Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New member - Help - Fish Kill!!!!

Hello, new member and I need help.

A little info/history:

Manmade 1/8 acre pond about 20yrs old, majority of depth 4'-5' with a small spot at 7'-8'. Water is fed from roadside ditch (which only accepts water when I block the ditch during heavy long rains) and my roof drains.

Fish:Blue gill, carp, catfish, Just bought sunfish, minnows, and bass a few months ago.

My aerators are: Large surface fountain, about a 6' diameter umbrella pattern and a small sump pump set in the 4' deep area shooting water 3' in the air.

Dredged pond last year and got 50% of the sludge out. Lined pond with rock. Put aqua shade in the pond a month or two ago.

Over the last month, started seeing my small sunfish die off.

Now I've lost two of my 28" long catfish and one is gasping for air now.

Water is blue green and I have been cleaning out the floating algae for about a month. Not alot, maybe enough to fill 1/3 of a 5 gal bucket each time I clean it.

I rushed to Hardware store to buy PVC piping. I have a backup sump pump I'm gonna use as an aerator and put in the deeper end of the pond and have it shoot the bottom water in the air. Will this work? Or will bringing up the bottom low D.O. water finish off the remaining cat fish? Should I get an algacide? Or is killing the algae now not good until I get the water moving again? What should I do to save the current fish now?

Big cat is still alive this morning. He hangs around the pond edge. He still has fight cause when I walk near him, he whips his tail at me and goes under water. He is mad at me for killing his buddies. Water does not look bad. Hardly any surface algae, few more small dead fish this morning. Water actually looks great from the surface. I threw sump pump inside a bucket and dropped it in the water. Pulled bucket back out and the water looks great.

Havent seen the big cat since this morning. Installed 3rd aerator (sump pump) to grab water about 5' deep and Shoots water about 24" above the water out of a 1.5" pipe. Lots of bubbles. Added a little Citricle Plus around the edge of the pond. Wait and see I guess.

Well it's obviously an air issue.. I think a bottom diffuser system would be alot better than your fountains and sump pumps, fountains in my opinion are nothing better than cosmetic just my opinion.. Nows definately not te time to add cutrine plus it'll just kill more vegetation in turn sucking more air and adding nutrients to your pond.. There's not alot you can do right now I'm surprised you haven't got more response but the forums usually pretty slow on Sundays..

I'm betting on an oxygen shortage. Does it get better as the sun warms the pond?

Few more bluegill and sunfish dead. Catfish isnt at the surface anymore. Maybe the 3rd aerator doing the trick for now. Last time I had a big fish kill about 4 yrs ago, I saw lots of fish gasping for air. I havent seen hardly any this time around. I'm sure the sun is helping, no sure how to tell. Seems like I'm gaining dead fish in the day and morning time.

Dissolved O2 is at it's lowest point in the pond right before daybreak.

I'd say you have an anoxic layer coming up probably brought up by a thunderstorm or a rapid drop in air temps. If you would have had a bottom diffuser in place, instead of surface aeration, you wouldn't have had this problem.

Are the fish hanging around your surface aerator?

99 percent of fish kills are due to low oxygen due to various causes.

Dead fish have stopped appearing since I got 3 aerators running on 6/2. I got my pond test kit in. Here are the results:

PH 8.2

Ammonia 0.50

Nitrite 0.25

Phosphate 0.50

DO 13% (I think this is wrong, I don't think I did the test right).

You shouldn't be reading any ammonia or nitrites in a natural pond with a normal fish load for a recreational pond. Is it possible you have to many fish in the pond and feeding too much?

Could have been ammonia and nitrites that were the issue and they were probably higher previously now that your fish are making it.