Dead fish in lake erie

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This is a common event on the Great Lakes at the end of summer. I used to be a reporter and wrote a few articles on it. Now this may indeed be the results of some kind of man-made "spill" but it is likely the result of A) Rapid temperature change at a certain depth B ) These fish were oxygen depleted and had entered a "dead zone" void of oxygen or very low levels C) Debatable at the moment but E Type Botulism causes die-offs of certain water birds each summer and mudpuppies in the Grerat Lakes and, some think, fish. Studies are ongoing but there may be a link to the digestion of Gobys and/or Zebra/Quagga Mussels and the toxins they carry....

hopefully some ******* did not pour some crap into a storm drain....
 
happened on Georgian bay last year, said it was botulism. tons of dead fish. keep your dogs away.
 
happened on Georgian bay last year, said it was botulism. tons of dead fish. keep your dogs away.

But send your cats...
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I saw some of this at Port Burwell two weekends ago. Tons of dead sheephead all over the shorline, and dead seagulls all over the place too. Terrible odor and apparently it was worse before I got there as workers had removed most of the dead fish and seagulls by then.

My first guess would be low oxygen levels and high water temps.
 
Never seen that before. Always lots of dead sheepshead at port maitland amd turkey point.
 
Are some fish more sensitive to heat compared to others? There are some ponds I fish were the water is 5 feet deep at most and I've never seen a die off...
 
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/09/07/water-samples-support-fish-die-off-from-natural-causes-moe-says/

the lake "flipped" and the resulting fast temperature change and oxygen depletion killed them off. "flips" happen in the fall (usually) when the coldwater layer at the bottom of the lake "flips", rises, and displaces the warmwater layer that has developed all summer. It can be sudden and often wreaks havoc on oxygen levels at depths where fish are located at that moment in time which can kill, let alone the sudden temperature change.

Sad natural phenomenon, thousands of perch, bass, drum were killed. This can devastate a smaller body of water and set the fishery back years. Now what will happen is that scavenger birds will eat the rotting flesh and die of botulism. Ugly chain of events.
 
scary stuff,i saw on the news some where down in the states where the water has been drying up and to many fish in such little water that they were being oxygen starved and dying off.i've never seen a huge die off of fish where i am at.
 
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