Ted, I had a huge bunch of fresh dead oaks pushed into the bowl of my new one acre pond. It rained a lot and the trees were half covered. Within about 10 days the water turned inky black. Neither cows or wildlife would go near it. A fish truck came to town and I bought some catfish, bluegill and fatheads. They all died within an hour after coming to the bank gasping. I also tried crawdads with the same result. I called the NRCS, Texas A & M, the County Agent, and the Texas Fish and Wildlife guy close to Fort Worth. None had ever heard of this problem. However, some local dozer operators had heard of it and had killed fish in an established pond by thinking they were doing a favor for the land owner by adding structure from the trees they had cleared for a road. The local feed store owner also was aware of the problem. I got a jar of the water and added some Clorox and it cleared. So, I went to a local pool supply place and bought 10 pounds of chlorine, enough to kill everything in 2 olympic size swimming pools. Didn't faze it. Then I bought a 25 pound bucket at Home Depot. Didn't faze it and I killed a couple more fish in a minnow bucket. Then I bought a 75 pound bucket at Lowes and turned it the color of weak tea and killed some more fish from my creek. Then I started pumping. I pumped it down to about 6 inches and threw a rod in the pump. Texas summer took care of the rest of it. Lusk once gave an analysis, on this board, concerning the problem and relating it to, I believe, water hardness. Maybe he can do it again.
I would test all green wood and try a couple of fish. We don't get a lot of rain in North Central Texas and pumping it out was heart breaking, especially on my new pride and joy.
