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#524061 07/28/20 11:28 AM
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 4
benrep Offline OP
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Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 4
Hi all, newbie here,

I found this site too late! I am crushed.

I have many questions at the end but will start with the pond background.

I have a 31 year old (I put it in) 1/3+ acre pond 14' deep at it's deepest. It has been, over the years, stocked with bluegill, large mouth bass, and yellow fin perch. It is rain/ditch fed for about a few months or so a year. Usually fills up and spills for a short while. It drops 3 to 5 feet depending on the summer. Has some willows around it that provide some shade, cat tails etc. There are fir trees close dropping needles and cones into it. My son and I have spent years trying to get a balanced fish population. We catch and bring them home. We have had Otter wars twice, and have no idea what they took. The last two springs we thought we were there. Lots of bluegill fry and bass fry two years of lengths, 1/2" to 2". it was looking really good.

Lately (the last few summers) it appears to have gotten nutrient rich. Covered with duck weed, and this spring small masses of what look to be blue green algae. The water went from green to brownish and I could see big belts of green algae floating in it and it was getting stinky. I had also found a dead bass and two dead bluegill. So...I bought and installed a single diffused aeration system. Rocking piston compressor etc. You all know what is coming next...I ran it, not knowing about slow start. It ran for about 30 hours before I saw dead fish...Duh!! The smell was horrible for the first afternoon, but by morning was all but gone. I am pretty sure after reading this forum, that it was the toxins that got the fish plus low o2 counts. I have no idea how many fish were in there, but I have pulled out at least fifteen 10 to 12" bass, and about the same number of bluegill plus quite a few little 4 to 6" bass and bluegill. No perch, saw many dead fry on the banks.This was last Friday and Saturday and today was the first day with no new dead, that I could find.

My questions are; Should I assume all of the fish are dead? I see no life, no fry, nothing and it was teaming.(still have the #@*& bull frogs) I plan on an evening check for fish jumps but don't have high hopes. I was going to wait until this Friday (one week) to re start aeration. I know 15 minutes is the recommended, but maybe I should just do five? The water is clearing a little and I am shooting a large rainbird sprinkler into it all day hoping for a little o2. Is that bad? How long a recovery am I looking at before I start a restock? Should my goal be to get the aeration up to full time? We are in summer here, 70 to 75 degrees all day, lots of sun. What are your recommendations? I need some hope!

Last edited by benrep; 07/28/20 10:57 PM.
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 103
C
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C
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 103
I can't help, but I feel your pain.

Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,344
Likes: 101
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Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,344
Likes: 101
Don't assume that all the fish are dead. Do all you can to determine that for sure. Look for feeding splashes, fish with rod-n-reel, set traps, use limb lines, maybe even buy some feed and try feeding the pond for a few weeks...ect. With the dead fish count you described, I would think that there are many fish left in the pond, but dead fish do not always float so, who knows.

Common opinion here at PB is to start the air up and attend the initial 15 minute run and smell for the sulfur/rotten egg smell...stop the air if you smell it. Continue the next day with the same approach. Once you get to a good 15 minute run, double it the next day (30 minutes) and so on until you are running the desired amount of time per day.

If you have truly killed off the pond, I guess you could just turn the air on and let it run. Let's see what other say about this before taking my advise on this.

With your single diffuser, pond size, and location, I would think that you should shoot for 24/7 air time throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. We'll have to see what other northerners do for their wintertime aeration.

Using the sprinkler head should not hurt anything, but I have to ask where the water source is coming from. Well water rarely has any DO in it to begin with, but the time it spends in the open air and the surface disturbance that it causes should help.

Restocking the pond would be fine to do anytime after you get the aeration up and running or turn it off for a week or so. I'd determine what has survived and get the air up and going before making any stocking decisions.

Welcome to the forums, glad you found us!


Fish on!,
Noel
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 103
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Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 103
Likes: 9
This is my opinion. I bought a home with a 1 acre pond. Didn't fish it before I bought it. After I was moved in I threw some rooster tails and jitter bugs even live bait and caught nothing. So that made my decision if I can't catch or get a bite on any of those there is either very little or no fish. That summer I bought a small amount of fat head minnows some shell crackers and a few small lmb. My inexperienced mind told me that if there was an issue with the water the fish I put in would die. I kept an eye for floaters. I didn't see any but I also didn't see any swimming around. Also that summer I got covered in Water Meal. At that point I started to do research. I bought an aerator and installed it. I read about the slow start up but decided to risk killing the fish I bought. I knew I needed to get the water and water meal in check if anything was going to survive besides the over abundance of frogs and turtles. I turned on the aerator. running 24/7 waiting to see dead fish. I didn't see any but the water meal floated away from the aerator. I decided to treat the water meal. I waited until the wind blew it to gather it as best as possible then sprayed with Clipper. Again taking a risk of killing the fish but I thought it was worth a shot since I didn't have much at stake. I hit it hard with Clipper because water meal is bad stuff to get rid of. I was able to kill it all. I ran the aerator through winter. After the thaw I noticed the fathead minnows loved the aerator as I saw thousands by it. I went and bought more fish and stocked more. It's been just under 3 years now and I'm catching LMB and the frog population is reduced. I've seen shell crackers on beds. So I guess my point is you have to weigh the risk and the rewards. I didn't have much to start with so I went all in. I still run 24/7 with the aerator. Best of luck to you


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