Theo! I'm impressed. I understood 42% of what you said. I'm about to read through it again. :p

Steve! That, my man, is the nagging question of the day. Why, why, why did the three most significant events occur while a pond was being aerated? My best guess comes from an understanding of what vortex aeration systems do. The typical compressor, diffuser system doesn't actually supply very much oxygen through the bubbles. All it does is increase the air/water interface for improved atmospheric O2 transfer. In the case of a massive phytoplankton crash, you may actually be experiencing a net oxygen loss by bringing up the most anoxic water from the bottom to mix with the so/so aerated water on the surface. Even the companies that sell aeration systems warn that they perform poorly in an emergency because their inability to infuse large amounts of O2. The reason aeration systems work so well for so many people is that they prevent the problem from occurring in the first place. In Theo's world, I'm overwhelming these ponds, pushing them to critical, and then, just maybe, the aeration works against me. I haven't run the aerator in my big recreational pond since October of '03 and I haven't lost a single fish. Coincidence? Could be, but I'll be darned if I'm gonna turn that aerator back on!

Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.