Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Yellow Perch just stocked and dying

Hey all. Been gone from the forum for a while. Work is busy. We have 1/10th acre, 8' deep two year old pond. Put fatheads in first year - nothing else. Great numbers in the fall of 2011, so we stocked 60 5-7 inch trout to see what happens. Trout over-wintered well. They still eat food daily. No idea how many survived. We have never found a dead one. Some of the trout may go 12 inches. (And yes, I know 60 was too many but that is what was thrown into our tank when we ordered 25)

Now the problem. We stocked ten 10-12 inch yellow perch March 30. One was found dead April 6, and one today, April 11. Both had some white / clear marks on them. Maybe you can see them in a picture attached. The one found today had nothing in its stomach. I am thinking we should not have stocked so soon after spawning, but was looking for other opinions. Thanks in advance.

I think they died due to handling stress; either by you or the place where you got them or both. YP are generally pretty tough but females after spawning are already strongly stressed.

Thanks, Bill. The hatchery said they would be fine in the bags for the 1.5 hour ride and I took a chance. They were all out of smaller stock or else I would have chosen that option. Again, thanks.

It is not unusual to have 5-10% morts on a normal stocking.

5 to 10 % ...wow thats good to know.

Yeah that's not unusual. The pictures shown are clearly showing handling and hauling stress mediated disease. It should taper off and most of them will make it.

How many did you plant? If you are feeding too many fish in a 1/10th acre pond that is not flow through you can run into ammonia, nitrite, and oxygen problems later on in the year once you surpass the carrying capacity of a pond.

I got an email from a gentleman in Indiana that planted 400 pellet trained bass in 1/10 acre lined pond last spring and he lost them all a few weeks ago during the brief warm up we had. His fish were up to about a pound, which meant he was feeding and holding a rate of 4000 lbs. of fish per acre in the pond. It's no wonder they died even with the use of a surface aerator. My WAG would be the unionized ammonia with his probably 8 + PH went through the roof when the water warmed up after a few days of his fish feeding heavily. Add to that this early in the year the nitrifying bacteria were probably at a low level.

Put in 10, 10-12 inch yellow perch. We have now found four dead in total. I am bummed. I thought if the water quality were an issue we would see it in the trout first. They are still hitting spinners hard and eating pellets.

I have learned a lesson and will not stock this large of a fish again.

Another problem I noted yesterday with the pond: We have goldfish. There were three seen in the pond last year and I couldn't catch them. Yesterday I saw two smaller ones so I can only assume that they have had babies. I didn't stock them intentionally - either came from the hatchery when we stocked minnnows or they walked into the pond from another pond. So much for starting with a clean slate.

Did you stock FHM or GSH? I have seen goldfish mixed in with both species in the past. If you have a reasonable sized LMB population without too much vegetation, they should keep the goldfish in check.

Could also be those ruby red minnows.

aka rosey red minnows a color variant of fathead minnows (FHM).

Victor -- great to hear from you, even under bad circumstances.

How big are these things? I'm surprised the trout didn't enjoy them as sushi if they were less that about 3 inches.

I had the same thought as Bill Cody and Hang_Loose. On March 9, I put a pound of fatheads in my little brood pond above my main pond (where you were nearly speared by a falling limb). About 90-95% of them were gold -- actually, rosey reds, which sure look gold to me. They've been reproducing like crazy in the last couple of weeks. The offspring also seem to be 90-95% gold, rather than black/dark gray.

Ken

P.S. For the next couple of months I'm going to be having doctor appointments at least every two weeks, between Martinsburg and Falling Waters. Let's see what we can do about having breakfast or lunch.

They were ten to twelve inches when stocked, so the trout were probably more intimidated than anything else. As for the goldfish - they are undoubtedly goldfish. They are now about six to eight inches long. We stocked FH and she told me she threw some rosies in there. I am now thinking she threw some goldies in there.

I sent you a PM too.

Victor! Good to hear from you, buddy! I wondered where you had gotten off to. I feared that your time with us at Ken's house (the near spearing experience aside) must have run you off! You ought to come around more often!

I have missed being around, that is for sure. Between my full time job, my part time job, and my consulting I just buried myself. I stepped down from the part time job as of a few weeks ago and am now starting to feel a little freedom. Hanging with you guys didn't scare me one bit - it was a great time. I am looking forward to hitting the pond this year and getting some work done! The trout are still feeding but with the warmer temperatures it has to be coming to an end soon. I am considering either SMB or HSB once the trout die off. We shall see.