All My Fish Died

[birdman]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this newsgroup. My name is Dan, and I live in
Maine.
This spring when my pond finally thawed, I found all my fish dead.
(goldfish)
here were 8 second year fish, about 5", and about 40 small first year
fish. (I had actually taken out at least 50 last fall).
The pond is about 1000 - 1500 gallons, and about 30" deep. Last winter
we had no snow and very cold temps all winter, so it surely froze to
the bottom, but 8 of my 15 fish came through fine.

This winter we had a lot of snow cover, so it couldn't possibly have
been any worse than last winter, yet all the fish died.

My only thought is that the pond didn't freeze to the bottom, so the
fish stayed somewhat active, and cosequently depleted the oxygen, or
starved. But that's just a guess.
Any thought on the matter?

[kathy]

It was most likely a build up of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide
from organic materials in the pond. Our ornamental ponds have way too
many fish per amount of water. Even large natural ponds can have winter
die off if they are frozen over for too long.
Here in zone 7, and relatively mild winters (only a week of being
frozen over and snowed in usually) I use an air pump, line and air
stone to keep a hole open in the ice. If winter sneaks up on me, just a
day late in getting out to the pond I can have fish die in 3,000
gallons.

If this is not possible for you in your climate you might consider
reducing your stock, draining and catching the fish in the winter and
keeping them in a stock tank with filtration and air pumps over the
winter. Some folks get really carried away and set up a whole
wintertime pond in the basement ;-)

kathy :-)

[dkat]

"birdman" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi everyone, I'm new to this newsgroup. My name is Dan, and I live in
> Maine.
> This spring when my pond finally thawed, I found all my fish dead.
> (goldfish)
> here were 8 second year fish, about 5", and about 40 small first year
> fish. (I had actually taken out at least 50 last fall).
> The pond is about 1000 - 1500 gallons, and about 30" deep. Last winter
> we had no snow and very cold temps all winter, so it surely froze to
> the bottom, but 8 of my 15 fish came through fine.
>
> This winter we had a lot of snow cover, so it couldn't possibly have
> been any worse than last winter, yet all the fish died.
>
> My only thought is that the pond didn't freeze to the bottom, so the
> fish stayed somewhat active, and cosequently depleted the oxygen, or
> starved. But that's just a guess.
> Any thought on the matter?

Did you have a airhole open all winter? How late into the season did you
feed? That is a lot more fish in the second year as compared to the first
which means more need for oxygen. It is highly unlikely that it froze to
the bottom and you fish survived. It could have frozen all to the bottom
this year but generally snow insulates and it didn't freeze the previous
year to the bottom then it didn't this year... My guess is that the
increase in fish load was too much.

[CanadianCowboy]

It was critical to have an open hole somewhere in your pond. I leave my
pumps running through the winter and although water doesn't flow, it
generates enough water movement to keep one open hole.

birdman wrote:
> Hi everyone, I'm new to this newsgroup. My name is Dan, and I live in
> Maine.
> This spring when my pond finally thawed, I found all my fish dead.
> (goldfish)
> here were 8 second year fish, about 5", and about 40 small first year
> fish. (I had actually taken out at least 50 last fall).
> The pond is about 1000 - 1500 gallons, and about 30" deep. Last winter
> we had no snow and very cold temps all winter, so it surely froze to
> the bottom, but 8 of my 15 fish came through fine.
>
> This winter we had a lot of snow cover, so it couldn't possibly have
> been any worse than last winter, yet all the fish died.
>
> My only thought is that the pond didn't freeze to the bottom, so the
> fish stayed somewhat active, and cosequently depleted the oxygen, or
> starved. But that's just a guess.
> Any thought on the matter?
>

[Phyllis and Jim Hurley]

Dan,

Tough loss!

Phyllis

birdman wrote:
> Hi everyone, I'm new to this newsgroup. My name is Dan, and I live in
> Maine.
> This spring when my pond finally thawed, I found all my fish dead.
> (goldfish)
> here were 8 second year fish, about 5", and about 40 small first year
> fish. (I had actually taken out at least 50 last fall).
> The pond is about 1000 - 1500 gallons, and about 30" deep. Last winter
> we had no snow and very cold temps all winter, so it surely froze to
> the bottom, but 8 of my 15 fish came through fine.
>
> This winter we had a lot of snow cover, so it couldn't possibly have
> been any worse than last winter, yet all the fish died.
>
> My only thought is that the pond didn't freeze to the bottom, so the
> fish stayed somewhat active, and cosequently depleted the oxygen, or
> starved. But that's just a guess.
> Any thought on the matter?
>

[George]

"birdman" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi everyone, I'm new to this newsgroup. My name is Dan, and I live in
> Maine.
> This spring when my pond finally thawed, I found all my fish dead.
> (goldfish)
> here were 8 second year fish, about 5", and about 40 small first year
> fish. (I had actually taken out at least 50 last fall).
> The pond is about 1000 - 1500 gallons, and about 30" deep. Last winter
> we had no snow and very cold temps all winter, so it surely froze to
> the bottom, but 8 of my 15 fish came through fine.
>
> This winter we had a lot of snow cover, so it couldn't possibly have
> been any worse than last winter, yet all the fish died.
>
> My only thought is that the pond didn't freeze to the bottom, so the
> fish stayed somewhat active, and cosequently depleted the oxygen, or
> starved. But that's just a guess.
> Any thought on the matter?

First of all, at 30" deep in Maine, surely your pond is too small. Chances are
the fish suffocated. You need to keep a hole open in the ice/snow for gas
exchange so the fish will be able to breath. A de-icer will keep a hole open in
the ice for all but the worst weather. You can also do so by using an aerator,
which not only helps keep theice open but adds O2. Another thing, unless your
fish were minnows, it appears that you also had way to many fish in your pond.

[[email protected]]

In . com>, on 04/09/05
at 07:58 PM, "birdman" > said:

>My only thought is that the pond didn't freeze to the bottom, so the fish
>stayed somewhat active, and cosequently depleted the oxygen, or starved.
>But that's just a guess.
>Any thought on the matter?

You have to keep a hole open in the ice to allow for air exchange. There
are heaters available for this.

Sorry for your loss.


Alan

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