Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fish kill Algae

Well we have been having a algae issue this year. It is grean in the morning and turns red in the afternoon usually. Temps are near 100 degrees and sometimes over in the heat of the day. I have never stocked this pond. To my knowledge there is channel cat, carp, blue gill, and perch in this pond. There is also a large amount of turtles and snakes. The pond is about 2 acres and I do not have a aeration system. In the deepest point the pond is 6 feet deep and there is a lot of silt in the bottom of the pond.

This morning I noticed what I believe is perch just hundreds of them flopping on top of the water seemed they were eating some of the algae. I have never seen them flip like that before. Got home from work and probably about 100 of them are dead. I believe these are perch if I am wrong someone please correct me. Here are some pics. http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h207/Toolmaan/fish%20kill/

These fish that are dead I have never really seen them much before. We have caught a couple of them over the years but threw them back. I have never really stocked this pond. We have a large number of large channel cat.

I am unsure what caused this. We haven't had any decent rain in 3 weeks. About 6 weeks ago we had 5 inches one night, then 3 inches 2 nights later. Since then it has been an inch here and there but nothing for 3 weeks. In one of the pics it shows some of the moss/algae and the center of it is a blueish color, I am unsure what that is I have never seen that before. Last year we did not have a algae issue at all but it wasn't all that hot last summer. 2 summers ago we had algae very bad and a lot of duck weed.

I'm thinking I need some type of aeration system in this pond. I have contacted my county extension office but they have not returned my call yet. There is a creek that runs by 5 feet away from the pond and there are no dead fish in there but plenty of algae/moss.

Any ideas of what may of happened and what I need to do about this issue? I fear I will have more dead fish tomorrow.

Sorry to hear that you are going through this. The fish hitting the surface sounds like a DO problem. They were trying to get oxygen and died because there was not enough in the water. I am not an expert on this, but I am sure that someone will give you a better breakdown of what could have happened.

The fish are not yellow perch. More like a large bait fish like a golden shinner.

The fish are shad.

Geez Toolmaan78, I thought I had an algae bloom, but this is something else! My heart goes out to you. I think those dead fish look like shiners or some species of shad. I'm sure one of the experts can help you more. It sure looks like that water needs some movement and oxygen. Is the water temp that high...or is 100 the air temps?

Correct, Gizzard Shad I believe.

GShad. Most likely from low DO. In shallow ponds in the south and hot temps the thermocline slowly moves up to within a few feet of the surface. Everything is jammed into that space. If you get a cloudy day all the O2 can be used up and it only takes about 15 mins. Because GShad are bad about filling the pond with lots of their kind carrying capacity is quickly reached. The combo of low DO and crowded GShad resulting in a fish kill is not uncommon. Good news is you now have lower numbers and can change the population a lot easier. Would be good to get some added depth if possible.