Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations anyone there? Please help/read

I just went down to the mudhole. I see alot of cc at the surface of the water, in a pack. Are they starving for air? I don't want them to die. I have an aeration system coming today. Anything I can do now? or are they o.k.

If they are gulping air at the surface then probably the CC are needing air. The only other thing I can think of is that they could be eating pellets if you have been feeding pellets. The last DO sag we had got our LMB cruising the shallow edge back and forth along the bank. I counted 63 of them in that one school just under the surface. I also saw CC fry at the surface in another area.

Dissovled oxygen levels are usually lowest early in the morning. Overcast skys and dead calm conditions with no wind compond the problem as do dead an dieing aquatic vegetation due recent muddy water or herbicide applications.

Is there a way you can run a hose to the pond and horizontally circulate the water? See Bruce's horizontal aeration thread, it is very informative and can be used in an emergency.

aeration simplified:
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000042

horizontal aeration:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000125;p=1

thanks shorty. I called Ted. He told me this too. I now have rigged a hose with an end sprayer on it to have the water run across and disturb the top of the water. I think there are just too many cats in there for our little pond. It did rain early last evening. OVercast a lot of the day. Sunny today. Hot.


I am off to read your links. Thanks a million

Great ideas. I am back down to the mudhole to rearrange my jimmyringin to make the water circulate more.

I should take photos. Should be good for a little laugh or two.

I am wondering if Teresa is seeing channel cat at the surface. Channel catfish don't usually wad up at the surface when oxygen starved. Heaven knows, I have killed enough to have seen it too many times. When channel cat are suffocating, they are all over the top of the pond, seeking air.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that her school of fish are actually young bullheads.

I hadn't thought of that Bob, but that wouldn't suprise me. I have seen that in some of our public lakes around here with bullheads in the 8-10" range.

You are right to question me. I have questioned them being channel cats myself. The previous owner says he stocked channel cats. We do pellet feed them, but at night. There were no pellets on the surface. There are a lot of bugs. Could they have been in a gang feeding of some kind? The only thing about that is when they feed, they strike. They don't just float around on the top with their mouths at the surface hoping to gulp a pellet. There were about 50 to 60 of them. about 4 to 5 inch in size.

Update:

I have taken a tetra pond submersible water garden pump with a max flow of 750 g.p.h. and put it in the shallows to create a flow around the side and hopefully back around again. It is just strong enough to cause a ripple in the water. I know this isn't the best of worlds, but it is all this girl can do until hubby gets home to take control. Hopefully I won't go down and see 50 dead fish floating.

This little garden pump also has a fountain feature....but I am concerned about really heating the water up. It is really hot here.

I ran the garden hose with the end sprayer into the water/across it a bit for about 1/2 hour. Talked to hubby on the phone who expressed concern about the water as it is treated with a fair amound of chlorine. So I turned it off.

I am off to check my pond management book to look at bullheads.

If I am way off base, please say so. I'll do whatever I can to get it right.

Hmm, just went to a site on the internet with color photos. Nope, don't think they are bullhead. Unless the bullheads can be a greyish blue when little. These are a pretty grey with a very white bellie. You see the belly when they strike at the pellets.

Update: I no longer see them at the surface. Maybe I panicked too soon. Maybe they just felt like cruisin the top for a while.

This pondmeisterette is about to throw in the towel. I need a nice lined koi pond with perfectly clear water, gorgeous plants and beautiful koi, each appropriately named of course. I am absolutely drawn to this mud hole, but man, I am a fixer. I want things nice, clean... I am not a true meisterette. I really don't think I am. I think I am a water gardenette.

Teresa (probably extraneous info since you've already looked them up):

There are several species of Bullheads, but they all differ from CC by not having a deeply forked tail. I think that's the easiest way to tell them apart.

CC:


Bullhead:

Well, I am going to have to catch one tonight and take a picture. I caught a little one last week. I didn't look at it in a scientific way at all. I thought it was very pretty, kinda blue grey. I concentrated more on what my husband was telling me about holding it just right to get the hook out or I would get poked with something sharp in the fins or gills.

although, one thing sticks out in me mind. I really felt that the one I caught had a real flat bottom. Wide and flat. These photos may not show this real well.

Best thing to do is catch and post the picture. Then I'll know for sure what is in there. My husband and I also disagree on the type of bream in there. I say they look like bluegill. We have hooked them too. I 'll see if I can post one of them too.

for now, I see no whiskers at the surface. I see some activity around the shore, like something is foraging or hunting. It is hot hot hot already.

This may help a bit. When fish are stressed , for example by low DO, they do not feed much if at all. If your fish are actively swimming and feeding then you probably don't have a low DO situation.

I'll tell ya straight up....I have no idea what they were doing. All I do know is that I have never seen them do it before. I have never set eyes on them like that unless they are eating pellets. And even eating pellets they are swimming around striking and darting off. This time they were just hanging there, suspended in the water, all packed together, whiskers visible out of the water. freaky. It was neat to see them but it scared me that they might all die.

They were not swimming around and eating when this happened. But they are now. I hear a little activity at the water line, hear the splash of water every now and then.

My aearation system is to arrive today. We'll start er up slow and work to the point of running it all night.

I have cleaned the filter on that dang submersible I can't tell ya how many times. what a pain. This pond is too mucky for any type of motor with a filter.

I appreciate all the help, I really do. I am such a caretaker that the thought of letting all those fish die in my care....well..... Not on my watch.

Sorry, no photos yet. We have a baseball game tonight in Houston. Taking on those Mariners. So no pics tonight. But I'll getter done this weekend/weather permitting.

The cats were up at the surface again this am. This time they were not bunched as tight, but they were together again. I tried to get pics but the dang glare made it impossible. My aeration didn't come yesterday, rescheduled, so I did the emergency rough up the water deal. Seems odd that the cats recover so quickly. Within 10 mintues of agitating the water they are swimming and splashing around in the water. Makes me wonder just what they are up to.

Am way up here, so don't know your hatches, but...

Could you be having a mayfly type of hatch or other food critter?

Could be. I have never seen them eat anything that serenely, but it is possible. I most certainly don't know much about catfish and their habits. I have been the keeper of catfish for about two weeks now. That's the extent of my expertise.

See my post on Panic - DO Sag. What you describe is exactly how my cats are behaving, and I threw a 20#er over the fence this morning. My deal was I treated with Sonar and for one thing, my diffuser membrane was torn. My cats won't eat, they just swarm the surface like bullheads.

Good luck and get the air on them as soon as possible.

Hey Bad Boy,

I think you have a different situation. I have not found dead fish at all.... I hope it all turns out for you. I know I was freakin..... There is something spooky about 70 or more little fish at the surface of the water, whiskers up, ya know.

Husband thinks they are feeding on the top. He watched them this weekend. We also heard other fish at the banks splashing and feeding. So I think he is right about it.

Good luck to you.

I picked out four more (dead) large cats, 15-20 # range. My guess is if you don't harvest, nature will do it for you. When conditions aren't right, the old are the first to go. I've got BG, Crappie, LMB, and a ton of minnows. The big cats are the ones taking the crash. I always thought cats were one of though ones. Live and learn.

Hang in there and get the air flowing.

Oh no. I sure hope you get everything straight here soon.