Catfish crash

This is my second experiment with catfish in my pond.

Two years ago I put in 25 and a pound of minnows and within a few weeks
they started appearing at the surface cruising around and shortly
later, floating dead. By the end of summer, they were all gone.

This year I only put in 12 and the minnows but it looks like deja vu
all over again. I didn't keep count but I just fished out another one
today and this is close to if not the last one.

I installed an aerator a few days ago but two have died since.

There are several mitigating circumstances.

1. Because of my experience, the hatchery lady threw in 6 albinos for
my trouble. I have not found any dead albinos... just the regular
channel cats.

2. The minnows are so happy they are breading and there are zillions
of little ones all over the pond but many head in towards the bubbler.
I suspect this is just standard behavior of swimming up stream but I
suppose it could indicate low oxygen elsewhere but none of the adults,
cats or goldfish are there.

Any thoughts?

My pond is 15 years old, natural bottom, 40 ft diameter, 6 ft max
depth.

js

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Well it would be nice to know what part of the country your in. If the
pond has had a lot of influx of rain in a short time its possible to
do them in, as is low oxygen levels and having a algae growth or green
water or bio overload and then get a couple of days of overcast
weather where the algae dies and depletes even more Oxygen in the
water. Normally the bigger fish die first, and they continue dying
until the o2 level is suffiicient to support whaty fish are left. You
will find most oxygen starvation problems occuring from about 10 pm up
to about 6 am........that time frame is when there is actually even
less o2 available to them, not counting algae die off depletion of o2
levels. and a drop in PH which further makes use of available o2
harder for them.

What kind of aeration device do you have? If you have too much of a
bio load and have lots of organaic matter it also depletes oxygen and
perhaps a good doseing of the pond with potassium permanganate would
do it some good as well as getting rid of the nutrients algae relies
on to bloom with. Were your fish mainly found towards the shallow
waters or even some may have gotten up on shore? If so thats a dead
sure sign of oxygen levels being low.....its not uncommon for some
fish to actually jump on shore in their quest to get more o2.

There really is no difference except pigmentation wirth reg channel
cats and albinos..same food and o2 requirements and they grow just as
fast and just as big. How warm is your water. Warm water in a
small shallow pond as such does not retain as much oxygen, and once
past a certain point you should not feed catfish..... as most feed
will go uneaten and sink and rot and use up yet more oxygen. Your pond
certainly is not 6' deep around the edges is it?

I suppose these fish look ok on the outside, with no obvious signs of
sores and wounds etc.. Odds are their gills wil be a dull pink or
white color as well and the color of the fish overall is gong to be a
lot paler than normal.....There comes a time when all ponds really
benefit froma good housekeeping dose of potassium permangante to
oxidize all that junk on the ponds bottom up so it does not cause
problems down the road such as when weather turns warm or conditions
for pathogens are right.



On 22 Jun 2006 12:38:09 -0700, wrote:

This is my second experiment with catfish in my pond.

Two years ago I put in 25 and a pound of minnows and within a few weeks
they started appearing at the surface cruising around and shortly
later, floating dead. By the end of summer, they were all gone.

This year I only put in 12 and the minnows but it looks like deja vu
all over again. I didn't keep count but I just fished out another one
today and this is close to if not the last one.

I installed an aerator a few days ago but two have died since.

There are several mitigating circumstances.

1. Because of my experience, the hatchery lady threw in 6 albinos for
my trouble. I have not found any dead albinos... just the regular
channel cats.

2. The minnows are so happy they are breading and there are zillions
of little ones all over the pond but many head in towards the bubbler.
I suspect this is just standard behavior of swimming up stream but I
suppose it could indicate low oxygen elsewhere but none of the adults,
cats or goldfish are there.

Any thoughts?

My pond is 15 years old, natural bottom, 40 ft diameter, 6 ft max
depth.

js


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

~Roy~ wrote:

I thank you for your thoughtful response but if you are the same roy who
made that foul fingered, inane and irrelevant response above, I have
little inclination to respond to your questions with anything other
than... What sort of nut are you?

js


--
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Hey jack take the info or leave it it matters not to me if your fish
croak or live. Its your fish not mine. If ya wanna throw yur dog into
the fight bring it on there is room for all, if yu want info get what
the hellyou want and get the hellout od doge and don;t worry what
posts were ade or what is said toothers that doe snot pertain to you.
If I sent yu a bill for what I know it would be a different story, and
odds are its the best and most accurate info on what your porblem is
thatyour gonna find her on this group or any other on usenet for thaty
matter. So bite me if ya don;t like it, don't use it. Its your fish
dude.....and perhaps yu were asleep when your momma probbaly told you
not to interfere in others business, as that "other" posts pertains
to.......



On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:44:07 -0600, Jack Schmidling
wrote:

~Roy~ wrote:

I thank you for your thoughtful response but if you are the same roy who
made that foul fingered, inane and irrelevant response above, I have
little inclination to respond to your questions with anything other
than... What sort of nut are you?

js


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

~Roy~ wrote:

and perhaps yu were asleep when your momma probbaly told you
not to interfere in others business, as that "other" posts pertains
to.......

Perhaps but I was awake when she told me that civilized people do not
use certain words in a public forum.

If you wish to be perceived as a howling savage, that is your business
but it does reflect on your credibility.

I accept your comments for what they are worth but my honor precludes
having a civilized conversation with a howling savage.


js

--
PHOTO OF THE WEEK: http://schmidling.com/pow.htm
Astronomy, Beer, Cheese, Fiber,Gems, Sausage,Silver http://schmidling.com

Like I said previously you can go **** your self and use the info or
trash the info it makes no difference to me JAckie boi............You
have no ****ing honor posting on these trashed groups anyhow, as I
sort of think those that are still here reads usenet groups just toget
off on the crap, just like you do....no go cleanup allt hose dead
****ing catfish and shovel the duckweed infested mudhole
out. Nonone especialy me want to have a ****ing converstion with an
asshole like you anyhow Jackie boi!


On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:43:32 -0600, Jack Schmidling
wrote:

~Roy~ wrote:

and perhaps yu were asleep when your momma probbaly told you
not to interfere in others business, as that "other" posts pertains
to.......

Perhaps but I was awake when she told me that civilized people do not
use certain words in a public forum.

If you wish to be perceived as a howling savage, that is your business
but it does reflect on your credibility.

I accept your comments for what they are worth but my honor precludes
having a civilized conversation with a howling savage.


js


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Nicely put (and I thought I was going to give up on this room)...
"Jack Schmidling" wrote in message
...
~Roy~ wrote:

and perhaps yu were asleep when your momma probbaly told you
not to interfere in others business, as that "other" posts pertains
to.......

Perhaps but I was awake when she told me that civilized people do not use
certain words in a public forum.

If you wish to be perceived as a howling savage, that is your business but
it does reflect on your credibility.

I accept your comments for what they are worth but my honor precludes
having a civilized conversation with a howling savage.


js

--
PHOTO OF THE WEEK: http://schmidling.com/pow.htm
Astronomy, Beer, Cheese, Fiber,Gems, Sausage,Silver http://schmidling.com

*Note: There are two "Koi-Lo's" on the pond and aquaria groups.

"Jack Schmidling" wrote in message
...
I thank you for your thoughtful response ...........
==============================
I cut and pasted these from Zenia's message.

You can join troll free groups at:
http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium or

Puregold which also discusses koi, ponds, etc.
http://groups.google.com/group/Puregold

or this one:

Koiphen also discusses all aspects of pond and fishkeeping.
http://koiphen.com
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
*Note: There are two "Koi-Lo's"
on the pond and aquaria groups.
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

I seem to doubt that Roy answered you derogatorily in that post
Jack.Learn to read headers most posts in his name are forgeries...Roy
is always willing to to help those with natural ponds that look for
help. He has the most experieince of any posters in these groups when
it comes to natural ponds. Unfortunatley some are extremely jealous
of his knowledge of natural ponds.

On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:44:07 -0600, Jack Schmidling
wrote:

~Roy~ wrote:

I thank you for your thoughtful response but if you are the same roy who
made that foul fingered, inane and irrelevant response above, I have
little inclination to respond to your questions with anything other
than... What sort of nut are you?

js


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com