Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Amount of Rotenone to Use

I want to Rotenone the pond before it begins to fill in the Fall. Currently it is 100' by 100' and 3-4 feet deep. I do not know what is in it other than small sunfish. How much Rotenone do I need to kill everything?

What is the best way to apply this?

To have an effective kill you want a concentration of at least 3 ppm which for your pond comes out to 1 gallon of rotenone. If there were bullheads in the pond you would want to have a higher concentration since they are a little harder to kill.

IIRC you need 5-6ppm for killing BH.

3 ppm is sometimes suggested in the literature for killing bullheads and other resistant species, but 3-5ppm is more effective if any or a combination of factors are present: plankton blooms, heavy weed growths, suspended clay / turbid water,highly alkaline water above 150-200 mg/L - all capable of binding or absorbing rotenone. Water temperatures above 80F will detoxify rotenone quicker resulting in a shorter effective kill time. The more of the above features that are present the more the dosage should be toward 4-5ppm especially for bullheads. If the species you are killing are bass, BG, crappie shiners minnnows, shad then the 1-2ppm concentration is adequate.

Article - Pond Boss Magazine - Jan-Feb 2004 pg 24-25: "FISH ERADICATION: Use of Rotenone in Pond Management by Norman Latona. In-depth description for use of rotenone".
1. Rotenone is most effective in clear, soft, acidic waters.
2. Rotenone is absorbed by organic matter, clay and silt.
3. Rotenone breakdown is rapid above 70F. Above 80F breakdown is around 3.5-5 days.
4. Grass carp and threadfin shad are very sensitive to rotenone at 0.1 ppm concentration.
5. Green sunfish, goldfish and golden shiners require 2.0 to sometimes 3.0ppm.
6. Partial treatments of rotenone (0.1-0.2ppm) can be used for selective removal of sensitive species such as grass carp, threadfin & gizzard shad,

keep in mind these numbers mentioned are 3-5 ppm of a 5% rotenone not ppm active rotenone, big difference. Mostly sold and applied these days as 5% active liquid. I refuse to use the powder formulation.

Greg - Good advice as usual.

MAth is not my forte. So......will a gallon be enough? I get really confused with the ppm etc.... Don' t mean to sound like a dummy, just want to do the right thing!

As usual, thanks for the great information.

Specimen Label > PRENFISH/Rotenone



By the way, do you have an applicator's license?
Rotenone is a Federally restricted-use product and requires a license for its purchase and application.

Somebody told me there is a certain Georgia fish supplier that sells the powder form to anyone that orders it. Something about it being for use as a plant herbicide.

The 1-lb bags of powder may not bear the RUP label since they're intended for use as a garden insecticide - especially in "organic gardens"; and it might not be the 5% formulation (?). Either way, folks better check their billfold before going that route - if they have a pond holding more than a very small amount of water (not to mention improper labeling-issues).

BTW: Rotenone is actually derived from the root of the cube tree ("quebay") and is one of the oldest insecticidal agents known - and "organic" at that.

When cleaning out my grandmothers basement I found a 5% bag of powdered Rotenone. It went in the trash.

You could've used it to dust your bed for bedbugs.....

BTW Kelly, Thanks. I'm covered.

Going by the label, 1 gallon will do between 0.6 and 1.0 acre foot of water. The math is easy to do.

Great! It's definitely in short supply right now, but I have some more hitting our dock tomorrow. Nate was the early-bird this time.

No doubt about that whatsoever Kelly. Just thought I'd throw that out there as someone told me about it.

BTW I wouldn't buy anything from that individual if he paid me to.