Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Rotenone

I'm in NE Oklahoma. Can anyone point me in the right direction on who to contact regarding application of rotenone. Nobody at the Oklahoma Dept of Wildlife Conservation can help me. It is the recommended way--even in their own handbook for pond management--for reclaiming old ponds, yet they don't even have numbers or names of individuals who can apply this chemical. Ideas? Getting very frustrated with this.

When I was researching for applying it, I was told:

Treatment is based on acre ft. 1 oz of Prinfish (5% rotenone) for every 3818 gallons results in 2ppm. Rotenone will be absorbed by suspended clay - silt particles reducing its effectiveness. Plankton and vegetation can also absorb rotenone minimizing it.

I was inquiring specifically about killing a pond with GSF in it.

Here in Indiana, you need a pesticide applicatior license to buy it, and an aquatic rider on your license to apply it. Any aquatic management company should be able to apply it for you. Look in the resources guide on the home page for one near you.

Aaron: I know some potential applicators that you could contact, but none are less than 2-3 hours from your area. If you're planning to rehab the pond's fish population, this drought certainly offers the perfect opportunity - possibly without rotenone.
What size is your pond (surface-area x avg depth)?
Are you in any position to secure a private pesticide applicators license? ODA Pesticide Applicator Licensing Requirements
Rotenone treatments aren't overly difficult, providing that you know the proper procedures and have some basic equipment (a 12v sprayer works fine).

Pond is almost empty. I don't think it's going to be worth my money to go with rotenone. I just want to be sure I finish off anything left. I'm having a trackhoe & dozer go to work on it in a couple of weeks.

Cheap suggestions? hydrated lime?

Hydrated lime will work. You have to use enough to get the pH way up.

I have a similar situation with a 1/4 ac pond that has been reduced to about 1/4 of it's full elevation size due to the extreme heat and drought. I purchased rotenone last spring with the intention of removing all the green sunfish and restocking with coppernose BG. However, I'm now wondering if a few gallons of household clorine bleach would do the job. Clorine should dissipate within a few days after application, but I'm not sure of it's effectiveness.

Reactive chlorine ions will dissipate, BUT the bound Cl ions and chlorine biproducts such as trihalomethanes will not. They are stable, bioaccumulative, and suspected carcinogenic and mutigenic. Search trihalomethanes on the web.
Amount on THMs produced is dependent on amount of chlorine applied and amount of dissolved organic substances in the water which pond water has huge amounts of dissolved organics compared to drinking or well water.

One info source.
http://wellowner2.org/2009/index.php?opt...g&Itemid=35

maybe I should just dry it up and have catfish jerkey.

IF there's any algae present, a stout dose (within labeled rates) of HYDROTHOL 191 might resolve both issues; and it's non-restricted in most states.

I like the way you think Hydrothol 191 does do a pretty good job at killing pondweed and algae, and it doesn't take much to kill fish in small/shallow areas...even within labeled rates (don't ask us how we know) But it is labeled as a algaecide/herbicide and not a fish toxicant, so to stay legal I would only use it if there is some algae or weeds present.

I wouldn't use the bleach. If you didn't have enough Rotenone, I'd look into getting a bunch of Hydrated Lime. You can get that without a license.

not a problem now. It dried to a puddle. I netted out the catfish and everything else died. They're digging it out this week.

So how many Catfish were you able to net out and what size were they?

Did you loose any other nice size fish?

Got about 25 channel cats out. I did find 3 dead ones. They all ranged from 2 to 6 lbs. Lots of small bluegill and small bass. Nothing but small fish.

Were you able to move the cats to another pond or did you just clean them?

When did you stock your CC and what size were they when stocked?

I just cleaned them. They were 4-6 inches when I stocked them in October of 2007. I fed occassionally. I was more consistent with the feed during the summer.