Private Pond Fish Problems

Pope94/IA · 03-14-2010, 04:36 PM

Hey all. My grandparents built a pond a mile back from their house about 11-12 years ago and its has always been a great pond to fish in. This weekend while me and my dad were at our cabin, I noticed that there was a catfish floating dead in the pond. Right now there is still a pretty good sheet of ice on it but there is about a foot or two melted along side the banks so you can see some of the water. I decided to take a walk around the pond and I saw that there was several other fish dead. Saturday I walked around the pond and counted 24 bigger fish dead (bluegills about palm size, some decent size bass, and one large catfish) and damn near 100 little baby fish about an inch or so by our beach we have. Me and my dad are wondering why they all died? Then Sunday I walked around again and counted 2 more big catfish, several other decent bass and bluegills and then under our bridge we have was one of the 7 grass carp we have. The thing was pretty big. Like I said before, there is still quiet a bit of ice on the pond so we dont know yet if there are alot more under the ice. Im sure there is but im almost afraid to even look. This is only a 12 year old pond. The pond is about 22-24 feet deep. We were thinking that our fish population got too overboard and the fish ran out of oxygen over the winter. What do you all think?

Gangly · 03-15-2010, 07:50 AM

there is an article concerning this. when the ponds, in particular small ponds, ice over, little to no light gets down to the vegetation and therefore the oxygen levels decrease dramatically. Many fish suffocate during winter if they stay in ponds becasue there is no incoming water, and the ice has blocked the sun from penetrating into the water where the vegetation can create oxygen. Break the ice, or clean the snow off the ice and throw a bucket of water on it so that the ice stays clear. With a clean portion of ice, the sun can atleast make it through a little and create some oxygen.

Pope94/IA · 03-15-2010, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gangly

there is an article concerning this. when the ponds, in particular small ponds, ice over, little to no light gets down to the vegetation and therefore the oxygen levels decrease dramatically. Many fish suffocate during winter if they stay in ponds becasue there is no incoming water, and the ice has blocked the sun from penetrating into the water where the vegetation can create oxygen. Break the ice, or clean the snow off the ice and throw a bucket of water on it so that the ice stays clear. With a clean portion of ice, the sun can atleast make it through a little and create some oxygen.

Okay thanks, I asked around on a couple other sites and got the same response..

What gets me is that a few years back we had just as bad of a winter and we never once had a floating fish through the winter. Our pond is roughly 12 years old and the only dead fish we have had out of it are the ones that we killed trying to get the hooks out and those were few and far between.

OhioBowhunter · 03-23-2010, 07:55 PM

im with gangly. i always just threw a big rock or two into the pond... bricks etc and broke the ice on the edges with a shovel. best of luck to you