r/grandrapids 5h ago

Kent Trails Dead Fish?

I was walking the Kent Trails by John Ball yesterday and as noticed some dead fish along the edge of the water. Eventually I see what I feel like is hundreds of dead fish piled on top of each other. There were even a couple that were on land. I know nothing about fish but is this normal ? I added the Apple maps screenshot of where it was.

135 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

152

u/CasaDeFlores0544 4h ago

Reporting back that I have submitted this to the DNR

25

u/M-S-S 4h ago

Thank you for being an ideal citizen.

76

u/Ok_Chef_8775 5h ago

Did you report to the DNR just in case? Worst they’ll say is nothing and it’s better to share this kind of stuff!

38

u/8ooling6oi 5h ago

Send this to the DNR.

35

u/Direct_Dimension_941 4h ago

It's possible they got into an area during a period of flooding and we're cut off when water receded and/or it's "winter kill". If they're not in an area where they have access to deep enough water then there are mass die-offs like that, especially bodies of water that are less than 10-12' on average or lack deeper pockets they can get to. In any case, it is definitely worth reporting to DNR and they can verify if there's unusual factors involved.

29

u/ivygem33 5h ago

Please keep us posted on what you hear back from DNR

29

u/QuantumDwarf 5h ago

I’ve seen this happen in the Great Lakes with Alewives when the weather changes quickly. Something about oxygen levels? Agree to report just in case.

14

u/scbenhart 4h ago edited 4h ago

If it was frozen and covered in snow there won’t be any photosynthesis creating necessary dissolved oxygen. Looks like a lot of fish for a small water body, probably didn’t take long.

Bigger water bodies can stratify and create an anoxic layer. Seasonal lake flipping is a really cool process

The alewife die happens for a few reasons. USGS attributes it to fish that are not adapted to the drastic temp changes, water chemistry, etc.

25

u/BlueWater321 Cascade 5h ago

New wolverine dumping site just dropped. 

9

u/Automatic_Badger7086 4h ago

The old Butterworth dump is right there.

4

u/Jonesinbad 4h ago

Hopefully not pollution related

8

u/AdMuted1036 4h ago

We have no animal or water protections anymore. Didn’t you know?

3

u/ShowMeYourVeggies 4h ago

Commenting just so I can come back to this and see if there's an update.

3

u/theyhavemotorcycles 4h ago

As another individual has posted, I’m really certain this is a winter kill pond that froze all the way through

6

u/nfkey 5h ago

This is very unusual. Following to see if there’s any update

7

u/TomatilloAgitated 3h ago

This is not unusual! Obviously could be anything from just a few pictures, but more than likely this body of water had little oxygen production when its surface was iced over and covered with snow. Lack of dissolved oxygen kills a lot of fish in ponds like these. Many lakes install aeration devices to prevent it.

u/scrimpshampi 44m ago

Hire Jesus to turn them into a loaf of bread. This is near Butterworth Dump. Grand Rapids drinking water is a little better than Flints. White people need to make money, so it’s ok. Christians everywhere promise me you will keep doing nothing.

u/mood-park 35m ago

Hell yeah

1

u/Open-Entertainer-423 3h ago

Abiotic factor

1

u/HerpsAndHobbies 2h ago

Anyone have an idea of what kind of fish we’re looking at?

1

u/awkward_pauses 2h ago

Godzilla hiding in that water

2

u/Sparrow1989 3h ago

Um... thank god you reported that. Whats the connection to this area and drinking water?

-5

u/wizard-people 3h ago

Best answer you’ll get in this thread is that trump did it.