Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Dead bluegill

We have woken up the last 4 days and found 10-15 bluegills dead everyday. The pond has tigerbass, and 20 grass carp also in the pond. We got about 2000 blue gills in the pond last spring. we just put the tigerbass in the begining of May. The pond is about 3 acres, and is 2 years old. We have limed it and fertilized it in order to acheive the perfect algea bloom. No sores are on the fish and only one bass has died. The water color is a slight greenish brown. Anyone ever had this problem?

Is your pond aerated? Has the algae bloom recently changed in color in any way?

What has your weather been for the last few days? Hot, overcast, rainy, dry, ???

A fish kill of that size with the weather Georgia has been having the last month makes me think of a lack of oxygen. Without sunlight, a plant breathes oxygen just like your fish. A large amount of plants or plankton in the water on a hot still night will suck a lot of oxygen out of the water and some dead fish is inevitable. If that is the case, I would suggest looking into and aeration system to keep the water moving and stop this problem.

tough to digansis if that information. If you could answers some of the questiosn might help us out. I will not be around computer tommorrow, but if you see fish on surface feel free to call our office if close to metro ATL might be able to helpout. I would had to see you lose many more.

All of the above would describe the Georgia weather. Mid 80's to 90's. We have received about an inch of rain over the past 7 days.

I have heard that when the pond is low on oxygen, the fish will swim to the top of the water in the mornings, and not eat well like before. If this is the case, our fish eat normally at every feeding time, and they do not swim towards the top of the water. Our pond is not aerated, but we are looking into one. They are quite pricey, The one we are looking at is 2400.00

How deep your pond is usually determines how much $$$.
If you have a shallow pond, you can aerate it with a high volume/low pressure pump that costs alot less $$$. Also if your somewhat near the metro ATL area, I would contact lakework.com to help with your aeration system. Anyone can pump air...let me start over, Almost anyone can pump air to the bottom of a lake, but not too many people can properly place or grasp the concept of AERATING!

If your oxygen decline is related to your plankton bloom, your fish have plenty of oxygen during the day because they put off oxygen, but at night that will actually cause a reverse effect and suck the oxygen out of the lake.

In this scenario, dissolved O2 is at it's lowest the first thing in the morning. If you are not at your pond then, you might not ever see the fish surface gasping. Later in the day after photo synthesis has resumed, O2 levels are higher and the fish would be (at that time) OK.

You can buy a dissolved oxygen test kit at some fish stores. you can also order them online. test the oxygen in the morning, noon and evening and you'll see a huge swing... with algae blooms even more. Algae pumps oxygen into the water and sucks up carbon dioxide during the day (it can also change the pH of your water by removing all the carbonic acid in the water, making your pH go up). At night algae reverses.. it starts using up oxygen and releasign carbon dioxide back into the water. At dawn you'll be at your lowest amount of dissolved oxygen and you pH will be it's lowest as well.

back in town glad to see your not reporting any recent deaths. It does nto sound like low DO if you fish are feeding well. Nate thanks see you in a few days and talk Shawn into coming to TX.