Any Texas, Louisiana, or southern Oklahoma guys seeing any Tilapia death yet? I was not able to get down to the property last weekend, but I am assuming the Tilaps will be headed towards death very soon?

I think TGW noted yesterday that his Tilapia have succumbed.

" I have just removed somewhere around 100 or maybe 200 lbs of fish through Tp die off along with eaten up by the lmb and hsb as the water cooled down."

Mark, they're probably toast. Water temp's been below 50 degrees since this last front, but I haven't seen any floaters. I'll check when I close the gate.

EDIT: Water's 45.5 degrees, and no floaters. I'm betting that hard freeze we had in the teens whacked them pretty good. My big pond's temp dropped 8 degrees in 3 days.

I have not seen any dead ones yet either. Just left the property.

Surface water temps measured 50 degrees on the thermometer and 48 degrees on the fish finder.

Haven't seen any dead ones in the HOA pond that I stocked here in town either.

Thanks Ewest, Tbar, and Al....I expect to see some floaters this weekend.

What is the ratio of floaters to those that 'disappear'? If Texas ponds have thousands of TP, do you see thousands of floaters? Do maybe only 5% die and become visible on top? What happens to the rest? that seems like a big biomass to have thousands sink to the bottom and rot there?

The 2 years I had tilapia I would say I had maybe 5% or less that were struggling near the top and/or floating dead. I know we presume raccoons, herons, birds of prey get them but that wasn't visible at my pond either. Maybe the few turtles I had grab them from underneath and pull them down? the JAWS of the pond?

CC, it depends on the cool down rate. I've only seen the big die offs when a real hard freeze hits, and it rapidly drops the water temp below 55 degrees. A small dip in temps and then a warmup makes them lethargic, and they're sitting ducks for LMB.

In 2016, we purchased or grew out close to 400#'s of tilapia, and if I remember correctly, I only found 4-5 tilapia that were in distress, and they were all over 11". They were all gone the next morning. Raccoons, buzzards, turtles, and GBH all seem to get in on the feeding action.

My comments refer to Mozambique tilapia, not Blues.

I have never seen a mass visible die-off in my ponds. Over a few weekends I typically see a few floaters, a few "dead but submerged", and a few washed up on shore. Not sure what happens to the rest. I always presumed the bass were gorging on them as they go into slow motion towards the end, and then catfish/turtles get the rest that sink. I usually see some birds getting what they can reach.

Last year on Dec the 16th a Bald Eagle showed up at the pond to feed on the slow moving Tp that swam on or near the surface of the pond. I will be watching for him to show this year. I don't remember seeing floating dead Tp ever on the pond during the winters. But there has always been more birds show up during the Tp die off in years past. Last year the Eagle stayed at or round the pond for approx. 90 days. it all started with the Tp die off. I don't know for sure but it seems like it's been colder this year verses last year, but with less rain.

Here is what I saw with the Tp. The Tp moved into really shallow water and became very slow moving. Most would not move when approached by walking up to them. These were smaller sized in the 5 to 6" range. To small, I did not want to clean them for eating. Now if the large ones were there, those I would pick up. I am sure the GBH and the coons are feasting on these, along with any larger sized lmb.

Looks like Texas ponds have TP die off in early December?
Any midwestern or northern ponds have TP and notice any live or near dead ones?

The 2 years I had them it seems they died off in late Oct, but this year we had fairly thick ice early in Nov (which will likely thaw completely by the end of this week?)

Water temps have mine dead in October most years. After it gets below 60 degrees, I expect they're still alive, but I don't see or catch any of them.

Tilapia death timing is closely related to the strain of tilapia. One strain dies a few degrees below 60F. As the temperature drops below 56F toward 45F more and more different strains of tilapia die. Last ones to die are those of the pure strain of blue tilapia who die at 45F. Now - few if any places sell the absolute pure strain of blue tilapia. Most of the tilapia you buy now are some sort of mixed hybrid. Know the death temperature for the tilapia you buy regularly.

2019 tilapia die off report. 2019 Tp history stocking report for this 3.14 acre E Texas pond. 16 lbs per acre of adults were stocked in early April and another 32 lbs per acre of 3 to 6" Tp were added around mid Oct. I found one 11 or 12" Tp struggling to swim in the shallows this week. This seems to be two or three weeks earlier than what I have seen over the past 5 yrs. This one fish is the only Tp I have seen since the April stocking. This maybe due to having clear water this year verses fertile waters in the past. So, is it just me or are others seeing the Tp dying off a little earlier this year?

Tracy, I've had 2 tp die in the last 3 days. Unfortunately, they were stuck in the throats of dead LMB. Me thinks the LMB's eyes were bigger than their stomachs. Both LMB were around 3#'s.

Al, That kinda sucks. I found a 3 lb hsb that had the same problem but it was a cnbg that choked and killed my hsb. And yesterday at the Thanksgiving meal I had that same problem with my eyes being larger than my stomach