Massive fish kill stinks up popular Murfreesboro pond

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MURFREESBORO, TN (WSMV) - Officials are investigating what caused 10,000 fish to turn up dead at a popular Mid-State greenway. Part of the Stones River Greenway developed a decidedly unpleasant smell Thursday. Around 6:30 a.m., Murfreesboro city workers reported a fish kill at the man-made pond, an area known as the Gateway Trail. The city's environmental engineer Sam Huddleston estimates as many as 10,000 goldfish died, but he believes there's no cause for alarm. "We do not think there's a public health or safety concern here. We don't have evidence that it's a chronic or long-term water quality problem," he said. Huddleston suspects a perfect storm of conditions caused the fish kill, a low level of oxygen dissolved in the water and high temperatures, probably stressed the fish too much.

The pond is man made and aerated, so the water was being oxygenated. Maybe it wasn't enough?

reply to post by tncryptogal


Occurrences like this happen all the time. Everywhere. I live on Lake Erie and we get fish kills every year. Sometimes it's unbearable to go to some of the beaches.

this is where i live and its pretty nasty out there ... theyve been workin nonstop to clean it up and get the fish gone ... idk what could have happened though

reply to post by 42sadhu


Sometimes algae cause fish kills. Typically it has to do with oxygen levels. There is usually a "dead zone" in a body of water like a lake that lacks oxygen and some factors, like aglae, may cause these "dead zones" to grow.

I just wanted to share to let people know that the die offs are still happening. It has been really hot and the pond is man made. I don't doubt it's natural. I still don't think die offs of any scale are ever "normal". Even if they happen all the time, it's extraordinary for the people and animals in the immediate area.

Thanks for all the replies.