If you missed it on Facebook yesterday, we lost the majority of our catfish over the past couple of days. A long period of hot, dry weather, a pond with too many fish in it, and algae bloom caused the oxygen level in the water to drop too low*. Tuesday morning, the pond was fine, and by Tuesday evening, there were hundreds of dead catfish floating on the surface of the water. We spent two hours Tuesday evening and three hours Wednesday morning scooping dead catfish out of the pond and burying them. A guesstimate is that we lost a total of 400 – 500 fish of all sizes (the huge ones were especially fun to scoop out of the water).
We saw a few fish flitting around while we were scooping, and as of last night there were definitely several still around. Hopefully they hang in there to repopulate the pond – we can’t use “fully stocked catfish pond” as a selling point if there are no fish in there.
All of this is to explain to y’all that I am WIPED OUT and so I’m posting one picture and calling it good enough for today. Back tomorrow with more kitteny cuteness!
*Yes, we know about aerators.
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Hang in there, y’all. Friday’s coming!
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2015: Miz Poo
2014: So, it came as a shock to only a few of you that we’d decided to keep Dennis.
2013: No entry.
2012: No entry.
2011: I love how FS has his big ol’ rabbit feet pressed against Finnegan.
2010: Fostering by the numbers.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: What a difference five weeks makes.
That is so sad. I hope the surviving fish will thrive. And I read where Fred fell in that mess? Ugh! Recovery wishes headed your way.
Oh bless. That is so sad and hard work. Poor fish.
Relax and get your strength back! Hugs to you both.
I know both of you are probably sore, too, from all that lifting and hauling. Apply some hot cat compresses and rest up!
Giggling at “hot cat compresses.”
Ah man, so sorry to hear that. Get some rest. They will repopulate very quickly.
If you’re only gonna post one picture, that’s a good one!! Love it!
Hope you and Fred get some rest and maybe have several drinks and try to block the whole thing out of your memory!
It’s Friday to me since it’s Quebec’s national holiday tomorrow!
I’m also sparing a thought for you and Fred for Miz Poo. Big virtual hugs.
Take care!
yuck….
cute picture though 🙂
Dang!
I always wanted a stocked pond, we only have water and weeds in ours as unfortunately the fact that it freezes solid here would mean dead fish every year. boo!
Yuck! I saw the dead catfish picture on Facebook – never occurred to me how you would have to clean it all up!
The post from 2014 is about why you decided to keep Dennis (the announcement that you WERE keeping Dennis is still one of my favorite posts!), and you mention that Fred wanted to change Dennis’s name, so you were going to try it out. Apparently, that didn’t work???
((hugs))
How many fish did you originally put in that pond?
Would a pump or fountain help? They have a fountain where I live to keep the water moving and cut down on algae.