more O2 into the pond than anything else. My bet is the Watermeal, not a 5°F temp drop.

What everybody is missing is this young pond is loaded with Watermeal. WHY????? A pond that age shouldn't have that problem. There are more underlying problems that aren't being addressed.

Good question Scott. However, the watermeal divides(reproduces) pretty rapidly. I don't recall the rate. I ran into one not far from me that was covered within one season. I can only surmise ducks brought some in during the Spring. We're in the flyway when they are heading back North in the Spring.

Since he said no chemical treatment this year, could that mean it was treated in the past for WM?

What is the best duckweed or watermeal treatment?

I think he might have treated for algae last year.

Pond was almost covered by watermeal about six? Weeks ago - at which time i told him i thought a pond boss member had some clipper for sale. Got about 10 inches of rain in about a week with most of watermeal going over the overflow. Then became at least half covered again in pretty short time. Had cold front come through and several fish died.

Pond has mix of deep and shallow areas. Upper end is pretty shallow with standing dead trees. Dam and valley (was a deep valley before dam) area is probably twenty some feet deep. There have been a number of ducks on it, but not near comparable to numbers on my bigger pond.

Pond doesn't get much wind or wave action at all.

Would also like to know why so much watermeal.

With all the watermeal this year, he didn't have algae problem.

I wonder if he should try to plant some plants of some type to lock up nutrients to starve out the algae and watermeal. What do you think?

It depends. If you have water flow thru, or other plants that you want to keep, and don't mind spraying a few times, Clipper.

If you don't have water going in and out of the pond, no other plants in the pond that you want to keep, 90 ppb Fluridone. Treat once and maybe bump it after 20 days to ensure the 90 ppb stays there and you're done.

It's growing because of little to no wave action, no weeds/algae utilizing the nutrients and something brought the seeds to the pond, or viable adult plants. It's the worlds smallest flowering plant.

Update: Another big fish kill.

Backstory: He installed aerators. He had to have them rebuilt after 6 months. They did so under warranty. They quit again about a month ago. Lots of water meal again. Temps dropped again. Fish kill again.

He's frustrated at apparent lack of longevity for aerators and at second fish kill.

Advice?

Also asking if any consultants in this area of southern illinois who could take a look at it and offer guidance.

Nephew seeking advice before duckweed starts up again. Any suggestions?

Also, I'm considering tiger muskies for my biggest BOW to help control smaller LMB. Anyone sell in south central Il (Effingham area)?

RE: aeration.

What kind of compressors, and what pressure are they running at? Rotary vane, diaphragm or rocking piston? Are the compressors in a cabinet where there is sufficient air flow to keep them cool?

He will need to either do something to help reduce the nutrient load in the pond or start up an aggressive herbicide application program to keep it under control. Since Watermeal is a flowering plant, there is a tremendous amount of seeds on the bottom of the pond waiting for sunlight and warmth. Then they explode.
https://extension.psu.edu/duckweed-and-watermeal

Have him read that link and pay attention to the nutrient reduction and treatment options. With the upper end in dead/standing trees to me that means that the topsoil was not removed before the pond was filled, and I'm guessing that is where a lot of the nutrients are coming from.....

When watermeal covers the water surface, no or very few underwater plants can grow, and there is not much O2 transfer from the air to the water either.

Catch 22 here. He can stock a lot of Triploid Grass Carp. They will eat any and all vegetation in the pond and when that runs out they will start eating watermeal. (eat that or starve) Once that is gone they will start rooting around in the bottom for something to eat and muddy the water. It's Illinois, so you can't stock Tilapia.

As for the Tiger Muskies, they are typically only available in late October/November and have to be pre-ordered earlier in the year, as they are not a fish that hatcheries keep on hand. BUT to stock them and expecting them to only eat "X" fish is unrealistic, they will eat whatever swims in front of them when they are hungry, as long as they can fit it in their mouth, from 4" fish to ducks.

Try calling Nate Herman @ Herman Brothers Pond Management in Peoria, Illinois. https://www.hbpondmanagement.com/

We have a client in Newton, Illinois, and drive thru Effingham every few weeks, but try Nate first; who knows, he may still be able to source the Tigers for you this year.

Thanks!

Family has some land in Jasper county (Newton is in Jasper county).

The biggest bluegill I've ever seen or caught was in a fairly small pasture pond my brother built and owned there. The thing was huge - guessing 2 lb +. Gently released it back as soon as could - before days of cell phones. Doing it over, it would have gone on a wall probably. Knew it was really big; didn't truly appreciate how big it was at the time.

I am over in Crawford county and just ordered tiger Muskies today for my pond and a couple friends ponds.
Look up keystone hatchery in Richmond IL. They will be ready for pickup in May. Be you need to order them soon to get them.