HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

I fish a small pond with nice bass, bluegill and catfish. I have seen that many of the yellow belly type catfish have gone belly up this week. What do you think.

Re: HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

Could it be post spawn dieoff??

Re: HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

Hmmmmm. Yellow belly. That would be brown bullheads. Don't know of any post spawn dieoff of bullheads. Must be a disease unique to the bullheads. They can usually tolerate water conditions that kill off other fish.

Re: HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

...small pond...just a guess, too many fish and not enough food. Do they look a little emaciated?

ian

Re: HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

They're sun tanning their belly to match the rest of the body.

Re: HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

Catfish are sensitive to low oxygen levels, has there been a change in the plant life in the pond?

Re: HELP, Yellow Belly catfish die off

As a former aquatic applicator, I would say that something may have gotten into your pond. Bullheads are very tough and if memory serves can get Oxygen from air by gulping. If it was low oxygen one would expect a wide range of species to die off. Since catfish have skin and lack scales they are suseptable to certain chemicals. But since you have other catfish and they are not dying that creates a mystery. I would suggest you contact your local fisheries biologist and request his/her assistance. Call your local fish and Game to get the biologist. If they supsect drift from Pesticides, please call the Dept of Ag for your state and file a drift complaint. They can test the water and possibly the fish to see what pesticide your dealing with if enough time has not passed to get a good sample.