Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Small fish dying

Yesterday afternoon I went to my pond and noticed around 100 fish less than 2" dead and floating next to the bank. I went back early this morning to see if I could see any fish gasping for air and I didn't see any. I went back this afternoon and it doesn't appear that anymore have died since I noticed them yesterday. I am leaving to go out of town tomorrow for a week and I am scared that I am going to come home to a pond full of dead fish. What should or can I do.

The pond is 3 acres with the deepest part around 10'. It was stocked with BG, RES and LMB 2 years ago. Up until yesterday all fish seemed fat, healthy and doing well. One thing that worries me is that we are currently building a house around 75 yards from the pond with a lot of contractors coming and going. I hope something that was toxic was not poured into the pond.

Keep an eye on it but with the sizes and numbers you stated I wouldn't worry about it. It could just natural mortality.

If we get strong winds with a lot of wave action, sometimes we will have a number of minnows washed ashore. Don't know if it is the weak ones or if they just get too close to shore and a wave washes them up.

Do you have another readily available source of water for the contractors to clean up their tools, buckets, etc?

We do have water at the house for the contractors to use. All of the dead fish seem to be BG. We did have a front come through on Sunday that dropped a lot of rain, lowered the outside temps and it was windy. Seeing the dead fish just makes me paranoid, especially when I won't be able to check on it more a week.

Often many small , late born fish dye overwinter due to starvation. They sometimes show up in early spring. That is more of an up north event than in AL. How do all the small dead fish look?

They looked "normal". No marks, color seemed ok and although it hard for me to tell with fish this small, their body condition seemed ok.