Chrisson

My brother is a leader for a group he made at school which is focusing on world conservation and he is planning to create a swampy pond at the back of his school into a thriving fish pond. It use to be a thriving pond long time ago but some how it just started to die off. My brother thinks it could have happened by a invasive plant species, so far he is calling bunch of conservation professionals if that is the case. The water is filled with tons of micro organisms but no fish at all. There are plants and ducks that live and come to the pond.

What do you think about this and do you have any theories of what might have killed the fishes that was thriving there? Also is it possible to bring fishes to the pond naturally?

I'll use this post if the pond saving is getting further.

CHoffman

How great of your brother!!..What an awesome project. I wish I could help you but I know exactly zero about ponds..Ther are several people here that do keep ponds so I'm sure they will be around to help out, What a great cause!!

Red1313

Depending where it could have been a fertilizer or pesticide run off that killed any fish in the pond.
Unless the pond is part of a larger body of water or somehow attached to it then there isn't really away to encourage fish to come back. You'd have to stock the pond yourself.

I wish your brother the best of luck with this!

ThisGuy

algae blooms? That would do it not sure how that works on a pond but i know it kills the ocean.

jgon_

That's because as the algae dies, it sinks. As it sinks, bacteria use aerobic respiration to break it down. The deeper you go in the pond, the more likely the turbid water will prevent light from penetrating down, further favoring respiration versus photosynthesis - depleteing oxygen (this may not be factor depending on how deep this pool is). If the the pool is rather stagnent, there would also be a low reoxygenation rate, so the water could be hypoxic (low O), or even anoxic (no O) (most likely the latter would only occur in the sediments).
The OP also mentions ducks using the ponds. Water birds are big waste producers, and if the pond isn't well flushed or small, they could easily foul it up fast.

I'm just throwing out ideas though, good luck on the project!

Chrisson

If this project goes any further I'm gonna volunteer on it! The project will probably go further since it can be turned into a public park. We just need to phone the City Hall and get a professional. We called someone and they said they have very good people to help. He is probably gonna call them today. I'll tell him to find how deep and big the pond is. I'm thinking this might lead into pond snorkeling.

ThisGuy

Wow that's quiet the description, thanks for the info

pond snorkeling in a swap that sounds like fun


cheers

Ryan