Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Recent Fish Kill, Not Sure Cause (7 acre)

Fish harvest is an integral part of pond management. What likely happened is this:

The pond reached carrying capacity over the past few years. Adding more fish without removing some pushed it to the brink. A hot day with the extra nutrients (goose poop) fed a bigger than normal phytoplanktom bloom.

What was the water visibility right before the fish kill?

The excess phytoplankton bloom stopped producing O2 at night and started consuming it. The fish got the short end of the stick and suffocated during the night.

Does the aeration system run 24/7? With the aeration system running 24 hours a day, how many water "turns" happen in 24 hours?

Case in point, a local HOA pond (18 acres) didn't have enough $$ to aerate the whole thing. So, they purchased a system for half of the pond and we installed it. It ran 24/7 and one hot night they had a fish kill - but only on the side of the lake that didn't have the aeration system.

Since the fish kills are a regular thing, you need to break the cycle - don't keep doing the same thing year after year.

1) You HAVE TO harvest fish or mother nature will do it for you as you found out.

2) Make the geese unwelcome. There is a product called flight control that gets sprayed on the grass and it upsets their belly, so they move on to better tasting pastures. There is also a LED light product called Away With Geese that is a solar powered, battery backup that disrupts their sleep. They move on after a bit. ANYTHING to reduce the nutrient loading in the pond will help minimize a fish kill in the future.