Summer Fish Kills

Fish Kill is every pond owner’s worse nightmare.  Fish kill can occur for several reasons, but the main two are oxygen depletion and pond turnover.

Oxygen depletion is typically caused by the rapid decay of organic material.  For example, pond owners that treat their entire pond for weeds and algae run the risk of having a fish kill. All of the weeds and algae they killed will deplete the water of oxygen and fish will die as a result.  Oxygen depletion can also occur when mid summer temperatures increase and the pond has little to no surface movement and no aeration.  Fish kill resulting from oxygen depletion can be prevented by careful treatment practices and aeration.

Pond turnover is a natural phenomenon that can happen in any pond.  Pond turnover is most often caused by a drastic change in weather from day to night or one day to the next.  For example, in some areas of the United States temperatures can reach into the 90’s through the day and drop down to 40’s at night.  This drastic change in temperature causes the surface water to cool too quickly.  This rapid cooling actually causes the pond water to physically flip or “turnover”.  The muck on the bottom of the pond will come to the surface and the pond will look and smell bad.  The sudden change in environment will also result in a fish kill.

A well known pond in the Fort Wayne area just experienced a fish kill that was most likely caused by pond turnover.  The pond on 14 next to Bandidos was plagued with thousands of dead fish causing the entire are to smell. 

For more information about pond maintenance or fish kill contact Sanco Industries.