Livewell or Deathwell – Oxygenator not oxygenating livewell water this summer

Are any of you having livewell problems, failures, fish dying this summer now the air and environmental water is hot?

This particular summer I am continuously worried about my Deathwell because fish dying/sickly. This stress begins about 11 AM. I am looking into my livewell every 10 minutes to see if any fish are floating upside down or dying.
I am sick or being preoccupied with this boat livewell whether it will keep all the catch alive or not when I need to be thinking about catching that next fish… you know what I mean? Livewell are supposed to keep fish and bait alive so the salesmen always say and the customer should never have to be concerned or worry about that.
If the livewell is working it’s supposed to keep the catch alive and healthy all day so they say. If it’s not working for any reason it’s a Deathwell when fish are dying in the box. I just want to get the fish to the scales with gill plated moving, gasping for air and avoid that dead fish punishment at all cost and bring home the $$. When the weigh-master takes possession if the fish he can certainly do whatever he wants with the fish. Keeping those fish alive for live release is his problem then for the next 30 minutes, not my problem.
My bass boat definitely has a Deathwell this summer even with 2 new Oxygenators. Super fish saver chemicals added.
*Oxygenators bubble more in hotter/warmer livewell water and run less producing less pure O2 when livewell water is chilled with ice in the summer.
Just learned that Oxygenators auto-cycle (on/off) depending on livewell water temperature. Oxygenators produce very little pure O2 during the off-cycle that is caused by chilled, iced, colder livewell water.
Also discovered that Oxygenators produce by volume only 1/3 O2 gas and 2/3 Nitrogen gas. Oxygenators produce 2 times the volume of pure Nitrogen than pure oxygen. The rig should be called a, Nitrogenator, not and Oxygenator.

I contacted the dealer where I bought the boat last February and talked with the owner of the dealership about this problem. He says I’m his ONLY CUSTOMER having livewell problems keeping fish alive 5-6 hours in the boats he sells. He also told me to just be patient, the livewell problem will probably go away this fall (October/November 2022).

Livewell failure using Oxygenators is especially bad this summer.

I have VT2 vents installed and helps out them. Also don’t use cull clips unless I have to.

Warm water is hard on fish and warm water obviously doesn’t hold as much oxygen as cooler water. Sounds like you’ve tried trouble shooting the problem more than one way. Sorry I’m not much help with that.

I’ve advocated for an immediate catch and release format before and I’ll do it again. While I don’t think that hauling around a bunch of fish in a cramped livewell causes significant mortality, there is no doubt that releasing them immediately after catching them is a better way to do it. Walleye tournaments do it, kayak bass tournaments do it, muskie tournaments do it. Bass fishing is the only one that hasn’t fully implemented this yet and its time to change and adapt. There is no good reason to haul them into a weigh in (especially this time of year with peak water temps) other than to take a photo and hold them up.

Johnny,
Nitrogen makes up 78% of our atmosphere where O2 is less than 21%. Oxygenators increase O2 by 50%, (not to 50%). If you’re seeking to drop the temp while retaining the O2, you (or a controls guy) will probably need to do a work-around on the livewell control to separate the temp and O2 inputs on your control. It will cost some money, but it’s money you’ll recover by not paying penalties for dead fish. Consider it an investment, and if you’re a pro angler, a tax write-off. Or, you could get a sponsor for it?

Remember you’re pulling fish from much cooler water below the surface and putting them in water at surface temp. Just that sudden temperature change is hard on them. The deeper you fish the worse that situation gets.
The warmer the water gets the more oxygen is required. No matter what you do you’ll be stressing the fish this time of year.
I have to agree with Gimruis.
This is exactly why more catch and release format tournament rules need to be implemented.

Is this even a real post??? I was thinking not.

Why have I not ever heard or thought of the term deathwell?! That’s gold right there.

I have nothing useful to add.

grubson wrote:

This is exactly why more catch and release format tournament rules need to be implemented.

Maybe the time of year when water temps are at their peak would be a good start. During the months of June, July, and August would be a good start to practice the catch and immediate release thing. Cooler water does not present nearly as big of a risk. Seems reasonable to me.

Nitrogen? Water is H2O. One part Hydrogen with two parts Oxygen.

Either way, I’ve used the Oxygenator (two of them) for bullheads and they’ve never worked worth a crap for me.

Oh…and make sure your favorite bait shop doesn’t ad salt to thier water.

If there was Nitrogen given off….water would be called O2N.

Frozen milk jugs in the livewell has seemed to help preserve fish longer when water temps get high

Seem like a hose could be connected to the inlet and water pumped in from a greater depth either matching the depth of fish caught or at least a few feet lower where its much colder?

suzuki wrote:

Seem like a hose could be connected to the inlet and water pumped in from a greater depth either matching the depth of fish caught or at least a few feet lower where its much colder?

Now you’re making too much sense. The only party making money off of your idea is the hardware store where we don’t pay a premium for things because fixing stuff isn’t so much a passion as a necessity. We’ll pay anything to support our passion, ie, hobby. But if it’s to fix something, it’s “Honey, it costs too much to fix. Why don’t we just use it the way it is.”

I don’t use an oxegenator in my livewell. Just a recirculator. In 5 years of tournament fishing I’ve had one fish die in it. As long as you can circulate fresh water in every so often your fish should do fine.

I haven’t used my livewell for years and instead just put them in a cooler with plenty of ice. Works great for me.