Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Shad die-off

I have searched the forum and have found some answers but would appreciate a fresh opinion.
I have had a die-off of hundreds of shad in my pond in the last 4-5 days. No other fish have been affected. I have large mouth bass and bluegills (stocked in 1995). My pond is only an acre or so, and I have always had an abundance of shad (yet they were never stocked in this pond). My water level is low, but I have seen it much lower on one or two occasions. Never before have I seen this happen. I live in North Texas near Whitesboro, and the temps have been fluctuating terribly lately. I have shad 6 to 8 inches long in my pond, but those that have died are all within the 2-4 inches long. I am assuming it is the weather and the low water, but would like to hear if anyone has had a similar experience.

Threadfin Shad or Gizzard Shad?

Gizzard shad.

It is not the temps in your area at this time with GShad. In a pond it could be the young GShad starving to death due to lack of plankton to eat. Are they all skinny ? It could be water quality or DO problems as shad often exhibit that early.

could be having a fall turnover resulting in low Do killing them off.

sounds like a O2 problem. How deep is the pond?

I wish our g. shad would die so we wouldn't have to kill them. I have read that they are fragile and subject to fish kills with quickly changing temp. fluctations. I don't know about Texas, but we had a hard winter here last year and they didn't die.

tac5 is your water very clear and also the water level low?

My shad die-off only lasted for a few days. All of the dead were small and thin (I have some very large shad in my pond). My water is very low, down about three feet. I have about six to eight feet left in the deepest part. The water isn't extremely clear, but not muddy either. This is the only time this has happened in the twelve years I've managed this pond. They may have just become overpopulated and nature did its thing. Now if I could just get some good rains. Thanks for the info!

Glad to hear that you didn't lose a ton of fish. Heck all the experts say that you aren't a pond meister until you've had a fish kill. I ensured my status as a pond meister in the summer of 2007 - I lost a lot of my fish then. But as you say nature does have a strange way of self correcting. For my pond I think the fish kill was one of the best things that could have happened to my pond.