Cleanup is expected to continue over the next several days after the pond in Murphy Park experienced a large fish die-off, city officials said.
Reports of fish floating in the pond surfaced Tuesday, prompting several comments, outcries and pictures being posted to local social media.
The Taylor Parks and Recreation Department brought in a pond-management company to assess the situation after being made aware of the situation, officials said.
The company determined the fish died following a drop in dissolved oxygen in the pond caused by the extreme heat.
“Fish kills caused by low dissolved oxygen are common during periods of extreme heat,” the Parks and Recreation Department said in a Facebook post. “As water temperatures rise, the water is able to hold less dissolved oxygen.”
The department said oxygen levels in the pond are expected to return to normal within the next 72 hours.
As a precaution, the city also had a third party begin testing the water quality at the pond.
The department said the testing is being done “out of an abundance of caution” and did not indicate that a contaminant was responsible for the fish deaths.
Extraction of the lifeless fish and sanitation efforts will last a few more days, according to the Parks and Recreation Department’s social-media post.
