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Thousands of fish, weighing 100 tonnes, have been found dead at a lake in Huizhou City in southern China's Guangdong Province
Thousands of animals have died overnight at a commercial fish farm in southern China's Guangdong Province after the lake became polluted.

More than 100 tonnes of dead fish were found floating in the water near Huizhou City on Friday morning by devastated farmer Mr Zhang.

Workers had rushed to clear the lake, using plastic baskets and nets to scoop them out, creating a huge mountain of rotting fish on the shore.

Others were sent to spread 2.5 tons of edible salt to try and restore the chemical imbalance of the lake which had become contaminated with ammonia, reported The People's Daily Online.

It may save the few remaining live fish but Mr Zhang, who founded the business in 1996, admitted he was not optimistic.

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A mountain of rotting fish: A team of people have been working to clear the dead fish from the water by piling them up on the nearby shore
The shock death of thousands of fish means he could be facing financial ruin.

The farmer stands to lose over 1 million RMB (£110,000) in potential sales, and claimed he would need at least a decade to recover.

'It's the first time that my fish farming has had such a problem since I started in 1996. I'll need another ten years to make up for this loss,' said Mr Zhang.

'It has taken me years to build the fish numbers up and my one source of income has vanished almost overnight.'

Mr Zhang claims the source of the ammonia may have been fertilizer being used at a nearby farm.