Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Pond seems to have no fish & tadpoles dying.

I posted before but can't figure this out. 1/4 acre pond. Dug about 6 years ago. 12 feet deep. Put 30 bluegill in and after ice out there were 4 dead ones floating. No signs of the others. Now it seems my Tadpoles are all bloating and dying. Clear water, cattails, and signs Of muskrat. I've asked for where to get water test kits and suggestions on what wrong and the only answer I got was to drain it and dig it deeper which is not an option due to money. What is going on and what do I do to start figuring out the problem? tHanks!

Cap't. Try getting in touch with your local NRCS, or a company that sells water softners. They both might be able to direct you to a place that will test water. The water softner company might be able to do a test themselves.

You could have tadpoles dying over the winter and they are just now floating up. If you are seeing dying tadpoles then I'd suspect water quality issues. Amphibians are very touchy about water quality. Has there been any crop spraying close by?

The fish, OTOH, could just have been stressed during the move. While 4 is a high percentage, I wouldn't worry about it unless you started to see more dying. If the water is still cool, the fish will be hanging out deeper and be really hard to see.

Update... had a bonfire by the pond last weekend...frogs everywhere! All different types. Leads me to believe the water is ok. Still haven't seen any fish though...

Might be hard to see any signs of fish in 1/4acres 12 feet deep. Perhaps when the water warms up.

How is the pond fed?