Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Should I aerate 1/3 acre Missouri pond?

Hello and welcome, Gabbi!

Some answers to some of your questions, and an observation.

1. You may not want to follow the management practices used in the past. You likely have different goals, and the pond has changed as it has aged.

2. Aeration would be a plus. You DO NOT have to run electric to the pond to aerate! I run air from my first pond, where the air compressor is located, to my second pond through over 650 feet of 1" black plastic water line. esshup (one of our most knowledgeable and responsive members) knows of air run for a half mile to reach a pond (IIRC - if I recall correctly). Having the compressor remote from the pond has the benefit of removing it's noise from the pond vicinity (of course, now that noise is somewhere else).

3. Were the fish that died on the large size? The biggest fish are the hardest hit by low oxygen fish kills (perhaps the most common variety). It may be impossible to determine the cause. However, killing unwanted plants and algae makes dead vegetation that decays consuming dissolved oxygen. So one does not want to kill all unwanted plants in a pond at once, rather treating them in a small (10-15% IIRC) of the pond at a time. (It does not sound like that is what 1 handful of copper sulfate did to me.)

4. Two rule of fish kills - there are more dead fish than what you see, and there are more fish left alive than what you think.

4.a. Condello's Rule: You're not a real aquaculturist until you've killed your first million fish. I probably qualify using that caveat.

5. I would study the pond for the rest of the hot season - fish in it to get an idea of what you have in it, take pictures of any plants and algae you are concerned or interested in for identification (you can post them here and get our thoughts, and use the website that Texas A&M has for aquatic plant ID), and decide exactly what your goals (and budget) for the pond are. Corrective stocking, if needed, is best done in cooler weather such as Fall and Spring.

Lastly, you've come to the right place to figure out what you want your course of action to be. Listen to lots of different advice, read lots of info on older posts (check out the archives and follow recommendations from experts including BIll Cody and ewest), and decide what will work best for your situation and goals.