Fish kill follow up

I recently blogged about the dead fish at the Winnequah Park lagoon (Phew! Winter Kill Fish Still Stink). As I suspected it was classic winter fish kill.

Here is the full response from Wisconsin DNR:


Fish Kill Response:

Location: Monona Lagoons, Nichols Drive, Winnequah Park
Date: February 3, 2009
Specific location: Nichols Drive, Winnequah Park
Complaint: 13:30 from Richard Vela (City of Monona)
Contact information:
Richard Vela
Phone #: (608) 222-2525
Email: Rvela@ci.monona.wi.us
Staff Present: Jim Amrhein and Mike Sorge
Weather Conditions: Sunny, Cold, Air Temp. 9 degrees F, Wind chill – 10 F
Time on Site: 14:15 to 15:10
Site observations: (See Figure 3 for map of sampling locations)
Site #1: Culvert crossing at Nichols Drive, downstream side of road or West side.
Dead Fish present (see Figure 1 and 2)
100 Common Carp
30 Bluegills
12 Black Crappie
Fish have been dead for a long period of time, most have lost color and starting to decompose.
Approximately 20-25 live carp were noted swimming in the open water area near culvert. (see Fig. 2)
Water Temperature: 5.6 degree C
Dissolved Oxygen: 1.71mg/l, 13.6% Saturation
Open water area near culvert approximately 30 feet in length and seven to ten feet in width, water is approximately one foot deep.

Site #2- Culvert tube on East bank, 10 meters upstream of Nichols Road. Open water about 3 feet in diameter at the base of culvert tube.
No dead fish present
Water Temperature: 2.6 degrees C
Dissolved Oxygen: 0.9 mg/l, 6.5% saturation

Site #3: 80 meters upstream of Nichols Drive (East) at mouth/ outlet area of upper pond/ lagoon.
No dead fish present
Water Temperature: 1.1 degrees C
Dissolved Oxygen: 0.64 mg/l, 4.4% saturation
Ice depth 12 inches
Water was yellow in color/ appearance

Site #4: 100 meters downstream of Nichols Drive (West), on the main pond adjacent to ice skating area.
No dead fish present
Water Temperature: 2.2 degrees C
Dissolved Oxygen: 0.56 mg/l, 4.0 % saturation
Ice Depth on Pond: 12 inches
Water was yellow in color/ appearance

Cause of Fish Kill: Low Dissolved Oxygen – “Winter-Kill”
Three of the four sites were below 1.0 mg/l (056 to 0.9 mg/l), the fourth site where fish were seen swimming was 1.71 mg/l. It is likely that there are more dead fish present in both lagoons and that ice cover is concealing them.