I’m the guy that killed everything in a new 3 acre pond. When the pond was built, about 30+ years ago, I had the big oaks put in the bottom/middle of the pond for structure. It rained a LOT and the bowl of the pond filled. That’s rare in West Texas. I stocked crawdads, bluegills and fathead minnows. Then the water turned black. Crawdads started crawling up onto the bank. No fish came to feed. I got some bluegills from another pond, put them in the inside part of a minnow bucket, and floated them. They all died in a short time.
I found that oaks, regardless of the variety, have a chemical called tanins. I talked to a couple of guys named Lusk and Otto who had just started doing a magazine named Pond Boss. They knew about the oak problem.
I pumped it dry. That took awhile. Awhile is an understatement because I got some pretty good rains. It took all of a Texas summer to pump and dry everything out. When it FINALLY rained again, I tested with some minnows in a minnow bucket. They lived so I began to restock.
To me, oak is only good for burning and whittling.
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