Fish Kill - Lake Parker - Lakeland FL - Feb 2009

[unseenstrings]

@Flatzout, the "Fish Kill" involved more than just trash fish. But remember, this video was made two years ago. I may have taken some pictures. I'll check to see if I can find them if I did. Also, no doubt some agency took steps to restock some of the gamefish after the die-off. And some of the fish could have come from the lakes behind the main power plant that didn't suffer the fish-kill like parker.

I'm unsure you can see some of the bass in the dumpster. It was truly a sad sight to see.

[PhantomLyric]

I mean, it IS right next to a power plant. lol Haven't the simpsons tought us nothing. I'd also be surprised if the same thing wasn't happening at sattle creek because it's on the other side of the power plant pretty much. Just down the road from my old house.

[dossen2620]

I just spelled algae wrong, that is all. I think we have nearly 500 lakes here in Lakeland. Did any other lakes that you know of suffer such a great loss? It seems other lakes would have had the same prob but on a smaller scale. I found this story interesting and wanted to futher understand. Thanks

[unseenstrings]

I passed by a few of the other lakes, and I've talked to others who lived near or frequented some of the other lakes. I did hear of some fish dying in the other lakes. But I know of no problem equivalent to what was suffered at Parker but on a smaller scale. I have noticed this year Parker wasn't "drained" in preparation of hurricane season, as I was told it had been the year of the problem. But I can see where the high water level causes erosion. Lake management can sometimes be a Catch 22.

[dossen2620]

high winds cause allegy growth? seems like it would grow way more allegy in the summer. hard to believe, sounds fishy lol

[unseenstrings]

@dossen2620, high winds supposedly removed the oxygen from the water that resulted in the "algae" boom. Nearly all algae have photosynthetic machinery ultimately derived from the Cyanobacteria, and so produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. The algae boom would have been indicative of particular conditions within the water.

Now when you wrote "allegy" instead of algae, I don't know if it was a typo or intentional. Were you trying to make a pun and meant allergy? What does allegy mean?

[stickguyx]

what is that on the bottom left of the screen at 1:41 ?



[unseenstrings]

@stickguyx, that was my red headed companion whom I call Rosy. She is an AKC Registered Chihuahua. She weighed around 3 1/2 pounds for the first 6 years of her life. Then she started getting the middle-age spread. Now she is up to around 4 1/2 pounds. She could hear my voice and was wagging her tail as she walked. There was a dark spot on the parking lot exactly at 1:41; then she came into view. And I realized she is probably what you saw. Taz is getting petted in the background later on.

[Roofuss12345]

i useta fish in some of those old phosphate pits there were all numberd like pit 1 2 3 and so on. some fish were ok to eat other werent a good idea. the banks are weird too you can walk like 4 feet in the water then theres a 15 foot drop

[bitnola]

Looked at a Google map of the lake. The first thing that struck me was how green the lake is from satellite photo. No obvious outflows or feeder waterways, so its not obvious what may have caused this kill.

But overall lake health is probably poor, and a good long rain or a few very overcast days could have caused either algae bloom or bust (or both) and suffocated the fish. I wouldn't put it down to natural causes though. The lake shouldn't be green. It's degraded, same as most in C. Florida.

[unseenstrings]

Moose Lodge 945 is located at 1223 E Lake Parker Dr, 33801. Note that an overflow canal runs under E Lake Parker Dr and along side the Moose Lodge. The canal runs all the way to Saddle Creek, which in turn is connected to Peace River. However, the water has not been high enough this year (that I'm aware of) to overflow into the canal. On the North end, Lake Parker is connected to Lake Crago, as well as another lake that I know not the name. Previous phosphate mining formed many lakes in the area

[bitnola]

Only other thing to consider is what feeds the lake. Canals, creek, anything? Or is it self-contained? If there is a contaminated site in the drainage basin, rain would bring contamination into the lake. Local drainage from development could bring a big slug of nutrients. And any farming in the basin is culprit number one. Fla. farmers habitually use more chemicals than those in almost any other state

Lot of variables, but all are traceable with enough digging. Sad but real state of affairs.

[unseenstrings]

I know the lake has an overflow and it supposedly connects to Peace River. I know the lake connects to another lake on the North end. I've heard, but don't know for sure, the lake is connected to some other lakes in the area via underground ducts. The water is murky sometimes but not often. Most of the time the water is merely the dark color of lake water. It gets murky before and algae bloom and seems to clear up afterwards. I'm don't know of any agriculture bordering the lake.

[bitnola]

Judging from the shoreline, this looks like a fairly mucky lake. Most central Fla. lakes are like this due to regular algae blooms because of nutrient loads that are now permanent (from ag. inputs or civic ones and usually both). Weed spraying ads to the nutrient levels because the plants just decay there.

Kills are only natural now in that the lakes are permanently degraded. I still wonder what the power plant might be contibuting to poor water conditions, but I'm not familiar with their ops.

[bitnola]

No. I doubt there is one. I researched similar issues for all of central Fla., and the best sources I could find were newspapers and journals that weed sprayers put out.

The state enviro agencies have a very real history of hiding or ignoring real causes because the boards for these agencies are made up of people involved in development. As a result, fish-kills are common where they used to be very rare. The history of your lake may hold the key. Most lakes have a history of agricultural abuses

[bitnola]

If it didn't happen at other lakes, then something particular happened here. Weed spraying by the state or locals could do it. Don't know about the power plant & how that may have affected it. Any other industries on the lake?

Wind and cold weather is B.S. But algae blooms generally follow an unusual event that adds nutrients to the water. Sometimes heavy rain is enough if shoreline areas contain enough agricultural or industrial pollutants. The state won't give a real answer for legal reasons.

[unseenstrings]

No other industries on the lake that I know of. And like all the lakes in the area, Lake Parker gets sprayed occasionally with herbicide. However, from what I can tell, some of the smaller lakes get more spray per ratio of lake size than Parker. I don't know where to start to get authoritative scientific information on the issue. Do you know of an journal dedicated to biological/environmental research in the State?

[bitnola]

Florida state and city agencies have never gone to the trouble of examining in depth what kills the fish in any lake. They always trot out natural causes, even when high levels of pesticides are found in the fish. O2 levels are low after any kill, and algae blooms then too.

Florida's lakes are by no means pristine because of mismanagement since the 1940s. The main culprit for this kill might well be the plant in the background. Phosphate plant? Didn't happen elsewhere, did it?

[unseenstrings]

During the time of the fish kill in Lake Parker, no lake that I know of had unusual numbers of fish die as Lake Parker did. Later on during the year when the area was experiencing a drought, the water level in some of the lakes dropped drastically and some fish died off, but that was another case and a different cause.

Oh, and the plants in the background are Lakeland Electric Power Plants. I understand they circulate lake water through heat exchangers, resulting in the water temperature rising

[hogballs32]

I would like to point out that lakes and ponds around my house I see trucks called the pond docters spray for wat ever thay kill alot of fish to ponds will be clear looking good lots of fish and plant life then thay spray and kill all plants and fish then you get brown coffee water plants are the first step in the fish food chane this is a fact Sarasota and Myakka FL.

[catycatcat4]

Poor fishys :(

[kaisnyker]

weather affects the acid in the water. (not sulfuric acid lol) test the water for acid you'll see it in there. its found in all lakes. the acid pulls oxygen out he h2o (water) thats why u seen then trying to get air. last year was bad. bet it happens again. its not the first and will not be the last. oh and did u happen to notic that the cat tails and other shrub in the lake started to die off.... (acid)... study up people. oceans are getting there to

[unseenstrings]

Without any facts or figures from the local lakes over a period of time, your hypothesis would remain speculation. As I'm sure you know, that is the way science works. Another individual I know said the fish kill was the result of low water levels combined with bacterial processes on decaying matter in the mud of the lake bottom. I guessed that possibly using the lake water for cooling may cause a loss of oxygen. We could all be partially correct. Without facts and figures we are all speculating

[kaisnyker]

it was the weather. when a cold front comes thru. water temps fall and then the next day the temps come up fast (because its a tropical state) temps fall and rasie to fast then the water's acid count comes up (like a fever) a growth in the water where the fish cant breath.(its a type of acid that forms a growth called red tide) thus they die. normaly catfish arent botherd because they are bottom fish. but it got bad. few other lakes got it to, they just didnt say nothin about them.

[unseenstrings]

What was the deal around two weeks before when I was at the park on Lake Parker across from the Moose Lodge and saw what I thought was a hundred or so acorns bobbing in the water and it turned out to be fish trying to get air? The photo in the paper was of a biologist from one of the universities. But the person who claimed the fish kill resulted from the weather was the parks manager. What did the biologist have to say? I notice very few fish dead elsewhere

What caused the fish kill last year?

[kaisnyker]

fish did die in other places. like lake hunter. lake hollingsworth. lake mortan. lake mirror and even saddle creek. weather was the fault. those who say it wasn't are mostly people who dont think globalwarning isn't at fault for the ice caps melting. i know other lakes were affected because i seen it first hand. lake parker got hit hard because, well have u seen how open it is to the sun and the wind (cold fronts hit it hard, temps drop fast) check it out this winter.

thanks for ur comments

[unseenstrings]

I wonder why I didn't see the fish kills in the other lakes? I wonder why when I asked others if they had noticed any fish kills in the other lakes I received a "no." Making a speculation without offering any proof doesn't mean your interpretation of the phenomenon is correct. That is the reason I wondered what the biologist found out. That is the reason I'm curious as to what the facts and figures show. The figures indicate higher concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere = green house effect.

[CocotzinsDream]

That's sad,makes you think that maybe someone might be dumping instead of blaming the weather

[unseenstrings]

Wow! I loved your video, Feels like home florida. Anyway, note that there are hardly any homes bordering Lake Parker. And the only two industries that I'm aware of boarding the lake are Lakeland Power plants, neither of which produce any toxins that would need dumping. So I don't think it is dumping per se that is the problem. But the plants do use water for cooling. And I don't know how this effect the oxygen in the water. Nevertheless, each plant needs to have aerators at the discharge flumes.

[marvinf2]

This is kind of odd. We were just at a local lake here in our hometown when we thought we noticed a considerable amount of dead fish. The numbers we saw pale in comparison to the numbers you've recorded. Sure does make you wonder.

[unseenstrings]

There was a fish kill at Lake Parker last year too, just not as bad as this one. But it was bad enough that I was surprised to see fishermen out trying there luck not long after the kill. A few minutes ago I mentioned to YouTube User, CocotzinsDream that the lake needs aerators in it. And if using the lake water for cooling depletes the oxygen in the water, then Lakeland Electric need to supply the power and units to aerate the water with oxygen/air, or else the fish one day won't recover.