Local Pond Has Suffered A Fish Kill

[airborne_angler]

So the local pond on the military installation has been there for a long time. Theres a dam and scratched in the concrete is the number 1922,This post dates back to 1877,so these numbers(1922) lead me to believe,this is the date the dam was constructed.

This pond goes through a cycle. When its hot and we have a spell without rain,the water drops,almost to the point of drying up,(never has fully dried up since I started fishing it in 1980) it fills backup naturally when the rainy season comes.All is normally well,and the status of the lake is normally very healthy,although its not managed in anyway,shape or form.

Last Thursday we got a decent rain(the first in a VERY long time).Today I went to the pond,it had filled up a little bit and I noticed gobs and gobs of Dead Bluegill on the bank,along with some Bass,a Tilapia and a pair of Koi that lived in the pond.

This pond also has Yellow Catfish(Bullheads) Green and Hybrid Sunfish in it.

I didnt notice any Dead Catfish out of all the fish that died.Why would that be? Are they more resilient then the Bass,Koi and Bluegill?

In all the time I have lived in the area I have never seen a fishkill at any of the local bodies of water.

Why now? What could have caused it? Contaminants in the Runoff from the rain? Would it be safe to say this pond is done for?

[webertime]

Maybe the fish at a deeper depth were in more oxygen rich water and survived? (the Bullhead) That's what happened several times to the pond I grew up one. It's a combination of water temp, wind, & nutrients in the water (run off from heavy rains). In this case a massive die off of plant matter due to an algae bloom knocked the oxygen level way down.

It's definitely a kick in the pants for that pond but if it has gone through similar cycles in the past (without the kill) then it should recover in time. My bet is that you had a lot of rain that washed phosphorous rich lawn fertilizers into the water shed that feeds that pond and the same thing happened. Especially with fish already stressed from the low levels it wouldn't take too much to kill them.

As for the Bullhead, those fish are as durable as they come.

[WRB]

The flash flood more than likely caused a thermoshock from the water temperatures changing quickly, combined with low DO levels.

Catfish can breath air, unlike all the other fish must breath disolved oxygen and have a high tolerance to temperature changes.

The lake should come back.

Tom