Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Poison

My pond still has no vascular plants, and it is nearly devoid of algae. I don't catch many fish, and most of the ones I do are ones I planted this spring. Many BG and some CC show up for the evening feed, but I think these may be nearly all the BG and CC in the pond. I never see a bass, but LMB were regular attendees at the evening feed in my old pond. I haven't seen hide nor hair of a YP since I planted them, and the only sign of shiners is an occasional fish feeding at the surface and a rare "mullet" jump. I'm wondering if some kind of lingering poison could account for the lack of plants and the apparent lack of fish too. The lack of fish began at the time I saw the furry critters going into my pond, so maybe that accounts for the lack of fish, but they wouldn't have destroyed the plants.

I don't see many yellow perch feeding in hot weather either but they show up in the spring and fall. It seems to me there are some of all species that just will not hit pellets for some reason. I had LMB in my old pond but never did see one take pellets. I doubt it is poison related since you do still have some fish.

LMB didn't take pellets in my old pond either, but they muscled in with the BG for the purpose of grabbing a BG I suppose.

Note that YP will not be very visible unless you feed at twilight and the water is around 72 or less. They don't like being seen in bright sun, and seem to not like penetrating the warm surface layer that sets up on hot days. Otherwise they try to stay out of sight and below that warm layer. When they get larger, they get bolder, but not much.

For some reason it seems they don't like being picked off by birds when lingering near the surface. I think that explains their behavior.

My SMB do that too. Never seen one take a pellet but they sure like to fill up on 3 inch BG when they get careless while eating pellets.

Turtlemtn, it's good to have you posting again after several months off!
Observations here: We bought our property 7 1/2 years ago and moved here 7 years ago. Our 1/4 acre pond lacked anything resembling vegetation, either weedy or algae. The water did not even have a greenish tint to it.
I guessed the soil lacked fertility. I now think that is erroneous. Now I believe the former owners and builders of the pond used lots of chemicals both in the pond and on the land to keep it "pristine", that is sterilized, nuked. There wasn't a "weed" on the property. Soon, "Aquacide" catalogs started showing up in the mail addressed to the former owners.
Two years went by before we notice a single plant in the pond. After 6 months each year of incoming irrigation water flushing through the BOW, I believe we may have rid the pond of most or all of the chemicals.
Months went by initially before I caught a fish back then. I found PondBoss after a couple of years and wow, did that open my world to management possibilities.
Now we have an overabundance of Elodea, quite a bit of FA through some of the summer, a little of APW and a grassy kind of growth that gets about 3 inches tall that is growing in the 3 foot deep areas.
Fish, once quite rare, are all over the place.
All this is to say that you certainly may have some residual effects from what was used in the pond before you arrived. Time and water changes may be required for your pond to recover if that is the case.
Tests for pesticide residues probably are not cheap. Maybe someone else here can offer remedial advice. Imagine some sort of carbon filtering system-biochar, partially burned logs placed in then later removed from the BOW, pumping some water through a substrate with fungal mycelia?
Good luck, and please post your thoughts and trials.
Roger

I built a pond at my old place 10 yr ago, and it still has no plants other than a very little algae. But there was no easy way for plants to get into that pond, and I've tried to start plants in this one. Also tried to start chara. The recent post about otters sounds like what going on with the fish in my pond. The bigger bass are gone; the few I catch now are under a pound. And I had 8 - 10 turtles a month or 2 ago, and now I may have none.

maybe time for several game cameras?

Have you done a water test to check for pH, alkalinity and nutrients?

No. I haven't done any of those things.

Turtlemtn,

+1 I am not a pro but from all my reading here on the forum it sounds like you need to get those water tests done. A cheap aquarium or pool test kit should shed some light on the PH and alkalinity but,IMHO, you should send a sample to a lab and get a comprehensive report.

I've ordered a cheap kit from Walmart. The lack of weeds may be due to a water quality problem, but that seems unlikely, unless it's poison. The fish I have are healthy. I caught a fat green SF yesterday that has grown nicely since I planted it last spring. The problem is, there just aren't many fish, and the nature of the problem points towards otters as the cause. Last year at this time, the pond was teaming with fish.