Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations dead creatures after ice out?

I noticed many small and a few large bullfrogs dead after the ice left, also dead crayfish. we did have a nice warm up here in MI. then back to the cold, could this have caused them to die?

I'm surprised you had enough warm water to get them going for this season, but if they did and things froze up for long enough, I would suppose that could have stressed the tadpoles. Regarding the crayfish, I'd be interested in theories. I thought they existed under the water or burrowed all year long.

This has me stumped! I don't believe water warmed much but enough to melt ice. walking the shore I could see many small frogs & crayfish littered along the shore dead, plus one huge bull frog!?? I thought it would be way too early for frogs to come out? especially hear in MI.

Pullo,

I had frogs along the shorelines of my ponds after the last warm up but now that temps have dropped again I'm not seeing them.

Could it be those animals died much earlier as in last fall and just recently floated up?

Did you have an oxygen issues with your pond this winter?

I live in southwest mi and I have had a ton of big tadpoles 1 year old or so swimming everywhere-my son and daughter scooped up 4 and put them in a coffee can and left them in there with about 4 inches of water(that was threee days ago) and even after the cold weather and ice storms we had I checked them last night and they were still alive. maybe they are just arent moving in your pond as much since it got colder??

I had a major die off of tadpoles last spring. After doing some research I found it's not unusual.

I think or suspect those numerous dead frogs and tadpoles were probably (deciding to 'hibernate')in very shallow water going into fall. A depth shallower than the deepest ice cover. When the ice encroached and froze to the bottom at say 12"-18" of ice it killed those amphibians hibernating in the bottom in the shallowest areas. Freeezing preserved them. Thawing ice revealed them in the cold water. Sometimes the amphibians will estivate in the upper sediment layers. As those layers loose the DO during winter the in active 'residents or sleepers' suffocate similar to carbon monoxide poisioning. Sound feasable?

Bill that does sound feasible, maybe they did lay too shallow, I don't have any dead tadpoles just little frogs a few very large ones & a bunch of crayfish of various sizes. We did have many fish die as well.

I made an observation today, the dead frogs & crayfish seems to be around where a muskrat dug into my shore. His tunnel goes right through the shallow area creating a trough up to my shore line. maybe they were exposed by the rat?

Many dead fish sounds alot like low oxygen under late winter ice. In winter the oxygen is lost or consumed first at the bottom in the sediments and then DO loss moves upward from the bottom. Bottom dwelling critters thus die first. It sounds like that is what happened to your pond and is now alot more feasable explanation / reason for your apparent losses.

Hi all, first time poster. We have about a 3 1/2 acre stock dam that appears to have a similiar situation. Only with hundreds upon hundreds of frogs, literally 2-3 feet thick where it had been running over. Had done some bucket stockings over the last two years(this makes many of you cringe no doubt but have limited resources). Only (dead)fish I found were two HUGE white bass that I released two years ago and grew quite well. Also a ton of minnows still in the shallows, so i threw a trap out tonight and i hope i find something with the minnows. Any ideas on how to gather info on this BOW?