Las Cruces pond cleared of dead fish

Dead fish at the Young Park pond in Las Cruces have been cleaned up by the city parks department, and a broken aerator is being repaired.

Residents first started noticing the dead fish at young park Monday, the city came in to clean up and look for the cause the next day.

Fish died from lack of oxygen after aerators and a circulator, which help mix oxygen into the water, stopped working.

The faulty aerator that mixes oxygen in the water is now being fixed.

Fishermen ABC-7 spoke with say they feel comfortable fishing in the area. “I’m not worried, and like I said, I haven’t seen anything like that, and I believe they’re working properly,” said Mike Nevarez.

The aerators had stopped working from years of use and clogging, city officials said.

Combined with rain an environmental factors that drain oxygen from the water, some fish died.

Now that these aerators are being worked on, things are back to normal and the fish are breathing easily. One aerator is still being repaired, city officials said.

The parks department said it would take them about a week to get the whole system back online.

“Not only do we have to get it repaired or replaced, as that is a determination that needs to be made. Once we get it back we have to get staff in the water to connect it to an electrical source, to get it up and running again. I would say at least a week, hopefully quicker,” said Franco Granillo, the interim parks administrator for the City of las Cruces.

The parks department said they also plan to add an extra aerator in a standing water area of the pond to get water circulating through the whole pond.