I have just drained my 2 ac. pond and am getting ready to put a clay and bentonite liner on the bottom to hopefully seal it and stop the leaking. We had to make a couple of dams on the springs feeding the pond and i noticed today one of the pockets of water had thousands of bullhead fry. There is also a 2 feet deep portion at the dam.

I want to make sure that all fish are dead in any pockets of water before i start refilling it and moving the fish i saved back into it.

What can I easily get to put in the water to kill any bullheads that may escape death during construction that will not adversely affect the pond as it refills? I hope this question makes sense.

I want no leftover fish such as bullheads to contaminate the pond.

Thanks.

Hydrated lime should do the job. Not just crushed lime but "hydrated lime."

Bleach would too, and will break down quickly after it does the job, although it's not "labled" for that use. It's been said it can combine with organics and produce a carcinogen. Funny they've used chlorine for water treatment for years though.

Rotenone would be your best option but if you don't have an applicators license you'll have to hire someone that does. Funny how that works eh? The government thinks it's protecting the environment by restricting a chemical and ends up forcing people to use something they possibly shouldn't.

I am kind of confused here. These puddles of unwanted fish are on the bottom, and yet you are going to reseal the bottom with clay and bentonite. Wouldn't that get rid of all of the puddles? I also would think finishing draining or emptying the puddles would be in your best interest to both make the work easier and get rid of all of the unwanted fish. Maybe I am missing something?

The fish are behind new dams on springs? What kind of volume of water are in these puddles?

I have hydrated lime and I was going to use it but wanted professional advice first. Thanks Cecil.

Pond frog, we have to dam the inflow at the head of the pond to work on the bottom at the dam. Therefore you have a small pond within the big pond that you can breach when you are ready for it to fill or simply allow the water to overflow the little containment dam which is what I will do. Thats how you can have a residual population of fish after you have drained a pond. Ponds are never bone dry over the entire bottom surface at the same time.

I want a fresh start with no bullheads so I am going to kill everything that we didn't remove. If you ever read any of my earlier posts I was supplied bullheads and not CC when I stocked the pond new in '05. The hatchery says there is no way they mistook BB for CC but when it was drained there were hundreds of BB and zero CC. Explain that please.

I second the hydrated lime. Give an extra dose to get 'em all! Or at least kill 'em asap and check for any suvivors before letting the water into the pond.

Yes the hydrated lime shouldn't be expense so i would be liberal with it. I shovel it in really good into all my puddles before i refill my production ponds. It also keeps down the predacious insects until my fry get a head start.

I try to drain my stuff dry, especially on hot summer days. I have crawdads crawl out of the no O2 puddles. Between the water temp and lack of dissolved O2 nothing survives. Stupid bullheads wull bury themselves in wet mud and live. Somehow, someway it sounds like you got a load of bullheads but unless are fry they are fairly easy to distinguish from each other. What a bummer. If you can't or don't want to sun bake those guys there are numerous products you can use. Lime is one. Anything alkaline or acidic cna knock the ph so far out nothing can survive. Rotenone, oak bark, electroshock, black plastic. I have never stocked a bullhead.

That's great if you have that option but like others here my water table is too high and I rarely get extended periods of hot dry weather.

I envy you.

Checked today and there are two puddles with swarms of tiny black fish fry swimming about. Hopefully what the loader doesnt kill the lime will. Fish are amazing at surviving. We totally drained the pond down to muck and there is only 1 to 2 foot max water left and I still caught LMB after 2 weeks in NO water, high temps, no food and nasty little algae pods everywhere.

I believe bullheads, cockroaches and coyotes can survive anything.

bullheads, cockroaches, coyotes and congresscritters.

How could I forget congresscritters? LMAO

Just wanted an update on your pond, were you able to get rid of the Bullheads?

What steps did you decide to use?

We drained it and moved the LMB and BG to a 1/2 ac pond below the main pond. We left all the BH to die. The bottom of the main pond has been lined with clay and bentonite. This week they will finish the dam-we punched a hole through it to drain, and let it refill.

When we drain the little pond holding the fish we will not put any BH back into the main pond if any are there. Hopefully, this will be the end of the BH. When the little pond is rebuilt I will stock it with CC and only stock my own fish into the bigger pond.

This will work: try a burlap feed sack full of green walnut hulls. It will kill the fish and the toxin is very temporary. I know it sounds strange, but back in the day, we used this to "fish" wholes of water in wet weather creeks before they dried up and the fish were destroyed anyway. Fish will absolutely run out on the banks to get away from it, but they will die.

So did you get nice fish, or keep them to eat?

How long does this stuff have to be in the water before this takes place?

Thanks

Sorry for the delay. We kept the fish to eat. Totally illegal, but that's how I rolled in my younger days. I just figured they were gonna die anyway. It doesn't take long at all....minutes and it really does work.

Would this work to stun them for a while to catch for bait or move to a pond or is it once they have it in there system they are going to die?

I'm not certain, but I think if you limited the amount of green hulls, it would just stun them. Placed immediately in clean water, they should recover.

The toxin from walnut trees are concentrated in the hull (green or brown), but are present throughout the entire tree. The toxin, jugalone, is quite deadly!

You can also make a "tea" with the walnut hulls, puor it on freshly mowed grass to send worms flying to the surface. You may want to try this on the neighbors yard cause it will probably kill the grass also!