Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Winter kill 2021

I was torn whether I would even post this, because it's a downer. But some of the hardest earned knowledge in my life has come from my failures. So with that said, I'm pretty sure my pond winter killed. I went to pull a slat from my water control structure on my outflow, and was sad to see hundreds of dead fish. Of all age groups and species. Minnows, fingerlings, mature fish. BG, BCP, LMB. Around my outflow pipe I have a trash cage built from a hog panel (I posted about it back when I built it). And last year a sprayed the cat tails to clear open water space around the trash cage and outflow. So I can see the bottom very well, and saw hundreds more dead fish scattered all over the bottom. So I have the horrible feeling that thousands more of my fish are currently doing the same thing on the bottom all over my pond. Which makes me feel kinda sick. I even have a bottom diffused aeration system, with one diffuser in a shallow finger of my pond. I didn't turn it on till Feb 20th, and it took it 3 days to blow a hole through the 14 inches of ice we have. I hadn't ice fished since the first week of February, and when my brother in law and I gave it a another go on Feb 20th we didn't get a single bite. Nothing. In 3 hours. And we both moved around a lot, with different jigs and presentations. I was getting nervous then, so I used the cheapo underwater camera I have. I have used it many times before, mainly just for the fun of seeing fish. And I have found that even when I wasn't getting bites, I ALWAYS saw fish on camera. Every time. But this time, nothing. Not one. So that was why I turned on the shallow diffuser. But too late. I had formed some kind of idea in my head that since my pond hadn't iced over till Dec 25th, and then we had clear ice for 2 weeks before the first snow, that there would still be plenty of DO. Obviously no. Larger biomass? Probably. My LMB have been growing and reproducing and I feed a bit too. Two 2 second throws from about May to October. From a single hanging feeder. My pond is over 40 years old and highly eutrophic, so has plenty of silt on the bottom. Maybe my biologic DO demand from bacteria was a bit higher this year too? Possibly. Anyway, I'm thinking running my shallow diffuser all winter long, every winter, would have been smart. Sorry for the downer post. I hope I can prevent others from the same mistake.

Augie, it's been a bit of a surprise how attached I got to 'my fish'. Even though I realize how little control I have over any of them and may not even impact their lives in much of a meaningful way with all the 'stuff' I do, I still felt pretty attached. And sad when you see the bodies all over. I've seen some pretty bad stuff this past year related to work stuff, so I haven't lost sight of the big picture. There's nothing more important than your family. But I guess it's just the joy of being on and in my pond and tinkering with 'my fish' has been so fantastic and uplifting, it's hard to think about starting over. But I will.

Two Rules to remember with fish kills:
1) More fish died than you see the corpses of, and
2) More fish are left alive than you would think.

Sad to hear about the loss !
Keep us posted - interested to see if there are still fish left. Most times not all the fish die - see Theo's rule # 2.

Chief Wampum say.. "Pale Face send words from both sides of his mouth."

Response involving dots and casinos skipped in the interest of decorum.

Dr. Luke,

Sorry for your pond losses.

"I hope I can prevent others from the same mistake."

By posting, you are doing THAT for the next guy! If you have time, please keep the thread going as you learn more.


P.S. On a happier note - I loved your wood duck post.

24/7

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