Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Alum sulfate, fish kill

I have already emailed Kelly Duffie about this. Sunday applied alum sulphate to 1 acre pound in same quantity as last year. Was dissolved this time. It does make a big difference if dissolved. According to the bucket tests, this amount should have been less than recommended and not had any affect on the fish. I have killed most of the small fish and a few larger ones. Been walking around in shock for almost 2 days now.

How long can I expect the effects to last on the fish that survive? How long should I wait to re-stock bluegill. I needed to remove bass but not this way. I did find out how many different sizes of the different fish I had and they were varied. Have had only a couple of dead catfish but saw a few in the shallows this AM which is not a good sign.

Advise, if you are going to use this chemical do so in small applications in moderation to determine the effects on the fish population. OR not at all.

Bil,
You must not have used the "buffered alum" and your alkalinity must be pretty low. Your PH probably dropped drastically causing PH shock in your fish as your low alkalinity was not enough to buffer the change.

Am I right? I would advise using the buffered variety for anyone with low alkalinity. Do you know what your pH was before the treatment and then after. If it is lower and does not rebound you may have to add something to bring it back up.

Conversely where I live in northern Indiana the alkalinity is so high that I have applied several times the reccommend amount even with trout present with no adverse affects. The only thing my treatment killed was snails and good ridence to them!

Cecil, this is something I'm not familiar with. Maybe someone can enlighten me. I need to get a pH test kit and see where I'm at once everything settles down. Can you enlighten me on the "buffed" product you are speaking of.

Bill

It's probably available somewhere else, but the "buffered" product -- which means it keeps your Ph from dropping to fast -- has a plastic bag of sodium bicarbonate you dissolve and water down after applying the watered down dissolved alluminum sulpate. It's marketed as "Lake Kleerant." If you knew the ratio of alluminum sulfate to sodium bicarbonate you could get the separate components cheaper.

The alluminum sulpate is acidic while the buffer -- sodium bicarbonate is basic. That's what keeps your pH from dropping too drastically. Of course if your alkalinity or hardness is low the alluminum sulfate will have a more drastic effect on your ph and that is why you definitely need to buffer.

I got my "Lake Kleerant from "Aquatic Control" which is based in Seymour Indiana, but has a branch in Missouri. Indiana's number is 1-800 753-LAKE and Missouri's number is 1-800-568-LAKE.

It was $49.60 for a 40 lb unit and Aquatic Ecosystems in Florida has a similar product but it is more expensive.

You can get hand held PH meters or hach test kits from various suppliers for PH testing. I'm not sure I would mess with PH paper.

Cecil, my pond has been purely recreational so pH hasn't been a concern except when doing these treatments so I have never even tested it. Where is a good place to get a pH meter?

Bill,

There are several suppliers, but one that has a lot of selection on testing supplies and meters is Aquatic Ecosystems.

They are located in Florida and their site where you can order supplies and a free catalog is:

http://www.aquaticeco.com/aquatic1v1/ind...+Search&eflag=2

I have had good results using a pool test kit to check Ph and alk.........seems to work pretty well and it's not test strips.

Brian, What type of pool test kit are you using? Have you compared the results against other "testers" to determine accuracy?

Actually I haven't tested it against anything else. It's a liquid test kit. You add x amount of drops of premixed solution to check either Alk, or PH. Diffenent mix for each. I found it to be fairly steady in it's readings.