Hot summer days with no wind are prime times for fish die offs in farm ponds. Farmers worried about losing their fish should check on ponds early in the morning, which is the time of day that pond oxygen levels are at their lowest.
If you see fish swimming up near the surface early in the morning gasping for air, the following can help keep you from losing all your fish and the time you have in producing them. If you have a recirculating water pump, set the intake of the pump just below the water surface and then set the discharge side of the pump to spray the water back into the water to create a circulation so that oxygen exchange can occur between the air and pond surface. If you do not have a pump, you can run water from a well into the pond, letting the discharge end spray into the pond in an attempt to create a circulation. Alternatively, you can set a boat motor into the pond (leave the boat on the trailer) and run it to try to create a circulation. Whatever practice you use, you must continue it until you come back out in the morning and do not see stressed fish at the surface. It would also be good at this same time to set out trot lines or seine the pond to attempt to catch fish and reduce overall pond oxygen demand.
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