Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry rotting, green, and charred trees/brush underwater

Looks like Im going to end up with the remnants of a brush fire at the bottom of a new fish pond along with some green fresh cut logs. Someone told me that rotting wood underwater is bad for fish. Not sure I should trust that info. Any thoughts on that? Also some of the old wood that is going to be underwater is charred from a brush fire. Would the charred wood be bad in anyway for the fish when I eventually fill the pond (covering said wood) and stocking the pond?

fish options being considered are Tilapi (scaled white fish), Surubi (kinda like a catfish), and Pacu (much less aggressive cousin to piranha).

many thanks for any info.

Nothing that some time will not cure.

Some trees will cause tannins and have chemicals that will kill fish. The big thing is how much of bad wood in relation to the total amount of water.

It would be better if it were cured wood, but since you have to deal with what you have you might want to test the water with a few fish before committing your entire stock.

You might have to wait a little longer before stocking fish compared to if the wood not was there. Or the variety of tree might not be a problem at all.

Do you know what variety of tree? Others might know if the specific tree type will be a problem.

I had fresh limbs and stumps in my pond with no ill effect, but it was a comparative small amount for the BOW size. Others have mentioned fresh Oak trees are a problem. So it just depends.

I doubt that the wood will be that much of a problem but you haven't said how large the pond is relative to the amount of wood.

To test, get a container of water and put in a piece of the wood. Add a couple of fish and see what happens.

thanks snrub and Dave!

Most of the "stuff" is just charcoal bits/powder from the burn. The substantial logs are two 8-10 ft long (12-16 inch diameter at base) motacu palms. My rough conservative estimate (low end) of the amount of water is in the neighborhood of 1300 cubic meters (343,424 gallons).

The fruit of the motacu palm is eaten by birds and animals and I think it's even used to make vegetable oil, so I it doesn't seem like something that would hurt the fish. I wouldnt be surprised at all if Pacu eat the fruits as part of their normal diet.

thanks again for the advice. Im going to buy a few fish and do the tests you advised before stocking.

Edit: Actually ... I really do need to throw in some minnows soon to control mosquitoes as the pond fills. I suppose if the minnows survive that might be a good indication that the big fish will as well.