First, please forgive me in advance for the long post, I am trying to give all of you as much ammo as I can to help me ward off what I fear is a pending fish kill. I live deep in the Ozarks of MO, and like much of the midwest, it has been both hot lately and a whole lotta rain.
Having said that , we have had much hotter weeks of heat over the 10 years since we dug this pond and had it connected to an older existing pond, now it is just one pond separated by an island with two bridges. Everyone was so helpful when I asked for help last time, I am disabled with a very badly broken back from an accident 15 years ago, but a 12 hour surgery has allowed me to walk normally, etc, just have to suffer lots of pain constantly, a small price to pay. Now we have been hit with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease for me, so the urgency to get this property we have ( 43 acres ) in order so my wife can handle it is of greater importance than ever.
Before last winter which put 8" of ice on the pond for 6 weeks, we had lost less than 5 fish in the previous 9 years. After the ice melted, we began finding 4-5 BG everyday for several weeks, no idea how many were found by the coons at night. However, oddly enough, not a single fish of any other type seemed to suffer, and all the BG were the same size, not real monsters, but fairly large, over a pound, nothing smaller, nothing bigger.
That finally stopped and all went well, then about 6 weeks ago our very large CC began croaking, only the big ones, no other fish involved, we lost 14 ( that we discovered ), yesterday 2 more with one weighing in at 24 pounds. Again, only a certain size of them ( and none of the albino CC died ) were dying, all very large, none had been bitten, hurt in any way, no markings, etc. Pond has not been fished in months so I ruled out gut hooked, way to many for that, it is seldom fished anyway.
Now, yesterday it stepped up its game and we found 7 dead BG of all sizes. One very odd fact, four of them had been drug well off the water by 5 feet or more but were not eaten. Yesterday our first albino CC died ( large again ) yet the mid size of 5-8 pounds seem to flourish, as do the GC (large devils ) and LB, we have never found any of them dead in 10 years, we see them ( GC ) in the evenings cleaning up any missed food left over by the other fish, actually good scavengers for us.
Here is what I have potentially ruled out based on my flawed knowledge of maintaining this pond these last 10 years and the information I gather from reading PB mag and these posts.
1. Temp to hot unlikely, I have been in the pond, feels the way it always does at this time of the year, and no other fish are affected.
2. Oxygen...don't think so, there are not that many fish in the pond, water volume compared to fish numbers is large, and there are no fish on the surface sucking air, etc.
3. Contaminated. Possible, but why are the LB, mid size CC and the GC apparently immune to it? This is a high bank pond, does not get water from runoff, stays full either by rain or a well I had put in 10 years ago when the second pond was dug just for that reason, to keep it level in the summer, never been an issue.
4. Disease. I know that there are some specific diseases to CC,but why would only the biggest, meanest, toughest fish in the pond croak, leaving all the mid sized ones intact?
Feeding. Here is the possible culprit in two ways. One, as the large, big eaters began croaking, I completely forgot ( stupid Alzheimer's ! ) to turn back the food, I know the rule of thumb is they need to clean it all up in 10-15 minutes, but all these years they wiped out everything in 2 minutes tops, as I watched them feed each night through the spotting scope from my back door ( pond is only 90 yards away ) I noticed that it was taking a LOT longer than normal to clean it up, but I just failed to make the connection until a few days ago when I cut them off completely. I noticed some uneaten pellets on the surface 4 hours after the feeder had gone off, so I realized that they are very few fish left to eat, they do come up and aggressively feed, just a lot fewer of them, lost so many BG in the freeze and then the big eaters, the 18-24 pound CC are all but gone, still a few big albinos left...I think. Found another large CC today on the island, the buzzards had stripped him to the bone, no idea if it was an albino or not, but can't see why it would make any difference.
The other part of the feeding issue I saw elsewhere on other posts, has to do with Aquamax. I have always used 500 on one side for the BG and 600 on the large , deep side for the CC. Can't get it anymore and had to switch to Purina Gamechow, which is still 32% protine, but does not have that "fishy" smell of the Aquamax, almost oderless in fact, but fish did not seem to care, and I THINK our first few dead CC we found were before we even made the change.
As for the pond, it is very green, always has been, using the tool that PB taught me to make ( thank you very much ) today has the visibilty at 18-20" I sent a water sample to the university about 4 yeaars ago and was suprised to find that virtually everything was within range and they said they had zero recommendations.
I realize it is time again for that sample, I am so afraid that by the time all of that is done I may suffer a catastrophic loss, already has been when our prized heavyweight CC have all been taken out, now it appears to be the BG turn.
Again, I am so sorry for the long post, I have to get out everything I can while it is fresh on my mind or ....well...it won't be on my mind by tomorrow unless I am reminded...by floating fish!
Ideas, thoughts, etc all appreciated. BTW, geeze are our buzzards happy, 15 or more sit in a dead tree right next to the pond and just sit and wait for the next one to pop up! Thank you so much in advance!
