[NatureNS] fish kill Port Williams skating pond

From: "Hebda, Andrew J" <Andrew.Hebda@novascotia.ca>
To: "naturens@chebucto.ns.ca" <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Thread-Topic: [NatureNS] fish kill Port Williams skating pond
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Date: Fri, 1 May 2015 13:09:40 +0000
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__Thanks George.

If a poison had been applied, you would probably see other mortalities, including frogs, and potentially fish-eating birds.

Are the fish all "gold" in colour?  In pods where Osprey forage, there is a selection agains gold, resulting in most of the fish resiorting to nartural (gree/brown colouration with little bright pigment.  If you have regular Osprey presence, it would suggest a relatively recent  introduction.

A

p.s.  if they are still fresh, can you grab a sample and freeze some for us.



From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] on behalf of George E. Forsyth [g4syth@nspes.ca]
Sent: May-01-15 9:38 AM
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] fish kill Port Williams skating pond

Hi Andrew,

The pond is very shallow, if you really wanted to, you could walk
across and keep your shoulders dry. The water enters through an
underground pipe from a water body in a wet hollow above the skating
pond. The water then flows out through a vertically placed pipe at the
bottom end of the pond. The brook runs along about thirty feet beside
the pond.

See Google maps:  45.093621, -64.412400

I had noticed goldfish last summer and they must have been here for
awhile as some of the dead fish are eight inches long. Other species
were not noted, but I didn't really study them and there are literally
hundreds. I have lived here for almost thirty years and have never
seen this many dead fish, and hadn't noticed goldfish here.

To be honest I wasn't too concerned that goldfish had been killed, as
the pond doesn't seem to host peepers and toads any more. They
probably have eaten most of the eggs and tadpoles. But the kingfishers
and herons have been coming to the pond regularly the past few years.

If they have been intentionally poisoned would other species be killed
as well?

I'll try to get some pictures.

Yours truly,

George Forsyth




Quoting "Hebda, Andrew J" <Andrew.Hebda@novascotia.ca>:

> Hi George
>
> If there was a lot of organic matter in the bottom of the pond,
> could have caused a stripping of the oxygen as decomposition
> progressed.  Anyother species?
>
> As well, any idea how long the goldfish have been in that pond...
> they are not native, so would have had to have been a
> release/introduction.
>
> Andrew
>
> A Hebda
> NSM Collections (Zoology)
> ________________________________________
> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]
> on behalf of George E. Forsyth [g4syth@nspes.ca]
> Sent: April-30-15 10:18 PM
> To: naturens
> Subject: [NatureNS] fish kill Port Williams skating pond
>
> Hi,
>
> The other evening I was out for a walk and noticed hundreds of gold
> fish floating on the edge of the Port Williams, Kings Co, skating pond
> on Belcher St. I don't know if this is a result of accidental or
> intentional poisoning, or were they killed by natural causes as a
> result of the longer than usual ice and snow cover? There was a good
> selection of small and large fish, I only noticed gold fish. It was
> quite impressive how many there were!
>
>
> George Forsyth



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