Pond Eco-Management

We did another beneficial native aquatic plant install at a pond today. This pond was built last year. Species included blue flag iris, arrowhead (duck potato), two types of bulrushes, American pondweed, and we had a special request from the owner for some white water lily. Exclusionary fencing is provided to give them a head-start from grazing by crayfish, waterfowl, etc.

We also checked on some plantings done last year. See photos. Looking good! 👍🏻

Nutrients are typically always available in your pond for plants to grow and you want the best plants to take advantage. Often times algae dominates without a good diversity of submerged and emergent rooted plants. Or over treatment of plants with chemicals can also push the system toward algae. The result is a never ending battle with algae. 😩

Of course you will always have some algae and that is ok, but too much is no good! By looking at the photos below, you can imagine how much more plant mass would be in algae if the beneficial plants were not present. Some ponds have way too much nutrients (eutrophic) and that is another issue and different management needs not discussed here.

As always, we are happy to help with your pond projects and perhaps give you a new perspective on pond management. 😁 👍🏻

😢 not a pleasant site to find in your beloved pond, but fish kills do happen, sometimes no matter what you do to prevent them! But there are measures you can take to reduce the chance of one occurring.

I could go into a long and detailed speech about ways to prevent them, but rather I will share a story from a recent fish kill investigation I did for a client. For specific information, feel free to contact me or your local district fish biologist.

We recently completed fish stocking, habitat installs, and beneficial aquatic plantings on a small 1/2 acre pond in Central IL. The client called a week ago and said they had dead fish along the banks! A bit unusual for May and very unexpected for this new, and rather deep pond (10 feet+). I rushed over that evening with my oxygen meter in hand and was surprised to see nearly thirty individuals of multiple species (less likely to be disease) floating along the banks. The dissolved oxygen meter read 5.2 mg/l (dangerously low) and I regretfully told the client the oxygen would crash again that night when plants go into "dark reaction" where they actually consume some oxygen to complete photosynthesis (the chemistry is complicating)!

There was about 10% coverage of living filamentous algae on the pond, but nothing of concern. The water was turbid with recent heavy rain and there were no known recent land applications of chemicals.

Diagnosis: while we may never know, I suspect there was a heavy phytoplankton bloom that died off during high turbidity from rain and began decomposing on the pond bottom (oxygen consumed by bacteria). That along with continued turbidity (reduced photosynthesis) and the dark reaction in plants resulted in a perfect storm and a fish kill.

One thing that may have prevented it is an aeration system with bottom diffuser to help keep the water column mixed and exchange oxygen with the surface. Although aeration does not solve all problems, it can help. And sometimes Mother Nature will have her way regardless.

If you have any questions or concerns with your pond, we're happy to help!

P.S. I borrowed the below image from the web because I forgot to take a photo 😉

It's Fish Day!! 🐟🐟 😀 Picked up a load of fish for a first round stocking on a new 2+ acre pond in Sangamon County. We went with a standard bluegill, redear, largemouth bass, and channel catfish stocking for this pond. I discourage stocking crappie in smaller waters in most situations due to competition with other species and very high reproduction rates. They can make a mess of things... Consult with a professional if you are considering crappie in a small lake.

Cheers!