Fertilizer spill kills thousands of fish in Northeast Iowa

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says a fertilizer spill in northeast Iowa led to a large fish kill Sunday. The D-N-R’s Sue Miller says the fish were killed in Dry Branch Creek south of Ossian when farmer Daniel Ohloff spilled a tank with around 12-hundred gallons of fertilizer. She says the tank on the back of the trailer started sloshing around and when he reached the bottom of a hill, the tank on the back of the trailer collapsed. Thousands of fish died after the nitrogen fertilizer hit the water. She says the fish were shiners, minnows, darters and dace, about 14-thousand 500 of them, with a total of 16-thousand-340 killed. This is the time of year when large quantities of fertilizer are being hauled to fields. Miller says farmers need to take some extra care. She says they need to be cautious as gravel roads can be tricky to drive on and loaded trailers make it even trickier.The value of the fish was nearly two-thousand dollars. She says they’ll still investigating to determine if any enforcement actions will be taken. An accident last week in Fremont County that led to nearly 60-thousand fish being killed will cost an Omaha ag service over 10-thousand dollars. A tank pulled by a truck, owned by DeBruce Ag Service of Omaha, Nebraska was apparently too heavy for a bridge and fell over the side spilling some of its contents of fertilizer and herbicide into Mill Creek southwest of Shenandoah. The spill led to the fish kill.