My pond is .75 acres and I have had aeration since we dug it close to 5 years ago. About 3 weeks ago my aerator quit running and it was the week before we left for a long family vacation. I had a lot to do before we left and decided to fix it when I got back. Well Thursday I changed out the capacator and it ran fine. When I first put it in I ran it 15 mins a day for a few days and then went to 30 mins for a few, and so on. Before it broke down I had it running from 10am to 2pm then 10pm to 2am on a timer. I didnt change that, it never even crossed my mind. So when I changed the capacator Thursday evening and saw that everything was working I left the timer set the way it had been. Friday I got home from work at around 11am and when I went to cut the frass I saw something floating in the pond. When I got closer I saw it was a bunch of big dead fish. I had nice nice bass 4-6 lbs floating, CC that were as big as my lower leg, and CNBG that were as big as my foot. We scooped them out and fed the buzzards. I see plenty of small bream and CC when the feeder goes off. I have to assume there are some small bass in there because the bass that I pulled out had to have spawned. Even if I wanted to add a few bass I couldnt because the fish truck has stopped running till fall. Lesson learned always restart aeration system slowely.
Seems like there could be more going on than just stratification. Is it possible what mixing you had initially wasn't adequate enough? Additionally do you possibly have a heavy fish load in your pond? Feed a lot? Pond an old one and very euthrophic?
Sorry for your loss.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 06/24/1312:35 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
So could someone please explain what happened in his situation? Did the fish die I guess from extream temp difference? It couldn't have been from lack of D.O. as they were all living until he cranked his air back up or am I wrong on that?
Thanks, RC
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
I think the pond quickly stratified with little to no DO on the bottom half and decent DO in the upper half. If there had been cloudy weather, maybe even the surface was somewhat low DO. Then when he cranked the aeration system back up the water mixed, lowering the DO through out the water column to below what is tolerable. Smaller fish may have survived... but the big ones went first.
Pond is about 3/4 acre and about 8' in places. I think it had a heavy fish load and I do feed 3 sec twice a day sometimes more if I'm out there and just want to see fish. Pond has always been healthy and fishing great. It's about 5 years old and never a problem except treating fa with copper sulfate and killin some cc a while back. 10"+ cnbg, 5lb+ lmb, and some really large cc. I use some beneficial bacteria to help with over fertilization "pond clear" & "Eco boost" since I mow and have horse pasture run off. I also use that blue dye, the name slips me. I have been doing the same this whole time and no probs. Had to be the major restart of the aerator and stratification.
Ok thanks ya'll just wanted some insight on what may have happened there. Sorry to see that TZ you had some nice fish there. My pond is about same size as yours maybe a tad bigger and I worry about the same thing sometimes as I get more and bigger fish! Plus I am not there all the time so I have no idea if my air system has stopped working or not? Which scares me to death at this point!! I bought a backup pump just the other day so I have one I can quick change out if need be, but that dont do me any good if I am not there!
RC
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Pond is about 3/4 acre and about 8' in places. I think it had a heavy fish load and I do feed 3 sec twice a day sometimes more if I'm out there and just want to see fish. Pond has always been healthy and fishing great. It's about 5 years old and never a problem except treating fa with copper sulfate and killin some cc a while back. 10"+ cnbg, 5lb+ lmb, and some really large cc. I use some beneficial bacteria to help with over fertilization "pond clear" & "Eco boost" since I mow and have horse pasture run off. I also use that blue dye, the name slips me. I have been doing the same this whole time and no probs. Had to be the major restart of the aerator and stratification.
How long ago did you kill the FA? Do you have an algae bloom? And if so what is the water clarity?
Yeah obviously the shut down and start up is a factor but i believe you have other things going on. I can't believe a pond with a normal load of fish would go anoxic in tbe deep water that fast with out other factors in play. I know mine wouldn't and i have a heavier load than most as border on an aquaculture load.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
It was months ago that I killed the FA. I use aquashade to keep the algae at bay. My pond is over fertilized from the pasture run off and such that I use pond clear and eco boost(beneficial bacteria) to keep the algae bloom down and to try and control FA. With the dye Ill bet the vis is no more than 12-14 inches.
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