I Think I Killed all the Fish in Our Pond when I Installed a Pond Aeration System - 100% My Fault
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- Опубліковано 10 сер 2022
- We bought an EasyPro Pond Aerator system for our pond about 2 years ago, and we are finally installing it. But I didn't follow the directions and I may have killed all my fish.
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Evan, I wish I had sent a message last week before this happened to you, because I have experience with pond aeration and I believe I know what happened. I live on a 1 acre pond which had a die off ten years ago after a very cold winter. Since then I have been aerating and have had no more dieoffs. The reason fish die like that is because you put your aerators in the deepest part of your lake. Normally there is a thermocline between the surface and the bottom of a pond or lake and in the summer or winter the fish can swim up or down to find a temperature they like. The water at the bottom is where the fish can go when the temperature is high, like the 100 degrees you said you had. The same is true in reverse in the winter where the bottom is warmer than the surface, and again the fish can find a temperature they like. By putting the aerators in the deepest part of the lake you disrupted the thermocline and the fish had nowhere to go to avoid the hot water. I have found it is best to place the aerators no deeper than 1/3rd of the maximum depth, and they should all be at about the same depth so they will be pumping against the same pressure, which is why some of your aerators were not producing bubbles. Also bluegills are more sensitive to temperature than bass, so they die first.
On the plus side trust me when I say that not all of the fish are dead, and they will rebound quickly when conditions are right.
My wife and I love your channel and look forward to the next installment
Makes sense. Good explanation.
During the summer it’s less about temperature actually affecting the fish and more that it creates and anaerobic zone toward the bottom where they can’t live. During winter you are spot on.
You are correct. We have 4 farm ponds on our place and have been using windmill aeration for about 15 years. You are correct. Plus, I noticed when the first diffuser went in, the rope was hooked on the side. When it got to the bottom, it could have easily flipped upside down.. the air bubble turbulence would dig it into the muck and fill the water with anaerobic black goop.
The lower level below the thermocline will have little or no oxygen. The bubbles will cause the oxygen poor water to mix with the better water and cause the fish kill
You probably still have fish and they will rebound quickly
Been there got that tee shirt
Good luck
This same thing can happen after water temps have gotten warm and a cold snap with a lot of cold water runoff to the pond. We call this “turning over”. I’m sorry for your loss my friend!
It took balls to record this and if you had not, nobody would have ever known. Don't beat yourself up because you are only human. I can only speak for myself, but after watching all your video's, I know you are sincere and honest person. You can make the pond better than it was before. Hello from Texas!
That’s one of the reasons I watch them. They show what really happens and not just the good things. Life always throw us curve balls. We just have to keep stepping up to the plate again.
Accurate statement
Agreed! Evan is truthful and honest. Sorry for your loss Evan.
We all make mistakes in our life then we can either fix the issues we can or not some don't and that's why we are in the situation that this country is in
Thank you for sharing you hard learned lesson. I’ve wanted to put aeration in my pond. I know now to be very careful.
Hello! We at EasyPro Pond Products wanted to reach out and say how sorry we are about your fish dying. We also wanted to say thank you for purchasing our products and addressing the unfortunate issue you experienced so openly and honestly. You are not the first pond owner to have experienced this, and as several other commenters have mentioned, your video will help prevent others from going through what quite honestly is often a heartbreaking experience. You have a beautiful pond and we hope that the aeration system will continue to improve the health of the pond and your fish for your family to enjoy for years to come.
Your company should really consider helping with the expense of this. Yes, the poor guy admints HONESTLY that it was his mistake but with the heat issue and all the work he put in to fixing that and educating your customers seems to me should give him some favor with your company. I realize you can't do this for every customer and you probably worry about creating a presidents , but wouldn't this be a great opertuinity for you to advertise your products by helping him out. Especially, with his honestly and 136K subscibers with 825K views of this video in just 11 months. I have a 3+ acre pond that is close to 15 years old. I am battling some of the same issues (too high of phosphorus cusing algae goroth). I'm not sure about adding aeratration but for sure I need to start adding phosphorus reduction this year and next to hopefully help during the summer months. I do worry about causing a fish kill like this with either option (aeration and/or phosphorus reduction). Please, PLEASE consider helping him recover some, if not all, of the expense.
@@DamonDawsonit's not the company's fault and I know this creator is an honest man, he wouldn't let them pay for his mistakes.
@@DamonDawson I have an easy pro aeration system. The directions very clearly tell you how to start up the system to avoid killing fish. This guy did not follow the directions. Good for him for owning up to it, but if he would’ve followed instructions, it would not have happened. It’s not a fault of the manufacturer, at all.
Trust and believe that those fish didn’t die in vane. I just had my aerator installed TODAY and watching your video just saved the lives of my fish! Thank you for posting this because this takes courage to allow others to learn from your experience.
It takes a honest man to admit a mistake That’s why we watch your channel I know you’ll make the pond better
I totally agree with you
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Thanks for not being too proud to show your mistakes. Happen all the time, live and learn.
I commend you for publishing this to help others. Many of us have fallen victim to not following the directions. It never would have occurred to me that this would happen. I have a pond, so this is important to me. Thank you!
This had to be a tough video to make. But I'm sure that everyone watching this agrees that your honesty and humility have you standing about 10 feet tall and larger than life in our eyes.
Sorry for your troubles. The thing that makes your videos so genuine is your willingness to show the failures as prominently as the successes. As hard as you two work I have no doubt your pond will come back better than ever. Pulling for you.
We had a problem like this years ago. You need to get with a pond management company. We worked with our local farm bureau who helped us get in contact with pond management company. They were great they tested everything and gave us a five step plan. It took two years but ever since our five pond is great and looks wonderful. Good luck and do not give up.
I don’t have any pond but I wish you could share the five step plan that you got from the pond management company so others can benefit too.
@@sieng8 I agree, tell us the Steps they recommended.
@@sieng8 My guess is that the local pond conditions will need to be assessed. Variations like surrounding soil, runoff, size, depth, latitude, et cetera would call for different solutions.
The ducks are one of his biggest problems.
You did it right
Absolute respect for filming this, I doubt anyone would film an accidental genocide. Keep your head up, you will bounce back. Sorry for your loss and thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Thanks for posting this gut-wrenching video. In the long run, this video will save millions of fish. I hope and pray for you guys to have a speedy recovery of lively fish.
So sorry Evan. I know how hard y’all have worked to make a beautiful, healthy pond. Hang in there. We all learn by our mistakes, and all make them as well.
Hey, Ev, the fact that you feel so bad about what you did (and it was an accident, you didn't mean for this to happen), says volumes about your character. My guess is that many more fish survived than you think, but your plan to re-stock and re-store them will re-vitalized your pond, and all will be made right again. You have succeeded in educating the rest of us, and you will still leave a positive legacy (pond-wise :). God is all good, all the time, and He reads the heart. I wish I lived closer to you, because you are someone I'm sure I'd love being a neighbor of / to. : )
You're a great man for showing this situation, good for you! This is what is all about, helping, rather than hiding and covering up you chose to bring it to light and help your fellows!
Another sad thing about this is how incredibly easy it is to sustainably harvest the duckweed, since it floats on the surface in a very thin layer. It can be pulled (or pushed) into a small area, and then drug up out of the pond in mass quantities. Duckweed makes an awesome nutrient dense mulch for flower or vegetable beds that retains moisture during dry spells. I used to stretch a parachute cord across a canal shaped pond I managed, and used that to pull an old pontoon boat further up the pond. I then turned the pontoon sideways, and pulled it back slowly toward the dock. The duckweed piled up so thick at the dock that I could lift it out with a pitchfork. Along cord/cable of pool floats, with a weighted netting /chicken wire/fencing suspended below it could be looped around a large area, and again pull mass amounts of duckweed into a small area where it can be easily removed . . . and then used. A partially submerged trailer could be filled, and then pulled up out of the pond, or it could even be pumped. I had to harvest all of mine by hand, but it was so valuable as a mulch, that I didn't mind. I would fill 15 to 20 gallon landscape pots, and leave them sitting on the dock to drain. When I went to load them onto my utility vehicle, they were much lighter, after draining most of the water.
Great idea. I was thinking the same thing.
You can also get fish that love eating it
That was exactly what I was thinking! Duckweed is high protein, too - it makes excellent feed for chickens and pigs! He should just add pigs to the menu, and ditch the aerator....
Mistakes can happen at anytime😢 but thats life, and life goes on! U guys are doing a fantastic job no matter what🤩🤩 amazing videos as allways🤩
Well it doesnt when they die. Lol.
The number of fish you can potentially save by sharing this mistake is inumerable! Thank you so much.
your honesty and candor is highly appreciated.
This video will save millions of fish for other pond owners in the future. My heart hurts for you. There's not a worse feeling than killing something by accident. Keep your head up brother!!
It will work best if you share this video to alert others.
The video can only reach so many people before the attention goes down.
...you were able to educate so many ... bet your pond's fish will re-populate in time as well ...
My wife had me start watching you years ago because I'd beat myself up so much for making a mistake during a project. You have always showed your mistakes, and then carried on to completion. Now I do the same, in huge part thanks to you! Thank you.
Sorry about your setback. Our pond is in 40 plus years old too. I’ve run 4 double Vertex pods on our 2.5 acre pond for 15 years. We started slow and upon startup the stink was pretty bad. We followed the startup procedure to a “T” and we still lost a couple of fish, not on your level of loss. I start our air stations once the water temp reaches 50 degrees F in the Spring and run them 24/7 until November when water temps fall. Stuff happens. You’ll be surprised how your existing fish will rebound. Be patient, you’ll have bigger fish since the fish competition is reduced. You still have live fish. Don’t give up. I noticed your pump station doesn’t have a cooling fan. Our Vertex system has a fan integrated into the cabinet. You might want to install a cooling fan in your cabinet. Starting a new air system in this heat reduces the cooling thermaclime for the fish to cool off. Don’t be so hard on yourself, it’s going to be okay. Pondboss Forum helped me through the years. We love your channel, keep your head facing the wind and carry on!
Agreed , the heat was also a big problem. We raise tilapia and have had similar issues . Thanks for being honest and forthright with your vids.
I know it really sucks but thank you for showing this video you must know that you have helped so many other people not make the same mistake it is very difficult at times to talk about your shortcomings on a project but that's when so many people learn I am so sorry about your fish but I know it'll all come back better than it was nothing but respect for you and your family John from California have a blessed day
I think what you experienced was what is known as summer fish kill. Actually, installing the pumps during the peak of duckweed (middle of summer) is the problem. Older ponds (and lakes) suffer from oxygen starvation in the summer. The bottom layer of the water column near the muck bottom has little oxygen because it is consumed by plant decomposition (bacteria). The top of the water column near the surface also has very little oxygen because the duck weed and algae blooms consume it. What you are left with is a sometimes thin layer of oxygenated water in the middle where most of the fish hang out. When you disturb the water column vertically by adding bubbles, you mix the layers. What you end up with is not enough oxygen for the fish to live. This can happen naturally in a very heavy rainfall where the runoff disturbs the water column. That is a natural summer Fishkill. Winter would be a better time to try again.
There is also something known as a winter Fishkill. It has a different mechanism. The bottom of the water column is cooler than the top of the water column in the summertime. That temperature differential gives the water columns stability. In the winter time if the temperature of the water in the water column is all the same from top to bottom it can create an instability. In such a situation the water column can actually roll over and mix by itself.
Be careful to not move deep water to shallow because it will allow the entire lake to freeze solid. Only aerate shallow water... this will keep the entire lake liquid for the winter.
Nailed it.
Thanks for having the guts to share this video. Many would not have admitted their mistake. No sense worrying about it any more, just fix it. That is what you do best. Good luck and best wishes.
Thank you for sharing your experience. We have a lot of duck weed & will probably be adding a fountain. Hopefully you can use all of these fish for creating fertilizer.
The garden will thrive for several years now 👍
I’d probably recommend making a weighted raised platform for the air diffusers to sit on two or three foot out of the sludge off the bottom of the pond. Something with spiked feet that would sink into the soft bottom of the pond & still leave it a foot or two above the sludge floor beneath it. You would eliminate a tone of nutrient from stirring up off the floor.
So sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing. It has helped me out a lot. I wish you the best.
I can hear it in your voice & it actually made me tear up. So sorry this happened to you Evan. I really enjoy watching your videos. Chin up. You'll get your fish populated again. 🙏
Thanks for keeping it real. I saw the 'green pond' in the background in the previous video and wondered about it. Bummed about your disappointment but I've seen you overcome obstacles over and over again. You'll get this figured out and resolved. Love your channel. God bless
Wow! My husband and I feel so much for you guys- but THANK YOU for posting this video and discussing the pitfalls and problems of aeration. We are about to install aerators on our pond and you have no idea how incredibly helpful your honest (and heartbreaking) videos are. The comments that have come in are amazing too. I hope some of your fish made it and that your pond is back on track. Thanks again and all the best.
Evan, I use the same system on a 1 acre pond. I'm adding a couple of observations for you and your readers. Firstly, the Duck idea sounds great in concept. I did the same thing but used 18" lengths of 1 1/2" PVC wire to the diffusers. Here's what happened the first spring thaw. Since the ice melts first around the shore line that leaves the 'floats' still frozen in the big sheet of ice on the rest of the pond. The wind moves the ice around and rips off the floats off. I used wire and fortunately it just broke the wires and left the diffusers in place. We both had the same great idea but it didn't play out for me. 'Just a heads up to all on that. Secondly, I took one look at those cabinets they sell and thought.., Oh Hell no! If there's one thing electrical things hate it's heat, dirt, and moisture. I built my own from plywood and installed it up on the wall of a run-in shed 4' off the ground so it's shaded at all times. But wait..., there's more! Notice that your pump pulls air from each end. Using plain old 6" stove pipe I plumbed them to draw fresh air from outside the box, then I cut long 2" wide slots near the top of the sides and rear of the box to allow heat to escape. Now, the pump isn't sucking in it's own heat and the heat it generates can escape from the cabinet. Plus, on the front door of the cabinet I installed a little 120v muffin fan right in front of the motor which is tied to a controller. If I recall correctly it's set to come on whenever the inside cabinet temp is over something like 80 deg. F. In 5 years of use I've never had my cab. temp go over the mid 90's. I forgot to mention, all the cabinet openings are covered with plain old window screen to keep the bees and spiders out. I also have my system on a timer so I can run it as much or little as I like depending on the season without having to keep throwing switches everyday. Anyway, sorry this is to long but it may be of help to someone. Cheers, Fred
I've watched you make a ton of improvements to your place. The house the barn the pole barn all the livestock and fences. You have made one or two mistakes but nothing major I can think of. You admit your mistakes and you realise there may have been a better way. You are honest about all you do. This time it's a major issue and you are gutted, understandably. I feel for you, it's a heartbreaker. Remember the old saying, " Show me someone that has not made a mistake and I will show you someone that has not made anything. Take heart, you have made lots of stuff. God bless you both
I almost cried for you! Things happen, you guys have done so much. I think it was very honest and brave if you to share this!
Mad respect for not just showing all the good. Trying to provide for yourself and do things yourself means you make mistakes. Mistakes that have bigger consequences than most people these days. But they aren't taking the leaps of responsibility that you are. Keep on keepin' on, man!
This is very brave of you to let people know what happened so they do not make the same mistake. I am sorry this happened.
What a hard lesson to learn. That was such a beautifully pond stocked with some nice fish for you two to eat. My heart goes out to and I will be praying for you and your pond and hopefully you still have some fish left. God bless you guys.
I knew I liked watching your channel. Now I know for sure that I love watching your channel. You are such an honest person, you were willing to put yourself out there, at what you had done, and share with everyone what happened. I am so sorry for the loss of all the fish, was a hard lesson to learn, I read a few of the comments below and it sounds as though their explanations might explain what happened or why. Hopefully it will help, in fixing it. It might take a year or two. Once again, your sharing has helped someone else who maybe didn't know, will now. Thank you for sharing and educating us. I could tell you were just sick about this, which shows that you are a good person. God bless you and help you get through this.
You have helped millions by posting this vid I know it had to really hurt but your a true bad ass dude for sharing this not to many people if any could do what you did your one of a kind you might have lost some fish but let me tell you have saved tens of millions of fish just by being completely honest with the world your a bad ass dude Thanks for posting this
Thank you so much for posting this video. I hope your pond is doing better now. You've probably saved me a ton of disappointment and grief in my future pond plans, because I was going to do exactly what you did!
Evan and Rebecca, we are so sorry you had this happen to your pond. Stay strong and get it back in operation and may your fish repopulate quickly after they are restocked. Stay safe, Fred.
Oh man, I'm so sorry. Don't beat yourself up. Mistakes happen. We all make them, and you have shared your experience i hopes that someone else maybe doesn't make the same mistake.
Just wanted to say thank you again for taking the time to post this. I would have never imagined in a thousand years that aerating could ever hurt the fish. I feel so bad that you had to go through it :(. I hope your pond is doing ok now!
Your honesty will help many THANK-YOU.
Aerators are more about water movement than aeration. With the idea being that they mix the water layers so the deepest water is brought to the surface. You should have started while the water was cold and a thermocline had not yet set up, or installed the airstone in shallow water and slowly moved deeper( 1 or 2 feet a day) to prevent the anoxic water from mixing too quickly. You likely released an incredible amount of nutrients as well with it being an old pond. Post from Acoursey
A Oct 2017, West Lafayette, IN from The Pond Boss Forum.
Agreed. By adding the aerator it was essentially the same as the lake turning over in the middle of summer mixing low O2 water into the system and killing the fish.
So sorry Evan! You work so hard to do it right but mistakes happen and learning comes with it. Keep after it! I appreciate your videos and humility to tell us what happened and how you are going to fix it. Your experience will help others!
Thanks for the lesson. I wouldn’t have known. Sorry you had to go through that
Great information from all the comments. The #1 advice I got from the video is Never Buy an aerator from EasyPro. It is a shame that you had to modify their design flaw to fix their problem with the air lines overheating at your own cost.
I had a fish kill when I stocked pond for the first and found the problem was that when we excavated the pond down to the clay layer there were dormant roots in the clay when we exposed them they took all the oxygen out of the water and killed hundreds of fish I install a large submersible pump with a fountain head to add oxygen and overnight my fish quit dying . I know how devastating this is and I feel for. I'm sure your aware of the triploid grass carp that cannot reproduce. the hatchery I purchased mine from said no more than 15 per acre. Good Luck with your pond .
The aerators along with the really hot weather may have caused the pond to turn over. That’s when the water layers mix and cause fish die off. It happens on its own during really hot weather. The aerator’s may just be a coincidence.
Agreed. Also doesn’t duckweed suck up O2 which could kill the fish. Might not be your fault Evan.
I was thinking the same thing. Ponds here in ohio "turn over" all the time. Usually August
That and methane saturation!
@@neil1786 Doesn’t algae suck up oxygen when it turns golden or white?
It might be that there is not enough native aquatic plants in his pond.
Having only one type of plant leaves imbalances.
A brilliant video. Thank you for your honesty. Your experience will help thousands of others.
Hello from California I respect your strong honest ways,I know you are sincere and honest person. You can make the pond better than it was before. your pond will recover, thanks for this video post.
I'm just sick for you guys. Mistakes happen, but oh my goodness. As a pond owner myself, I can tell you that grass carp are the way to go for weed control. We put many fewer than were recommended for our 10 acre pond, but they did an amazing job at cleaning up the weeds.
We also had this happen in a 2 acre pond in 2001 when we had a heavy rain which stirred up the nitrogen in the bottom of the pond. We lost most of the fish by the next day and several more over the next 2 days. We then purchased and installed a aeration fountain to prevent this from happening again as advised by our local fishery. We now have 4 grass carp and hundreds of blue gill, bass, and catfish. Sorry for the set back, this too shall pass. Don't beat yourself up.
I feel so bad for you. I thank you so much for sharing your story and teaching others what not to do. You did what you needed to do to make it a healthy lake. I commend you for doing this video.
Thanks for posting and helping raise awareness. Praying for a quick recovery!
Sometimes learning is tough. Perhaps you sharing this problem can help several others from making the same mistake. Wishing you the very best as you start over stocking your pond. Keep us updated on how it goes.
Hi Evan, you can hear the absolute pain in your voice and see it, this was a honest mistake, a accident, and I am more than sure that you will get it working and be fine again, just keep in mind that we wishes you all the best and luck with this, and that it takes a absolute huge amount of courage to show this to us, it just straight up tells everybody that you and Rebekah is the best persons and with the best of intentions
I learned something today. Thank you for putting this out. Good luck with your pond!
I never would have thought about that. Thanks for the video. I run so many aerators in my aquariums and never thought of this being a possibility.
Sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward. Especially when you start dealing with a long neglected pond. Don't beat yourself up, just keep trying to move forward.
Call your local Co-Operative Extension office to see if they can test your water samples to make sure the water isnt’t toxic. Heavy metals and acid rain deposits.
Oh man. I feel terrible for you. Thank you for letting others learn from your mistake. It's greatly appreciated.
Your honesty earned my sub! Props. Cant wait to see what your pond evolves into.
Don't beat yourself up too bad Evan. I would have done about the same thing trying to make the pond better and probably a lot of other folks would have too. But I will say if it killed the catfish, it probably got all fish because they can usually live in VERY muddy water. Anyway, we live and keep learning and try to do better next time around. Thanks for sharing and keep your chin up. 👍
It isn’t a mud issue. It’s a temperature and anaerobic water problem.
I was thinking if you had two boats and a floating line, just pull the duckweed gradually off to one side. Gather, compost it. Huge volume of free high N plant matter.
Absolutely! I was wondering if someone would say this too. I'm off to skim a pond this weekend using a floating boom - pretty easy and as you say, it's a very quick way to both reduce the nitrogen content of the pond and transfer it where you want it.
@@sroberts605 The way that they harvest cranberries with water. Control the weed and skim it off. I feel so bad about this - like it was happening to my family.
Or 1 boat and the other side staked in the ground.
Thank you for your honesty. I was planning to aerate my pond and you saved me from a bad mistake. I'll do a lot more research before proceeding.
I know it doesn’t help but don’t beat yourself up for a honest mistake and for you sharing your mistake. Because honestly you’re going to save more fish then what you just lost 100 times over because this lesson will help others not do the same mistake and I hope you know your honesty and lesson learned being shared will go allot farther with others that just learned but will also pass on to future pond owners and save so many other fish and heart aches from others having to learn the hard way like you did. Your a SOLID Person and great role model on how others should share their mistakes and help others learn from it!
Evan I think you should maybe consider looking into dredging the deeper parts of the pond where all of the toxic debris has settled , and maybe this will help clean up the pond before you start restocking it with fish … just something to consider , it maybe a little spindly but probably well worth the effort
I think turtles use the muck to lay eggs in. And the debris only got kicked up by the fountain, it would have stayed put if no fountain was used.
Dredging may do good, but certain animals use the muck and may be disturbed by the actions.
He also must consider using native fish, and to avoid Asian Carp.
Rain might help reduce the muck by a bit. If there were more wildlife around the muck might be controlled by itself.
Dang what a bummer Evan. Hopefully it didn’t kill as many as you think, tough to know. I appreciate you putting this out there, I bet you save someone from making the same mistake
Sorry to hear about your loss. Thank you Very much for the lesson. Cheers from Nova Scotia
I am sorry for your loss! Thank you for the lesson.
Don't be so hard on yourself. You're an awesome person farmer. Big ponds have an ecosystem. Before restarting the pond try to reaerate the pond and minimize the duck weed and algae. By correcting the issue sets the pond up for a greater ecosystem and then restock it. It's hard and you feel a heavy heart but stay focused greater is the man who learns from his mistakes. Don't feel so bad
Sorry man but you may have saved other pond owners from making the same mistake. I certainly would not have expected this outcome either. Live and learn right! Thanx for the video and your honesty. Good job 👍
My heart goes out to you my friend. Thank you for sharing and hopefully making sure others don’t make the same mistake.
Thanks for all the valuable information, specially after you have gone through such an ordeal. So sorry you went through so much
Wow that's a tough hit. Maybe you could at least use some of the dead fish to boost the compost pile. Definitely have to cover it to keep the stink down but it would make some mega good compost.
That's OK Evan. We all make mistakes. Now you can help others manage their ponds better.
Here's an option...Harvest the duckweed and feed it to your pigs/ chicken...Thats free food.
That would give more space for them to grow and eat up all those stuff that got disturbed by the aerator.
And yes...new stock is cool. More content to an extent!
Much appreciate your humility. I've got a buddy that's building near a pond. I will pass this info to him. As the saying goes..." If your not making mistakes, your not doing anything"! Take er' easy.
My heart goes out to you . Your pond looks just like the one on the farm where I grew up. Takes a big man to admit when he’s messed up. I can’t imagine how terrible you felt when you saw all those dead fish. I watched ahead and saw that you put the grass carp in and I pray they take care of your duck, weed problem, and that your pond will come back to life and re-populated with fish in abundance.
Im so sorry for what happened. I have 3 aquariums and I have learned over time that any adjustments you do need to be done very slowly, even adding 5 or 6 new medium sized fish to an established tank can decimate a lot of hard work because an established ecosystem is very finely balanced. Do you have any lilies in your pond? If not then they could be a good addition because they will suck the nutrients out of the water faster than duckweed and the duckweed will eventually die off. Some carp will eat a barn full of duckweed in days too. I have duckweed in two of my small tanks and I scoop it all out once a week and dump it in with my goldfish. I have 4 goldfish and they eat it all in a couple of hours. Carp also naturally stir up the bottom and keep it healthy, but do some research into the type of carp that you stock because some are seriously invasive. Mirror and Common Carp are gorgeous and they will give you a hella fight when hooked. I would keep away from Grass or Asian Carp.
Aeration will work very well eventually and keep testing your water before adding new fish. I really wish you great success in the future and I'll subscribe and hopefully see what happens. 🙏
Keep your head up! You guys have done such a awesome job with everything on the homestead. I have no doubt, with your attention to detail and care, that the pond will come back better than ever. Keep up the great work!
I've always wanted a pond like yours. I sincerely hope for all the best outcomes for your efforts in getting it back to being healthy and productive Sir. Good luck.
I'm glad I watched this and read the comments for corrections before I decide on a similar path. Thanks for the info.
Sorry to hear about your fish kill in the pond. Your mistake was placing the aerators in the deeper part of the pond as in warm weather, ponds will stratify with lower dissolved oxygen in the bottom of the pond in deeper zones. The remains of decomposition bacteria locks up ammonia in the sediments. Most likely, the aeration stirred up the low dissolved oxygen water and released ammonia back into the water column. The right way to aerate would have been in the shallowest water of the pond starting out with only 5 minutes per day. And if you wanting to reduce the duckweed, there are chemicals that will eradicate it and not harm fish. However, youaren't the first person to do this. Contact a good pond management and they'll get you back on track. Also, you can check out Bamabass, another UA-cam site outlining pond management from a new pond standpoint. Good luck and don't feel bad. It's fixable.
Good advice on the fountain, but I would keep the duckweed as it feeds ducks, and fish, poisoning it would be terrible for the wildlife.
Don't be too hard on yourself, you meant well. Sorry about your loss
It's nice to see someone post an honest mistake and not pass the blame. I learned a lot from the comments too. I'm sure you'll mend the damage.
We fall and than rise again learning from our mistakes, don't let it bother you to much. You care for your fish and i know you'll bounce back with more knowledge. Keep up the good work and in the next clip we'll see the pond back to it's old glory!!
You unfortunately have to learn of your mistakes things like this only happen to people who try harder ! It was very honest and strong of you to record this for us ! Love your videos stay strong keep it going on lots of good vibes from France 🇫🇷
Turned it too quick. That's the one thing that can go wrong. You are on the right track. Be patient and keep checking muck depth as you add aeration.
And that's a teachable moment about how vulnurable nature is to human interference. Thank you for being honest about this, if this video prevents just one person from making the same mistake it was worth making!
I have a degree in pond management. Get about 30 (up to 50) grass carp (white Tripoid Amur). They will eat your vegetation and you will keep it under control year after year. Yes they will also eat filamentous algea (although liturature may say otherwise),
Aerator is good, you just mixed the “dead zone” aberobic bacteria into the upper areas where fish live (oxygen is abundant enough to carry fish). To start an old pond on aeration you need to do it in the spring when water is 39 degrees. This is called spring overturn. Water is heaviest at 4 deg C. So when surface water is also 4deg C, it doesn’t stratify and aerator can be turned on
Man, I'm sorry this happened But thank you so much for sharing this with the community so we can all learn. Thank you.
The duck decoys were a great idea. Great videos as always.
Tip: Try recirculated pond water. That's what I do on my small koi pond. The water flow should be pumped along the surface creating bubbles. This also prevents a total freeze up in the winter as long as there is an area of water flow. I use a submersible pump and leave it going 24/7/365. My fish are over 15 years old and early on I lost a couple of them to seagulls. To combat the gulls I allowed a small maple tree to branch out over the pond. Gulls have a large wing span and now they have no landing zone! I'm up here in Gloucester, Ma where we have brutal winters. Best Regards, Jay
You seriously fail to understand how large his pond is. 3.5 acres with an average depth of 3 feet is 3421440 gallons. Even a fairly beefy pump of 100 gallons per minute running all day is less than 0.05% circulation.
To follow your suggestion and even get 25% circulation he’d need a 600 gpm pump running all day. Which is about $3000 just for the pump. Motor, power and plumbing is extra.
@@0xFF48 I'm simply suggesting that recirculated water flow is a solution and it doesn't need to be as large as you mentioned. Two 1500 GPH pumps which costs less than $500 a piece placed in opposite ends of the pond creating a slow surface current would work on keeping the pond fish healthy.
Sending you good energy buddy. Don’t beat yourself up. We all make mistakes even with the best intentions.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! We all learn from each other! Thanks
I feel for you as a fellow pond owner. I wish I could talk to you, I’ve had similar experiences through the years. One thing I’ve learned is to not always listen to pond management companies. I have a 7-8 acre pond very similar to yours that I’ve brought back to being healthy. My advice is as follows; run 1 aeration head in shallow water 24 hrs a day(near an end not the middle). Add a pond block from Tractor Supply or similar store at the aeration head. The beneficial bacteria will help eliminate the toxic gas and muck. You can also use septic shock bacteria from Home Depot. Once the first area improves 10-30 days, and you see fish near the aeration head (attract w/fish pellets) turn on the next closest aerator and add another Pond Block. Keep this up until all aeration heads are on 24 hours. Stock your pond with a 1 acre pond package. Within 2 years your pond will be populated. Start feeding if you want them larger - I just through food while walking after work some evenings. Not sure of your depths, mine is shallower 2’-14’. I also have a 30 acre at 120’ but that’s another animal. Good Luck and keep your chin up.
We appreciate the honesty. This is the first video of yours that I see, however, I respect it. In the aquarium hobby, this happens too from time to time. We all make mistakes and learn. I'm sorry for the loss of your fish.
Good luck. Sorry for your loss.
i chlorinated my rain water tank and forgot, when i added water to my goldfish 125 gallon stock tank it killed them all, even new babies, i was devastated, so i understand your loss