Low DO? - 06/03/09 03:59 AM
Hey guys,
There is a small pond near where I live which was almost completely killed off a few years ago. A chemical spill at a nearby waste dump killed off a good number of the fish and an especially bad winter finshed most of the survivors off. It was a real shame because you used to be able to catch keeper bluegill with bare hooks one after another. This has been several years back since the kill happened and the pond is starting to come back. 3 years ago, a land developer used part of the land as a roadway and changed the land a lot. About the same time, the owners of the pond gave the land to the city and ti became a part of a city park that was nearby. I worked with the city last summer doing maintenance to the city parks and that pond was one of my main projects. All of the construction nearby has caused runoff to be a problem. I managed to clear out 2 sides of the pond that had been reshaped the most from the original state and they now have full grass coverage but runoff is still a problem. I stocked as many bluegill from the other pond at the city park as I could catch (it was severely overpopulated). There is an amazing number of crayfish and tadpoles already in the pond and I added a couple small bass. Today, I went to the pond to have a look and all of the crayfish and tadpoles were sitting right next to the surface and the pond looked muddy from recent rains. Is this causing low DO levels in the pond and will it hurt the fish population? I finally saw bluegill spawning this spring and saw a small cloud of bluegill fry. I'm hoping low DO levels will not set me back after the progress I had made. Should I be worried and what can I do?
There is a small pond near where I live which was almost completely killed off a few years ago. A chemical spill at a nearby waste dump killed off a good number of the fish and an especially bad winter finshed most of the survivors off. It was a real shame because you used to be able to catch keeper bluegill with bare hooks one after another. This has been several years back since the kill happened and the pond is starting to come back. 3 years ago, a land developer used part of the land as a roadway and changed the land a lot. About the same time, the owners of the pond gave the land to the city and ti became a part of a city park that was nearby. I worked with the city last summer doing maintenance to the city parks and that pond was one of my main projects. All of the construction nearby has caused runoff to be a problem. I managed to clear out 2 sides of the pond that had been reshaped the most from the original state and they now have full grass coverage but runoff is still a problem. I stocked as many bluegill from the other pond at the city park as I could catch (it was severely overpopulated). There is an amazing number of crayfish and tadpoles already in the pond and I added a couple small bass. Today, I went to the pond to have a look and all of the crayfish and tadpoles were sitting right next to the surface and the pond looked muddy from recent rains. Is this causing low DO levels in the pond and will it hurt the fish population? I finally saw bluegill spawning this spring and saw a small cloud of bluegill fry. I'm hoping low DO levels will not set me back after the progress I had made. Should I be worried and what can I do?