Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help FHM diseased?

Hi guys, I was out at the pond this weekend and noticed a bunch of dead FHM's. On closer inspection, I noticed that some appeared to be missing their tail fins and changing color from the back. Then I saw some living ones with a color change, some struggling to swim and their tails missing or damaged.

I've got a heaping crop of spawing fatheads, so anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated!


By dlmadde at 2010-06-02


By dlmadde at 2010-06-02


By dlmadde at 2010-06-02

Dave, if you have crayfish in the pond, that can be a byproduct. I have seen this before and was surprised to learn they can catch up with a minnow. It's interesting that they don't eat the whole minnow or keep it for later consumption. In any event, that could be what you have going on, though it could also be something else entirely! Hang tight for some truly qualified feedback.

Thanks Todd, I haven't seen any crayfish migrate to the pond yet. But I hope they do! I'm worried about the pink tail ends. Makes me wonder if their losing their scales?

Never seen or heard of that.

It's common for there to be high mortalities after spawning for fatheads especially the males. They also have a very short lifespan. If you have more males than females then you will see more spawning mortality.

Additionally the males turn very dark during spawning.

Thanks Cecil, but I've got plenty of big males spawning, they have turned real dark, almost look look like clown fish. The majority of these with the pink tails appear to be the females. I had a pretty big die off a few weeks back after the farmer put down anhydrous(sp?) ammonia and it rained. However, I've still got loads of healthy fish out there so it didn't kill them all.

Could very well be the ammonia as it's very toxic to fish.

Is this a new pond with only fatheads? If not, and the ammonia is the culprit, you should see other species dead too.

You need a berm or something to keep wash from the farm field out of your pond. You could get herbicides are pesticides after a heavy rain too which can also be quite toxic to your fish.

This pond is pretty new. Had FHM's in for 1.5 years now, and we stocked DNR fingerling BG, RES and CC last summer. The BG are about 2" long now, LMB coming late summer.

Wow those bluegills must have been really small when you stocked them last year. Are you sure they aren't a little bigger than that?