Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Pavers killed all my fish

here is my story,
I have a Hugh pond in my back yard about 300' by 175'.
I had the adjoining street resealed (all water based stuff) and it rained before it was dry and the paving guy said it was the clay dust that killed all the fish. they removed about 800 to 1000 lbs of dead fish. they wont restock. now i have a big ass problem with frog tadpoles and frogs. what kind of fish can I restock with that will eat tadpoles mosquito larvae and such??
I hope I can use shiners and other bait fish so I can solve my problem and have an endless supply of bait for me and my bud's.

any ideas???

First off, welcome to the forum Troy!

300'x175' is roughly 1.25 acres.

Being in central Florida, golden shiners(GSH) will do well in your pond and will readily consume mosquito larvae. However, they don't have a very large mouth and thus would not control the tadpoles and frogs. Why are you so concerned about tadpoles and frogs? There are not many options if any at all that would be a baitfish and bit large enough with a big enough mouth to eat tadpoles and frogs.

You certainly can stock your pond with GSH and add normal game fish such as bluegill(BG) and largemouth bass(LMB).

Thanks for your response CJ

My only concern with the tadpoles and frogs is that now with no fish eating the tadpoles and such is that the population is exploding with no natural predators.

I will certainly look into getting some GSH any ideas on how / where I can get BG and LMB little guys to restock with?

I would make sure your waters good before you restock, and get more info on what they used and why it killed your fish, one they prolly are responsible to reimburse you, two a complaint should be made if they are using something that deadly around waters or at all for that fact..

Ya I would get a toxicology test done on the fish and if they killed my fish they would be paying for my re stocking. Hands down.

Troy, I would contact the FL FWC and see if they have a list of fish hatcheries for the state. Then you can research them further to see which ones may be the best to purchase fish from...

What kind of fish did you have in the pond when the fish kill happened? Do you have a specific goal for the fishery in the future? Although losing all your fish is tough, starting from scratch can produce excellent results in just a few short years.

what killed the fish was clay dust they, all suffocated. I suspect it has all settled or washed out by now. I also,suspect some eggs may have hatched since the kill. The turtles and the gator were not harmed.??? it's been almost a year now and the water fowl have returned. I don't know exactly waht they are eating but, they are wading and poking and the cormorant birds and diving for something.
we had catfish and a variety of other fish.

my goal is to have a more balanced eco system and something to catch and release like Blue said.

so, now i guess my next move is to do what CJ recommended.
any other thought or suggestions are welcomed.

ps, about pursuing legal action,,, with the lawyer money I can buy alot of fish with no stress or worries and like CJ said have excellent results.

Where in central FL are you? What is the water source of the pond?

west orange county and the pond is water shed.

I'd still get a water test.. I've never heard of clay dust killing fish. Should be good but worth the little cost.. Might see about getting some traps too just too see whats actually left in the pond (species wise)..

that seems very prudent. Thanks

Yea, trapping and possibly seining would be good ideas. Seem like in fish kills, there is always something that makes it thru alive (small fish). Could be why the cormorants are there. Hate to see you spend money on small bait fish to get things going, only to get eaten by a trash predator that's in there.

good point Fish.