Massive Fish Death

[nickc]

Over the winter I lost the majority of my fish in my outdoor pond (1,000 gallons and 3 feet at deepest point). The losses were a 2' 6" albino catfish and about 10 koi ranging from 6" to 2'. Many of the fish, big koi and catfish were well established and had been thriving for years. We always kept a hole in the ice for gasses to escape. The only fish to survive were minnows and one goldfish.

Anybody have any ideas as to why they all died?

Also, the pond has been redone and doubled in size now.

 

[nickc]

???

 

[greenbud]

in maine it was one of the coldest winters in a long time My pond 3/4 acre had ice 2twice as thick as any other year. this and the massive refreeze we had late spring made me lose atleast 1/2 my population if not more.

 

[wantokeeptrout]

does your pond have current and how effective is the filtration, The oxygen level might have dropped to fatal levels near the end of winter.

 

[nickc]

It may have been the weather then. NJ had some of the heaviest snowfall in awhile. We turn the filter off at the end of fall.

 

[situs]

Condolences to your lost, weather is unpredictible.

 

[wantokeeptrout]

best way to prevent those die offs is to either get an airator or a fountain that can run in winter to circulate water and mix O2 in

 

[skjl47]

hello, I did a search yesterday about pond depth and ice freezing for a different thread. The results were along the line that the depth needs to be a minimum of four feet for some portion of a pond. This seems a bit shallow to me from what I recall from a class taken a long time back. That may be an issue to check out.

 

[greenbud]

hello, I did a search yesterday about pond depth and ice freezing for a different thread. The results were along the line that the depth needs to be a minimum of four feet for some portion of a pond. This seems a bit shallow to me from what I recall from a class taken a long time back. That may be an issue to check out.

yah it was my thread and I researched it some more and found you to be right but the state of maine says plan on 6ft or better in there trout pond guide.