New member - help! fish kill!

[z28clone]

Hello, new member and I need help.
A little info/history:
Manmade 1/8 acre pond about 20yrs old, majority of depth 4'-5' with a small spot at 7'-8'. Water is fed from roadside ditch (but only when heavy long rains occur) and my roof drains.
Fish:Blue gill, carp, catfish, Just bought sunfish, minnows, and bass a few months ago.
My aerators are: Large surface fountain, about a 6' diameter umbrella pattern and a small sump pump set in the 4' deep area shooting water 3' in the air.
Dredged pond last year and got 50% of the sludge out. Lined pond with rock. Put aqua shade in the pond a month or two ago.
Over the last month, started seeing my small sunfish die off.
Now I've lost two of my 28" long catfish and one is gasping for air now.
Water is blue green and I have been cleaning out the floating algae for about a month. Not alot, maybe enough to fill 1/3 of a 5 gal bucket each time I clean it.
I rushed to Hardware store to buy PVC piping. I have a backup sump pump I'm gonna use as an aerator and put in the deeper end of the pond and have it shoot the bottom water in the air. Will this work? Or will bringing up the bottom low D.O. water finish off the remaining cat fish? Should I get an algacide? Or is killing the algae now not good until I get the water moving again? What should I do to save the current fish now?

 

[addy1]

Nice big pond! Welcome to our group.

You might want to get a pond test kit and test the water parameters, see if something has gone bad, ammonia, ph etc. I have no experience with ponds like yours, that large
Pick up a test kit at petsmart somewhere like that, liquid works the best.

Maybe someone up water flow from you treated their land and the water from the ditch washed something in.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello, and welcome!

Was last year the 1st time dredging was done?

 

[z28clone]

yes.

 

[Fishylove]

Hmmm any chance there is run off that may have gotten in there from a field? Messing with muck on the bottom sometimes is a crap shoot, but sense you did it last year, if I was going to cause an effect, it would have done it before now. Don't have any experience with natural ponds, but I wouldn't put anymore chemicals in there until you figure out what's happening. I'm not too far from you, as far as weather goes, it's not been warm enough to make the waters heat up, and my big pond is 5' at its deepest. ( just thinking while typing lol) I wouldnt think algae would be your culprit, unless you have TONS of it; which is not the case. Are you finding the fish dead in the morning? Algae will suck O2 from the water? But that happens during the night hours, and usually when the water temps are high as it will not hold O2 as well. Yeah......check ur ph level, ammonia, nitrates and such and if you're ok there, I'd say you got some run off maybe

 

[Fishylove]

OH. And welcome :wave: Hope you figure it out soon. Hey guys? Doesn't Fishin4U have a natural pond? Or am I mistaken.?

 

[Fishylove]

Ooops. Fishin4cars sorry dear

 

[z28clone]

No run off from farm. I'm finding the fish dead in the mornings.I agree about the dredging. While doing it in Sept 2012, I stirred the water so much, I saw there were about 9 big fish gasping for air and they all survived. Algae is dying and the dead algae is eating up the oygen. Maybe an algaecide wont help. Maybe I put too much aqua shade in it and it is keeping the sun from getting to the bottom? I will order a pond test kit. The only maintainance I usually do is add aqua shade and clean up algae. I try to keep the fountain going all the time.

 

[dieselplower]

I have no answers but I dont think the problem is lack of oxygen. Looking forward to water test results.

 

[Souper09]

Welcome to the group - the pond size is beyond what I can help with. I just wondering what else around the area might have changed that could run into the drainage from the roadside ditch.

 

[z28clone]

This morning a big cat fish was hanging around the pond edge, I havent seen him since. Installed 3rd aerator (sump pump) to grab water about 5' deep and Shoots water about 24" above the water out of a 1.5" pipe. Lots of bubbles. Added a little Cuturine Plus around the edge of the pond. Wait and see I guess. I counted about 8-9 big fish when I dredged the pond, So two are 2 dead and 1 doesnt look good. Why arent the other 6 surfacing? Those big catfish are around 15-20 yrs old!!! Water looks clear in your hand, but you cant see deeper than 6".

 

[ALLINKDUP]

stirring up that much muck will release hydrogen sulfide if you disturb it....does it have sulfur smell....??it also seems that your water level is way down compared to some of the other photos.....do you have a leak or were you working on it and the water was down...??..my guess would be lack of o2 since you cant really see through your water column from the waterborne algae...if you use an algacide, that in itself can cause an ammonia spike from all the dead organisms along with other d o c's in your water that can affect your fish...did you ever get a test kit...even with a farm pond that can be beneficial for keeping your parameters right....Billy

 

[z28clone]

Yeah we stirred up a alot of muck during dredging and it did have a rotten egg smell. That was in 9/2012. All that water loss is from last year during the summer drought, so I decided to dredge it at that time. Water level has gained about 4'-5' to a normal level like you see in the pic with the fountain. Although I think we hit the clay liner while dredging and it does lose some water each day from my observations. I ordered the pond kit, it hasnt come yet. Looks like I'm still losing small bluegill, sun fish, the big cat seems to be doing good, as I havent seen him since Sunday morning. My fish eat dogfood. Been doing it for 12 years without problem. I usually throw a 2 qt container of food in there and leave. Most is usually gone with a few pieces left. Maybe that has added to the DO levels?

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
Sounds like a Ammonia problem
Are the fish gills real red.
Whats the weather is it real hot for long periods.
If the pond water got hot real fast and is staying hot could be a big problem.

Ruben

 

[z28clone]

No the gills on the dead fish look black. No bloody red. Temps: Lows 50's-60's, Highs 70's-80%. I got in there with waders yesterday and water was definitely not hot. When water is shooting out the aerators, it looks clear. when water is calm it looks blue/green cloudy.