DEAD fish in my Sister's little farm tank ?

[kingwoodcatfisherman]

This was an email sent to me the other day from my sister. She has a farm with a small cow pond on it . Not real deep from what I can tell and you can almost cast across to the other side .

Jeff,
Do you or any of your fishing friends know what caused our fish to die? I'm assuming it is because of the algae but don't know why now and not before. Does it maybe bloom or something and become toxic? Feel free to post the photo if others might know what we should do. The cows don't want to drink from tank, and our other one is dangerously low. I am sending photo to our ag extension agent and seeing if need to get a water test.


My thoughts are the vegetation may have depleted the o2 supply in the water and choked the fish out.

[vett0111]

I agree with you KCF. Looks like they are getting choked out

[dwaynez]

Could be turning over, small bodies of water will do that the silt turns over and it chokes them.

Looks like that is what is going on just from the pic,

[texaseggdesigns]

Yes once algae starts to bloom and the water gets so low it chokes out the oxygen for your fish so they die. They are smelling up the water and the algae is poisoing the water the lower the water level gets it will need to be drained and cleaned of the algae and dead fish. We used to have to keep our water circulating with hoses when it was so hot like this for the cattle sure do not want that water to get stagnet!!

[dbldaddy]

Yea I agree. The bottom will turn over and kill everything in the water

[kingwoodcatfisherman]

Honestly , I am amazed how anything even lives in it . I would not call it a cow pond .... More to me like a cow toliet !

[Gentleben]

actually the vegetation gives off oxygen and keeps the water airated ,more than likely the pond turned and may be too shallow would certainly cause the fish to die;;
Need a sprinkler like Skeeter21s to keep the fish alive !!

[Sierra255]

As the water heats, it holds less oxygen. Due to the heat, there could have been a mass vegetation die-off. This decaying plant matter will rob the water of oxygen as well. And I bet the water level is lower than it has been in a long time. On very small tanks like this, the best way to keep the fish alive during these hot dry spells is to install a sprinkler as others have said.

[mikechell]

Two cents from Florida:
I see several different problems with that water. Most of them have already been mentioned. It's too shallow to keep cool, the sun can raise the temps (in water less than 6 feet) to well over 100 degrees. Oxygen saturation at high temperatures is insufficient for the fish. There's is no way to keep fish alive in those temps.

I do have to say something about "turning over". If the bottom muck is decaying, it will fill with methane pockets and float. This will relaease nutrients and toxins, destroying the pond ... but this isn't "turning over".
The term derives from a spring/fall temperature change. Water is heaviest at 39 degrees F. As cooler weather cools the water to 39 degrees, it sinks and the lake turns over. It happens again as the water warms to 39 degrees.
It happens in waters that don't get to 39 but in which the water temperature is the same throughout the water column. Water at the surface is then allowed to sink everytime it is cooled a few degrees.

[pigface]

Thanks for your replies. We got a little rain this week, so I am hoping it will help. It definitely seems oxygen (deficient) related since have had so little rain / stagnant. With that much algae, there is surely a large amount of decaying matter on bottom -- that process ties up oxygen. The rest of the wildlife (frogs, turtles, minnows, etc) seem to be fine / thriving. Just the bass died. I will look for someone who can help us clean it out, and I am sending a water sample off to A&M.

I have never heard the term "turning over." Thanks for clarification. I don't think we need to worry about temps below 39 degrees!

It is not near electricity or a water source, so I am not sure how I would install a pump, aerator or sprinkler. Suggestions? I thought I saw an aerator of some kind that was hooked to a windmill type thing once, but I can't recall where I saw this. I don't want to kill off algae with chemicals (ie. copper sulphate) as this is cow's water source (and the dead algae would probably just cause more decay and lower levels of oxygen even more...) Is there an organic way to reduce algae or a fish that would eat this that could possibly tolerate lower oxygen levels?

Thanks, again for any suggestions.