Livewell Problems?

[Alex Heitman]

Hey guys I have a brand new Nitro z-9 boat and I have been having touble with my livewells I think. When I go out I fill them with clean water from my first fishing spot with the areation on high. I also put my recirulating pump on high as well. After I put the first fish in there, I turn on the oxygenators, which are running with the areation and recirculator as well.The fish seem to act fine for an hour, but after a while I notice they are putting their mouths toward the top of the livewell, as if gasping for air near the surface. After a few hours I will drain part of the live well and fill it back up again. After about three hours I have noticed the fish are starting to turn belly up. I have never had this problem before until now. The livewells seem to be performing just fine. I can't figure out the problem. I have always taken pride in proper fish handling, and I am just curious is there a small mistake I am making, or should I have my livewells checked out? Like I said it is a new boat so I am getting used to it still. What are you guys thoughts?

[fishinwrench]

There is no reason to run the recirc. unless you are underway on a long run. And the oxy should probably just be reserved for hot Summertime.

Sounds like you might be loving them to death. Just for good measure though Id give the livewell Includung the inside of the lids a good cleaning and then let them air dry. I missed a crappie once and it went sour in the livewell, everything I put in it croaked until I got every bit of the stink out of it.

[dtrs5kprs]

You are running on high, but are you running on a timer or wide open?

[Alex Heitman]

You can them on auto or manual and I always run them manual. I don't trust the timers.

[fishinwrench]

You can them on auto or manual and I always run them manual. I don't trust the timers.

Hmm, well consider this.... It's a "brand new Nitro", and you sure paid a premium price for that system that you don't trust. It's a quality system, Trust it. And of it fails then use that warranty that you are also paying for.

Sound reasonable?

[rangerz21]

Are you putting any chemicals in the water ? Do not use please release me ar catch n release with a oxygenator only usw the U2 when you turn on the oxygenator. supposedly the granular type catch and release turns the livewell water to salt with the oxygenator

[Fat Boy]

This time of the yr. I turn my on High auto and will recirulate all day long. I will not fill my wells until I have fish to put in them. Sometimes the fish will lay calm sometimes they will put there nose to the water just depends. As far as fish turning on there sides early in the yr I get this but my fish have always been healthy at the end of the day. As the water warms and it gets hot fill your wells1st thing in the morning once you have added fish turn wells to manual high add ice as needed and I use and belive in please release me. Unless I splash water out going down lake I don't add water . Hope this helps.

[Feathers and Fins]

I had this problem awhile back on a boat brand new out of the dealer. When i got home i filled it back up and took a light to it and could see a film on the water that appeared to be oilish. I drained the tank and wiped it down and sure enough a oily residue was on the towel. No clue how it got there but suspected it was in the building of the boat.

Cleaned the tank out real good several times and problem solved.

Unless you are tournament fishing you should not be using the livewell to keep fish alive in it, an ice chest is where they belong. Catch n Release means releasing them after catching. Catch and keep means your going to eat them and to maintain the meat gutting them and iceing them is the best way to preserve meat.

Any fish you catch is included in your daily limit unless you release it

unharmed immediately. You may not replace smaller fish in your possession

with larger ones caught later. You need to make a keep-or-release decision

as soon as the fish is caught.

There is one exception: If, from September through June, you are a

participant in a bona fide catch-and-release black bass tournament (one

after which all bass are released alive), which requires entrants to have a

boat livewell with adequate capacity and a pump constantly adding fresh or

recirculating water, the black bass you release unharmed from the livewell

need not be included in your daily limit. At no time may the daily limit be

exceeded.

[rps]

Alex - I add my vote to F and F's. CPR immediately or ice it immediately My live well is where I store things like ice bags, empty soda cans, and the cut up clorox bottle I use as a urinal.

If you are a tournament contestant, try the thorough wash down.

[Bill Babler]

Guys, if we are talking about this time of the year, with 50 degree water, no matter how he is running his pumps it should not matter. There could be a couple of things at play here. The first for sure if it is a new boat, I would clean the heck out of the livewell and just smell it and see if you smell any type of petro. product or any type of a glue smell.

You for sure don't need to Ice fish in 50 degree water. Trout are a fragile as they come and I can have 16 on board and just fill the wells and run my circulator on a 5 minute off and 1 minute on and never have a problem. On the bass now, if we are holding some for either a derby or just to take pic's I am only running the same pattern and there should not be a problem.

Here is a thought. I wonder if the livewells are self draining between locations. As you are going from fishing hole to hole I wonder if your livewells are drying up and then refilling when you stop. This is a huge probibility, along with maybe a chemical reaction from the New Boat.

With the 50 degree water and only a few bass in each side, I'm kind of with Wrench, they don't need that much, but they for sure cannot live if the well is going dry between locations.

Good Luck and let us know what it was and how you fixed it.