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mtalley Offline OP
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My pond was getting pretty low so Wednesday I turned on our pump to fill the pond with groundwater. In an effort to stop loading the pond with nutrients I have been running the water through polypipe the last couple months. But the polypipe can't keep up with the well so I also flooded two rows of pecans to get the water down to the pond at the end of the rows.

Thursday morning I turned the pump off and the pond was very full. I would say the pond went from 60 to 100% full by volume. The water has that tea colored look that happens when I flood the rows. I noticed fish at the top of the water that apppeared to be gulping for air. I also noticed CC in the shallows that I haven't seen in a year and crawdads were climbing on top of the fa to get out of the water. My first thought was I poisoned them with whatever turns the water tea colored from the pecans, I forget the name. My second thought was I cooled the pond too quickly by adding that much 65-70 degree water to a 80 degree pond.

This morning I have dead fish. It almost looks like they jumped out onto the bank but the racoons and birds could have done that last night, some are half eaten. CC, RES, BG, and LMB are dead. Right now there are probable 30 dead fish on the edges and thousands of BG are on top gulping for air.

I do not have a normal aerator but I do have one for my totes. Should I put that in? I hope I don't lose all my fish.

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Can you circulate the water somehow, sounds like a DO sag since fish are piping at the surface.



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I hope an expert comes along to help. It is a dissolved oxygen sag and not temperature shock.


"I think I have a nibble" Homer Simpson

34ac natural lake



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I have 2 Honda wx10 1 inch water pumps for this situation. I use a t-post at waters edge, tie hose to it and splash surface in a couple spots. The "firemans nozzle works well with a 15' hose to pump.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...sa%3DN%26um%3D1


good luck

Last edited by ahvatsa; 05/22/09 09:18 AM.
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mtalley Offline OP
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I have some compressors on some of our service vehicles I could rig somehow to get air moving it. I can also get a water truck over there and suck water out of the pond and spray it back in. I'll check back in in 30 minutes or so. Thanks.

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You need to agitate the surface as much as possible to pound some oxygen into the water. Circulation at this point won't help ~ once a fish kill has begun, there isn't much you can do to stop it.


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sorry to hear this mt......if you didnt know it before, you will know it now, and that is that typical groundwater is depleted in oxygen. when you pump water directly from a well and deliver it to pond w/ no aeration in between you can suffocate yer fish if enough volume is mixed w/ the pond. sounds like you put alot in almost half the pond volume. one idea could be to run that well water down a say 25 to 50 foot rip rap path to the pond. this gives the water a turbulent oxygenating ride from the pipe to the pond. good luck down there.....


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mtalley Offline OP
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Well I have a small submersible pump in the shallow end leading to a garden hose and spraying water over the surface. I put my aerator suspended a 2' in 4' of water. I put a 3" pump pulling water from the irrigation canal and I am adding this to the pond, the canal water comes out of a lake about 15 miles from here. Then I have two water trucks sucking water out of the pond and using the side sprayers it is spraying it over the surface. I think that is about as good as I can do.

Probable a couple hundred fish dead now.

Thanks for the help.

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Sorry to hear this Mtalley, please keep us posted.


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If the well water ran down dirt rows for 100 ft it should not be devoid of O2. What was on the dirt (chemicals)? Tannic acid from the pecans ? What are your normal water chems (alkalinity) ect? Cold water if it was not tempered by the run down the rows could have killed your plankton bloom and caused a DO problem.
















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mtalley Offline OP
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I would say about half the water was piped and half ran down 1/4 mile of rows. I have done both in the past with no issues but never the high percent of total pond volume that I did this time. I have flooded the rows at least 20 times since any chemicals/fertilizers would have been added but I haven't done it in about 4 months, I'm leaning towards the tanni acid over other chemicals. There are much fewer fish at the surface now so they are either dead or the DO is rising. I have pulled out about 60 dead fish, 95% are the largest from each species. I don't think many are floating and I can see some on the bottom out of reach of a net.

I am still spraying water over the surface with a water truck and we rigged the 3" water pump to do the same. I have a pondmaster AP40 that I amgoing to have running. Should I put the diffuser a couple feet off the bottom in the deepest area?

Thanks again for all the help.

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I would start the diffuser shallow say 3 feet and move it down slowly. The main thing is to get one area/depth with plenty of O2 ASAP. Surface agitation as much as possible. The fish will move to that location.
















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Would the sudden influx of tannic acid by itself be enough to kill an algae bloom?



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Depends on the amount and strength of the runoff and the pond alkalinity (buffering ability) and the DO content.
















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still sounds to me like the piped well water may be the real culprit.


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mtalley Offline OP
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OK, we have 72 dead fish collected, more I am sure on the bottom. BG to 9.5", LMB to 16", CC to 20" and 8 RES at 9" one at 9.5".

No more fish gulping for air and the crawdads are back down in the water. Noticed some small LMB acting normal in the shallows. I will put the aerator shallow over deeper water.

All I know about the alkalinity is that we have to soften the water before making oil emulsions with it at our emulsion plant.

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sounds promising mt.

i came real close late last summer, and probably will again this year. thanks for sharing yer dilemma here, and i hope some of the great advice given up top helped you through.

it'd break my heart to see 9+ inch RES dead on shore not to mention the others, i'll toast to you and the survivors in just a bit.......its not quite cocktail hour...

we have real hard groundwater here, something like 25 grains. we need to soften to use it in house however i dont necessarily think the hardness is a problem for the fish, just the lack of O2.

Last edited by dave in el dorado ca; 05/22/09 06:16 PM.

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mt, here's a toast for ya from el dorado (swiggin deeply....burp....another sip.....) good luck down there, keep us posted \:\)


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Good news mt. May I suggest that you get both your well and pond water tested. It could reveal a chemical imbalance or give guidance to what you may need to avoid any problems.
















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mtalley Offline OP
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Thanks guys.

More floaters this morning, but I expected that. Seem to be mostly bluegill. There are probable 30 more, not the hundreds I feared.

What kind of tests do I ask for ewest?

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mtalley Offline OP
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Well the dead fish keep coming up but they all look like they have been dead for a while. Just took out 53 more BG, 2 LMB,7 CC, 6 RES and a shiner that must have gone in with the FHM.

So far I have removed 20 dead CC of the 60 I planted last year, I don't think many of the made it.

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 Originally Posted By: blair5002
I hope an expert comes along to help. It is a dissolved oxygen sag and not temperature shock.


A PH change can cause fish to want to leave the water.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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mt here are a couple of examples of water and soil tests. Check with your Co-op ext service.





















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Thanks cecil for the additional info or correction I did not know that.


"I think I have a nibble" Homer Simpson

34ac natural lake



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mtalley Offline OP
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I'll get the both water samples tested.

No new fish floating today and the smaller BG have started eating the pellets again. I think I lost most of the fish I planted other than the BC. The good news is I think that they all spawned at least once except the CC.

The one thing that makes me wonder is only (1) 1" dead BC has been found. They didn't have the growth rate as the other fish so they were a little smaller, that may explain it.

My current plan is to replant 50 CC and 50 RES. Maybe add some more crawdads also.

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