The Fish Kill...

[silvertalon]

Smells bad out there guys!

 

[Oldman]

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Stacy Merriman​

9h ·

Update on the water test!
First off, THANK YOU to everyone who donated! We’ve accumulated more than enough to find out what’s going on.. there were certain issues with the first lab, which leads me to my second point..
Sorry it’s taken so long to post I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get this taken care of.
I’ve had to go to 3 separate labs and call in some favors to have this all done but here’s a little look at what news I’ve received.
High (unsafe) levels of the following were found:
•Mercury
•Polychlorinated Biphenyl
•Chlordane
•Cyanobacteria
•E. Coli
One of the labs I ended up at MAY be the very same lab that the USDA uses for their weekly E. Coli tests for Chickamauga swim areas .. I MAY have been told straight from the horses mouth that the fish kill was 100% caused by a particular bacteria.
Also, that since they’ve been the ones testing for E. Coli, that they DO NOT SWIM IN THE TENNESSEE RIVER!
(Remember, I MIGHT have had this conversation)

There are more tests going to be done to test for specific compounds. Those will take longer to come back. I will keep everyone updated!
All reactions:
22

 

[silvertalon]

Heavy Duty SHTF! Went through similar on White River some 25 years ago when it was discovered that LMBD (Large Mouth Bass Disease), was directly caused by phosphorous contamination from fertilizer, chicken and hog farm run off (cooking chicken and hog waste), countless old faulty septic septic system runoff etc. Here on TN River, you can throw in industrial waste and defoliants which can only make it worse. Where the hell is TWRA in this? Why can you drive down I 75 at night and when you cross the Hiwassee you can smell sulfur and your eyes start to burn? I've been telling folks for years "do not eat fish from the TN River". Everyone just laughs it off and goes crappie fishing. Well, with the big holiday weekend here everyone will be swimming in it. Lets hope no one gets sick from the E. coli. This should be big news and public warnings etc. I guess commerce and fun are more important than public safety. Anyone notice how fast the media pulled the 'fish kill' reports off the air waves? The reports were put out by WDEF Channel 12 on Wed evening 6/17/23. Nothing the next day except they covered it over stating "A dead fish was found but we made a mistake" or, something to that effect. Then, nothing.
So I went fishing yesterday and I will say the bad fish smell has cleared up considerably but as I ran the river south of Dallas Bay, I did drive by a dead 3 pound bass floating. That was all. Caught a handful of small bass that appeared quite healthy. 6 or 7 trips out this year and only twice I got into a few decent fish say- 3-5 lbs. Not nearly how it should be for this time off the year.
Happy and safe holiday weekend to all. I'd stay out of the water for now and bury all that frozen TN River fish in the garden.