Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Bluegill found dead on bank

Hello, I have a pond we constructed 7-8 years ago. This winter I have found about a dozen hybrid bluegill dead laying on the bank. Most of them with their tail end eaten off. The fish are mostly mature "big bluegill 3/4 to 1lb. Has anyone had this happen. Could be from a Crain or raccoon or another predator we live in a wooded area in middle Tennessee. I did see one of the bluegills close to the bank lethargic yesterday. We stocked the hybrids 6-7 years ago. It is possible they are dying of old age but I wanted to get another opinion. The pond also has 6-8 lb catfish, bass, bluegill, and redeer. We feed a floating fish food during the warm months but not during the winter. Also we occasionally pump in fresh water from a creek and use a powerhouse aerator fountain year round.

Yes hybrid bluegill could be dying out at 6 to 7 years old and/or rapid temperature changes or super cooling with the powerhouse could be stressing them, which I'm sure you've had this winter.

Are you sure the tails were eaten off or they succumbed to fungus. Seems a coon or other animal would do more than eat the tail.

How big is the pond?

Cecil, thank you for the feedback. Yes the tails have been chewed off. We have a crane that appears every now and then. I just wasn't sure if a raccoon would get in the water to get a dead fish or not. Or was this the work of a crane. I am interested in what you said about the powerhouse fountain and the water temperature. Our pond has frozen more than once this winter and when it thawed there was noticeable algae growth. I figured I needed to circulate the water and turned the fountain on. I also pumped in freshwater from our creek. My pond is small about 1/2 acre but has always produced some really large and healthy fish. Thank you for the feedback.

6-7 years is about what I see with our HBG. You mentioned feeding pellets....what kind, and how much do you feed - and how often?

I feed various types but always floating feed. Purina catfish feed is one of them. I do get a smaller pellet at times that I think is a gamefish feed. I usually shop at tractor supply or our local co-op. Sometimes one is out so I go to the other.

If your dead fish have a hole poked right between their eyes or gouges (sp) down their sides, a crane or herron probably killed them.

Coons will usually drag a dead fish off somewhere to eat it. Like Cecil said, it may be a fungus!

I've had muskrats in the past bring fish on the banks with tail eaten off. Even a 15lb grass carp.

I had two otters in one of my ponds a few years back. I would not have known that they were in there except for the dozens of half eaten bullheads lying around the pond. It seemed that they liked the end third of the fish and would stop eating a fish just before the anus and get another. It seemed that they preferred the bullheads so I let them stay until I found a 4 pond LMB. Then a local trapper removed them for me. He said he had seen this before, and that the bullheads are slower so they target them first.

Herons only eat live fish and they don't munch on tails. Any dogs around?