Lake Maloney Fish Kill not caused by diseas, Game and Parks Commission says

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said disease did not play a part in the fish kill at Lake Maloney near North Platte in May.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, thousands of white bass were reported dead at the state recreation area.

The Game and Parks Commission says the cause of the die-off can be attributed to stress due to a combination of unusual weather, spawning and a brief period of poor water quality.

Samples were collected and sent to a fish health laboratory following the die-off. The results from the samples found several possible causes, but Fisheries Outreach Program Manager Daryl Bauer said a single cause could not be determined.

“There’s no smoking gun that says this was it. All three of those things combined, eventually those fish just got stressed enough where some of them died off,” Bauer said.

The fish were spawning over an extended time due to unusual weather during their regular spawning period. The extra energy expended by the fish during this time may have made them more susceptible to other stressors, like poor water quality.