Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Massive food dump problem

I said massive and you are thinking maybe I just overfed—I wish. I was trying to fix a Moultrie feeder and unknowing what would happen, I pulled off the motor and 80lbs of food dumped out the bottom and into the pond.

- Pond is a little under 1/4 acre. Averages 6' deep (some shallows and some depths upt to 10')
- No water exchange except during rain
- No rain expected for over a week to flush the pond with runoff—full sun in the 90s
- Surface temp is close to 90F (much cooler at depth)
- Moderate aeration in two spots—solar (shuts off at night for obvious reasons)
- Heavily stocked with medium-size / not fully mature LMB, RES, BG, HSB, TP and some nuisance turtles (enough fish to eat 1 lb of food in about 5 minutes)
- Less than a year old and does not have a lot of aquatic vegetation
- SE Texas muddy water with less than 12" of clarity

Am I in trouble? Or rather are the fish in trouble? Or will this just count a "fertilizer" and I will have at best an alge bloom. If I am in trouble, please advise. I have ordered some pond sludge enzyme pelets and plan to heavily dose the pond—it won't arrive for 5 days though.

I think you've got any extra 80 lbs of organic matter now, that will slowly decompose into nutrients for plants. I personally doubt that this will cause a short term emergency.

I am not an expert, but I agree with Theo.

I would double-check my aeration to make sure it is running properly. If your fish do gorge themselves, you certainly don't want any stress due to low oxygen conditions added to their "pig out hangover".

Kendall,

A common recipe for organic fertilization is to start with 300 lbs/acre of organics and supplement with 50 lbs/acre as needed to maintain bloom (usually no more frequently than once every week or two). 80 lbs of feed is 320 lbs/acre in a 1/4 pond.

Although the weight is comparable to standard treatments of organic fertilizer, please keep this in mind. Usually organic fertilizers have protein proportion of 15 to 18% by weight. If your feed is say 40% protein, then it is more like adding more than 600 lbs of organic fertilizer in terms of nitrogen mobilized. You should expect an intense bloom to develop and eventually dissipate. Normally speaking, this would be a very high addition during hot weather and may come with risk .... but ... especially if you have aeration you will most likely make it through this without incident. If you don't have aeration, I know folks have jetted water with a pump to maintain O2 in an emergency. What level of bloom you get will depend in part on other water parameters like alkalinity. Your mileage will be different than others. If this had happened to me I would stop feeding for now and watch for the resultant bloom. When it dissipates you can resume feeding then.

Thanks for all the replies. I was optimistic that all would be fine in the end, but there was a nagging voice that you all helped to quiet. THANKS!