liquidsquid, that is a very good possibility due to the porosity of the soil and the way that the pond is constructed. The pond is built so that ir receives absolutely no runoff from the surrounding land. All water that enters the pond has to come from underground or direct precipitation. The level of the pond has increased about 18" to 24" from October.
Thanks Cecil. I can drop my boat in the open area, or take a sample while in chest waders.
Eric, the HSB and RBT are the largest fish in the pond, and the only predators besides GSF. I'm assuming all the trout died, but I cannot be sure how many of them died unless they float. Only HSB and RBT were observed dead.
Changes in the last month was a warming trend that melted any snowpack that there was, and a melting of the ice. Last week there were a couple of days where the heavy fog didn't burn off until 1:00 p.m. and little to no wind. It's been overcast for a considerable amount of the time during the past few weeks with little wind. Aeration starts/stops with the wind. Diffuser is in 3' to 4' of water, and gets turned off for the summer. Diffusers are placed both deep and shallow in the pond and are switched for summer/winter use. Two of the dead HSB had 1" or so "hairs" growing all over them, but all the rest of the fish that I could closely examine were fresh dead - still had the stripes and their colors. Visibility in the pond has stayed around 36" or so from looking into the water from the bank and is a brownish, not greenish tint. There are oak leaves that blow into the pond during the Fall due to the pond location, but that cannot be changed. In the Fall, when the grass is cut, all the leaves are blown into the woods.
No, the water has not been tested. Would shipping a sample to TAMU frum South Bend, Indina make it in time for the test results to be valid?
There are 2 other ponds in close proximity to this one, within 300 or so yards. Pond #2 is stocked with the the same fish, minus the GSF, HSB and RBT. Pond #3 has BG, PS, FHM, GSH. All stocked lightly, and none of those shows any signs of winterkill. Those ponds are constructed exactly the same as this one and are groundwater ponds as well, but those ponds have electric compressors running the diffusers along with windmill diffusers in pond #2.
