Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Is it that easy, or is it just me

First I will apologize for not putting this under the fertilizer forum, not much activity or really good info there. Now I understand and own a sechi disk and I know that many say that if your clarity is over 24 inches then fertilize. My questions are this:

I maintained a bloom as normal, the first part of the spring was perfect, not much rain and a beautiful green bloom. The last few weeks it has been cloudy or raining almost everyday. On July 3rd I caught fish like crazy and ate the first fish out of my pond on the 4th of july. On the 4th in the evening my water turned milky, on the 5th and 6th I lost about 15 fish. They were very nice bass and bleuegill. My question is this, I backed off my fertilizer regiment when it kept raining and was cloudy. Fearing that my bloom was going to "sink" which it did. Should I have kept fertilizing in this condition or would this just made matters worse?

Also I never have visibility over thirty inches, Is it really worth it to risk losing fish to fertilize?

The fish I lost were my biggest Bass, I have worked hard the last year and a half to "maximize" my pond, well it sucked.

I guess my main question is do you continue to fertilize no matter what the conditions are? Did I do right or wrong to stop adding fertilizer when the weather stayed cloudy and rainy? Or once you start fertilizing should you hold the course?

This is my second fish kill, Last fall it was warm and I had a bloom all the way until the end of Oct. maybe even into November, then bam cold and cloudy. I lost about 100 little bitty fish and a few larger bream and bass, nothing major really. Dont know if it was because of the water turning over or the bloom sinking. This spring I added a compressor and two diffusers in hope that I would not have another fish kill. But the other day when my bloom left me I had another. Since this happened I have continued to run the diffusers (which run 24/7 all the time) and even though the pond is completely full I have been pumping well water into the pond (water is shot up into the air via a shower head) in hopes that this would minimize any fish loss.

HELP!

My pond is one acre, two diffusers, self contained no ditches feeding it. After only 1 1/2 years I have Bluegill bigger than my hand and 1 1/2 pound Bass.

HELP me decide what to do in the future, At this point and time I'm thinking to heck with a bloom, but with my fish doing so well I figure it may be due to fertilizing? HELP

My condolences. DO crashes stopped when I quit fertilizing. WARNING! SOAPBOX COMING. Although it sounds heretical around this web site, I think it is overdone and dangerous. I know it sounds great to increase a ponds carrying capacity. (So do a lot of other things that I've learned not mess with.) I fertilized when I first got started and my friends marveled at my aquarium full of fish. Life was good and neighbors were asking for my advice until Mama Nature showed me the folly of my tinkering. The friends weren't there to see the turtles gorging at my pride and joy. Bob Lusk once said here not to fertilize unless you really need to. Bill Cody once posted that if you start fertilizing, you can't stop. I bet that most of the fish kills reported here happen to fertilized ponds that are above their normal carrying capacity. I won't do it again unless a Sechi disk says that I just gotta.

I have another real good reason not to fertilize. Lack of rain is a reality in my area. Prior to our recent deluges, my one+ acre, 15 ft. deep at the dam, water hole was 7 ft. low and approaching 1/2 acre. No fish kill though. I shudder to think what would have happened had I followed the maximum carrying capacity mantra.

I also have a small approx. 1/6 acre pond that I was using as a forage pond. I fertilized, seined it twice and put a staggering amount of bluegill and fatheads in a neighbors new pond. They kept spawning and I didn't get around to seining. Their manure fouled the water and it turned a real nasty looking green. Before long, no fish. Too much natural fertilizer.

I think fertilizer can be an important management tool. But, like tequila and a bunch of other things, it can cause a major hangover. Remember, Mama Nature always seems to get even.

Thanks Dave for your response. I was hoping that the dual diffusers would eliminate any type of fish kill. I guess when you have a really good bloom going and mother nature throws you a curve no amount of gadgets or money spent will save the day. Now that I have lost my bloom I can see in the water better and I have lots and lots of small fry, I hope they can thrive without fertilizing, if not I hope the Bass enjoy eating them.

Dave you said that you would not fertilize unless the sechi said you had to. What would be the depth of clarity that would make you fertilize again?

Anybody else have any thoughts? If you do fertilize and maintain a bloom all summer what keeps you from having a DO crash once fall or winter sets in?