what happened here?

[luv2fish24/7]

my dad and i were taking a drive by alma pond today, and i noticed something in the water. we pulled over to look and there had to be nearly 100 or more dead carp on top of the water! i dont know what caused all these fish to die. does this happen in other lakes? Or is this from bacteria in the water? heres a picture

[Game Hog]

This happened to Chautauqua Lake a year or two ago.  Only difference was there were thousands dead.  Never did find out what the reason was.

[AD]

Could be a number of things, could be disease, could be a DO (oxygen) problem, could have been lack of food, or a number of other things.     Winter kill happens in lakes sometimes.   

[Madpuppy]

How deep is this lake?

[fish_finder]

I would guess winter kill from a lack of oxygen, that pond doesnt look to be very deep, and even if it is if there isnt a good in flow of water than the oxygen would go down pretty quick.

[adkRoy]

This happened about 6 years ago at a shallow local lake. The ice got so thick that it killed all the weeds below causing a lack of oxygen. The result was thousands of dead fish, especially the carp.

[Skipper4080]

Used to see that on Lake Ontario pretty often and not just carp,smallmouth bass also.

[slabspanker]

I'D SUDDENLY FEEL LIKE SWIMMING IN THAT POND...

[eyedoktr]

Used to see that on Lake Ontario pretty often and not just carp,smallmouth bass also.

Aren't they the same thing ?? 

[Pasquatch]

Does not make sense that carp would be the species to be killed off from low DO levels, considering that they can typically deal with low levels of oxygen.

[luv2fish24/7]

this pond only gets to about 6 or maybe 7 feet deep. but most spots its around 4 or 5, i emailed this photo to the new york state dec offices and they said it is most likely winter kill, the reason of this is because lack of oxygen during long winters where the water cant recharge with oxgyenated air

[panfishman13]

looks like winter kill, it happens when a shallower pond or lake with a lot of the weeds on the bottom. the ice freezes, oxygen from above is eliminated, weeds die due to lack of sun, stop producing oxygen and start using it to decompose, once this happens, the oxygen is sucked away and everything dies. but there is a good side to this, if not all the fish die, it will be the bigger more experienced ones that survived b finding deep holes.

[Rebelfisher]

looks like winter kill, it happens when a shallower pond or lake with a lot of the weeds on the bottom. the ice freezes, oxygen from above is eliminated, weeds die due to lack of sun, stop producing oxygen and start using it to decompose, once this happens, the oxygen is sucked away and everything dies. but there is a good side to this, if not all the fish die, it will be the bigger more experienced ones that survived b finding deep holes.

100% correct panfishman...I do alot of studies on liminology (study of lakes) and this problem happens every winter...ice cover stayed on TOO long and D.O. was exhausted...result=fishkill

[geothefisher]

I have seen on some lakes where this is a major problem, they use bubblers that add D.O. in the water, and it keeps an area above the bubbler from freezing.  It is similar to to units used in marinas to keep the water from freezing.

[Rebelfisher]

yeah, you're right...im actually doing a study on a local lake with that same issue....but the bubblers arent intented for the fishkill, but rather to combat nutrient pollution.