Ted: Very good points. Thank you!! That is good advice. To answer your question, no, we did not have d.o. measurements. As I mentioned earlier, I need to know more about this topic, and we are planning some monitoring this winter. When the 3-acre pond killed, there was a distinct hydrogen sulfide smell that is typical of the winterkills around here. I know from visiting with an Ohio DNR biologist in Findlay that you folks have one heck of a lot milder winters than we do. Thus, it sure sounds like a person should think twice before undertaking winter aeration. Honestly, though, we’ve got waters that would never sustain a fish community without some open water. Winterkill is a fact of life here, in both public waters and small private waters. Bottom line: we’ll monitor d.o. this winter, and then maybe we can at least ask the right questions! As you indicated, we don’t even know the root cause of the problem right now.
Bruce: Thanks for the biologist update. I appreciate it. Yes, Chris Guy was actually my first PhD student. He’s a gem. However, Aaron learned about aeration systems somewhere/somehow that did not involve me!! :-)
Dave
