Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry FISH KILLS/LOW SALT LEVELS

Recently I have noticed some fish kills in my pond. It has consisted of about 30 to 40 minnows that I have seen in the shallow areas of the pond in the past two weeks and 10 to 15 small bluegill in the past couple days. I have tested the pond water with a Master Liquid Test Kit for Ponds. The PH, the Nitrite, and the Ammonia levels were all normal. The only thing that was off was the salt level. Could this be the reason for the fish kills?

The pond is 1/2 acre which was built and stocked in October of 2004 per Bob Lusks' raising trophy bass recommendations. I have seen a more than usual number of fathead minnows around the shallow areas of the pond as well.

Thanks for any recommendations and help on this matter.

I went out again this morning and found about 5 more dead small bluegill and around 6 more dead minnows in the shallows as well. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this or is this somewhat normal?

Don't panic. We all have small numbers of fish die in our ponds; we don't see them most of the time before they sink or are eaten. Your are only seeing small BG and minnows, the fish you have the most of, not your original stockers. I consider this encouraging.

I don't know about salinity. The water quality experts will probably be able to give you a better answer if you post the numbers from all your water quality test results.

Also, what has the weather done during the period you have seen the dead fish? Any great big or rapid temperature swings? Any really windy periods?

Thanks for your advice. There really has not been a lot of drastic temperature changes but we had a couple of days that were very windy.

Depending on the stocking and initial survival rates the deaths could be nature's way of thinning out the weakest individuals from a community that is too abundant for the recent food supply. I suspect that the predators are eating lots of the weak and dying fish and you are seeing the surplus that they are not able to eat. During cool weather (winter) the food levels are usually at year lows for smallest fish in the pond. I suspect that some or a bunch of smaller fish went into winter hungry, are now succumbing to starvation after a winter, low food, stress period. Fish usually need a fair amount of body fat in fall the make it through winter in good health.

Salt concentrations can get pretty high before salt will start affecting the overall health of your pond fish. I doubt very much that salt has anything to do with the deaths unless your salt levels are close to that of sea water.

Thanks very much for your response. That makes a lot of sense. I am very lucky that I found this site and people like you are nice enough to share your knowledge and expertise with us beginners. I have really learned a lot from this website as well as my subscription to the pond boss magazine. I hope you have a great weekend.