Winter Die-Off?

    My pond is now almost entirely ice free.  I always enjoy gazing down into the clear water, but this year it has also been disturbing.  Where are all the little fish?  Normally when the ice melts I see lots of tiny fish darting around, but so far this year I have yet to see even one.  I am wondering if I have experienced a winter die-off in my pond.

    What can happen is this:  If there is a lot of dead plant debris under water (my pond does) and the ice forms over the top of the pond over a long winter (it did), when the plant detritus begins to decay, the process takes the oxygen out of the water, and the fish can suffocate.  

    I thought I had fresh water from our waterline flowing into the lake over the winter, but now that I think back, there wasn’t an area of open water forming over the section of inflow like there normally is, so maybe not enough fresh oxygen-rich water got into the pond.

    I guess sometime this spring I will have to take my minnow net and try to catch some tiny fish in some of the natural lakes around here, so I can restock my pond.  This is the first time since I built the pond that this has happened, and its depressing to think maybe I failed to have enough fresh water flowing into the pond.

You can view my paintings:  www.davidmarchant.ca