We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori

Kayla wrote in message
...
We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori
What kind of fish were you feeding? If you were feeding bait fish then the
bass ate them. If you had a snapping turtle he would have been dormant in
the winter. Try throwing out something that floats and makes a little noise
which will attrach whatever predator is in the lake. Just make sure the
hooks are sharp. Bass are very good fried.

it depends on how much water is in your pond. 200 fish is a lot, and they produce a
lot of waste, use a lot of oxygen in winter under the ice. on rec.ponds the
recommendation is to keep an air hole open all winter AND use an air pump with a
couple big airstones to put oxygen in the water.
If your pond is open and leaves ill in over the years a lot of dead, decaying
material builds up on the bottom of the pond and the rotting uses up the oxygen in
the pond. it also produces toxic gases that can weaken and/or kill the fish.
there are critters that eat fish including mink, weasels, snakes, herons,
kingfishers, raccoons, owls, cats. But I think your problem is stuff in the bottom
of the pond.
one other thing, dont know how cold your water is, but koi, for example dont eat
until water hits 46-50oF. and if a predator has been to the pond fish will hide.
Ingrid

Kay la wrote:

We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Sounds like an oxygen-depletion die-off. It would improbable for predators
to kill every last fish..themselves included.
How deep is the pond, and how old? Have you tested for ammonia and Dissolved
oxygen at various times of the yer??

--
Mike LaMana, MS
Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC
Toms River, NJ
www.HeartwoodConsulting.net



"Kayla" wrote in message
...
We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori

On Sun, 30 May 2004 14:26:34 GMT, Kayla wrote:

We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori


Snapping turtles, water snakes, herons, raccoons and bass will eat
fish. After the fish are gone, the predator will leave too. If you
have a snapping turtle make a trap from chicken wire. Basically, a
cylinder with an inward entrance cone on one end. Bait the trap with
a raw chicken bone. Set the trap such that some of the trap is above
water (to allow the turtle to breathe). Check the trap in a few hours
and relocate the turtle at least 5 miles away. These can remove a
finger, so use caution when removing the beast from the trap.
Whenever we catch a snapper, it is covered with blood-sucking leaches.
Check with rec.ponds for more info.

Kayla ) wrote:
with editing...
: We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
: daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
: of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
: were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
: were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
: year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
: fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
: pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Don't know where Wightman, Ont. is but on the west coast here,
river otters would easily clean out 200 fish in a week.
Breaking ice would give them access to the water when all other
ponds in the vicinity were frozen over.
These little critters move over land when it is dark and can
be gone by the morning, and rarely ever get noticed.

Regards. RAF

Thanks for all your replies and you had some good suggestions. The
fish are or were bass. If they died then they would be floating. The
deep end is about 10 feet. We haven't seen a snapping turtle. That
was just a thought. Other years at this time we always saw them
swimming around because they do come for their food.
We will look into getting the water tested. There are a lot of trees
around. The pond is 20 years old and the fish have been in there that
long. I threw some worms in today and there just is no activity in
the pond. Another thing we noticed. The frogs are back. We haven't
heard frogs for the last few years.

Lori


On Sun, 30 May 2004 14:26:34 GMT, Kayla wrote:

We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori

not necessarily. many fish sink to bottom after death and decompose.

Kayla wrote:
If they died then they would be floating.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 04:15:21 GMT, Kayla wrote:


Thanks for all your replies and you had some good suggestions. The
fish are or were bass. If they died then they would be floating. The
deep end is about 10 feet. We haven't seen a snapping turtle. That
was just a thought. Other years at this time we always saw them
swimming around because they do come for their food.
We will look into getting the water tested. There are a lot of trees
around. The pond is 20 years old and the fish have been in there that
long. I threw some worms in today and there just is no activity in
the pond. Another thing we noticed. The frogs are back. We haven't
heard frogs for the last few years.

Lori

Bass probably ate them before. or their spawn. There are all kinds
of things that can go wrong with fish, could be an illness befell
them, a fungus can wipe them out, and .. the fish don't always float
when they die. Temperature of water matters.. it's rapid decay that
creates internal gasses that make them float, if they die in the
winter, when there was ice on the water, could have floated and sunk
too.

There are no absolutes. Good luck in determining the health of your
water, and perhaps put a mix of fish in, catfish, bluegill, or
crappie, or both.. pumpkin seeds whatever will live there along with
bass if you like them. Or.. grow koi.. man those things are spendy,
could be a cash crop!! Even ones that aren't super duper wonderful go
for $10 and up when they attain a fair size. Bronze the first year or
so. But put them in, they will grow and multiply! And they're purty
and can become quite personable ;-)

Janice

On Sun, 30 May 2004 14:26:34 GMT, Kayla wrote:

We have a large pond and have 3 generations of fish which we feed
daily. Last year 10 surfaced in the spring and we assumed they died
of lack of air so this winter we made sure that air holes in the ice
were kept open. This year we have not seen one fish. NONE!! There
were about 200 fish last year. The neighbour put in a few bass one
year and they have multiplied over the years. How could that many
fish disappear without a trace? Would a snapping turtle clean out a
pond? The pond is about 50 x 100 feet. We are completely puzzled.

Lori

Lori wrote We haven't seen a snapping turtle.

They can be hard to spot. After many years of answering questions on rec.ponds
about snapping turtles I've had folks swear there wasn't one in their ponds...
until they drain the pond and they find the snapper. Of course these are
smaller ornamental ponds and fairly easy to drain. One thing they had in common
was finding lily pads that had been snapped off at the base, so they were
floating on the surface trailing their long stem behind them.
Of course there can be many other reasons, did not see the beginning of this
thread. Good idea
to get your water tested.
Good luck!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Lori wrote We haven't seen a snapping turtle.

They can be hard to spot. After many years of answering questions on rec.ponds
about snapping turtles I've had folks swear there wasn't one in their ponds...
until they drain the pond and they find the snapper. Of course these are
smaller ornamental ponds and fairly easy to drain. One thing they had in common
was finding lily pads that had been snapped off at the base, so they were
floating on the surface trailing their long stem behind them.
Of course there can be many other reasons, did not see the beginning of this
thread. Good idea
to get your water tested.
Good luck!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Lori wrote We haven't seen a snapping turtle.

They can be hard to spot. After many years of answering questions on rec.ponds
about snapping turtles I've had folks swear there wasn't one in their ponds...
until they drain the pond and they find the snapper. Of course these are
smaller ornamental ponds and fairly easy to drain. One thing they had in common
was finding lily pads that had been snapped off at the base, so they were
floating on the surface trailing their long stem behind them.
Of course there can be many other reasons, did not see the beginning of this
thread. Good idea
to get your water tested.
Good luck!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Lori wrote We haven't seen a snapping turtle.

They can be hard to spot. After many years of answering questions on rec.ponds
about snapping turtles I've had folks swear there wasn't one in their ponds...
until they drain the pond and they find the snapper. Of course these are
smaller ornamental ponds and fairly easy to drain. One thing they had in common
was finding lily pads that had been snapped off at the base, so they were
floating on the surface trailing their long stem behind them.
Of course there can be many other reasons, did not see the beginning of this
thread. Good idea
to get your water tested.
Good luck!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Lori wrote We haven't seen a snapping turtle.

They can be hard to spot. After many years of answering questions on rec.ponds
about snapping turtles I've had folks swear there wasn't one in their ponds...
until they drain the pond and they find the snapper. Of course these are
smaller ornamental ponds and fairly easy to drain. One thing they had in common
was finding lily pads that had been snapped off at the base, so they were
floating on the surface trailing their long stem behind them.
Of course there can be many other reasons, did not see the beginning of this
thread. Good idea
to get your water tested.
Good luck!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Lori wrote We haven't seen a snapping turtle.

They can be hard to spot. After many years of answering questions on rec.ponds
about snapping turtles I've had folks swear there wasn't one in their ponds...
until they drain the pond and they find the snapper. Of course these are
smaller ornamental ponds and fairly easy to drain. One thing they had in common
was finding lily pads that had been snapped off at the base, so they were
floating on the surface trailing their long stem behind them.
Of course there can be many other reasons, did not see the beginning of this
thread. Good idea
to get your water tested.
Good luck!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A