Hi guys, once again I'm looking for advice. I have a 4 year old very small pond, 1/4 acre. I have an aerator, but no well. I have catfish and HBG in it, a small number of LMB, and some darn bullhead snuck in also. North Texas heat and no rain has taken me down to ~2-3' of water. I lost a 3# LMB, 10 4#Catfish, and 36 HBG this week and I've mentally put myself into a total kill. It sucks to put fish in at 2", feed them for 3 years, and then net them out dead at 2'. That said, I've always thought that I can't put "city water" out of my tap into it or the chlorine and other chemicals will immediately kill them. A neighbor said that if I can set up a holding container and let the city water get exposed to the sunlight, the chemicals will evaporate off and I can then add it to my pond. I don't have a lot of options....no access to a well and triple temps in the foreseeable future. I've stopped feeding and I'm running the aerator full time. thx for any advice......
I had the same low water, fish starting to stress problem about 6 years ago. In crisis mode, I set up a 2 inch trash pump to draw surface water and blow it out over the surface. That saved almost all my fish,
Then, the following winter, otters came in and killed almost everything. They ate a few, but mostly took one bite, and killed.
I cannot win on ponds for losing. I hope your luck is better.
