- Joined
- Feb 24, 2014
- Messages
- 31
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- 5
I have had a fairly successful small pond for two years. I babied my first three fish through the first winter, giving them fall food and using a warmer to prevent ice and a water thermometer to know when to stop/start feeding. They were fat and sassy, swimming to the surface when I fed them.
Then I did two terrible things:
1) When I had my pond redug (enlarged a bit and evened out), I did the right thing by putting my fish in a big container and running my filter and bubbler in there until we got the pond done. The awful mistake we made was taking out the liner and scrubbing it. I didn't know this would eliminate the good bacteria and allow the fish's urine bacteria and other bad bacteria to proliferate.
Soon after my fish were returned to their new 'clean' pond that had been chlorine treated, they began swimming desperately around the pond, on their sides, gasping. My prettiest koi leapt out when I wasn't around to save him.
I took a water sample to a pond specialty shop and they told me what I'd done wrong and that pH levels were way too high. They told me to remove at least half of the water, replace it and chlorinate it, then add a product of theirs. I did this and my fish calmed down.
2) Even more seriously, I poisoned them, as my title admits. My pond is by my front porch and I have a lot of flowers around in the front yard, although not right by the pond. I had treated my vulnerable plants with fungicide and insecticide before with no bad effect to the fish.
However, when I had an influx of spiders and their webs on my porch and spider mites on my mandevilla, which is right by the porch and pond, I sprayed an insecticide. A slight breeze sprang up and I guess this time, some of the poison wafted over the pond and into it.
One of my fish floated to the surface, dead. A few days later, a second fish died. I didn't see the remaining three for a couple of weeks. When I would sprinkle a little food in twice a day, no fish swarmed up to gobble it. I felt I was feeding dead fish. However, no more little finnies floated to the surface. But there was no sign of them.
Neighbors said, well, if they haven't floated to the surface, they're still alive. The pond lilies were looking a little ragged and I surmised that maybe they died, floated to the surface, and the visiting cats who look lustfully at my fish, had scooped them out, disturbing the plants.
But then one day recently I was sadly observing my pond when I saw one of the lily pads jerk. Hurrah! Something down there is eating them! Probably my fish! A few days later, I saw some flashes of gold. Now I've seen all three survivors, who again come to eat when I feed them, although I think they're still nibbling lily pads.
My supposition is that I poisoned the fish. The survivors were sick and didn't come to the surface. When their systems cleared a bit from the poison, they began eating greenery, which helped that process. Finally, they were able to return to their normal behavior.
I hope I don't goof up anymore. But Mr. Nobby Head! He was one of the first to die this time. This is why I had no plants or fish in my first pond in my townhouse backyard because I didn't want to be responsible for their deaths! However, a pond with live things in it is so much more fun. We learn from our mistakes.
Then I did two terrible things:
1) When I had my pond redug (enlarged a bit and evened out), I did the right thing by putting my fish in a big container and running my filter and bubbler in there until we got the pond done. The awful mistake we made was taking out the liner and scrubbing it. I didn't know this would eliminate the good bacteria and allow the fish's urine bacteria and other bad bacteria to proliferate.
Soon after my fish were returned to their new 'clean' pond that had been chlorine treated, they began swimming desperately around the pond, on their sides, gasping. My prettiest koi leapt out when I wasn't around to save him.
I took a water sample to a pond specialty shop and they told me what I'd done wrong and that pH levels were way too high. They told me to remove at least half of the water, replace it and chlorinate it, then add a product of theirs. I did this and my fish calmed down.
2) Even more seriously, I poisoned them, as my title admits. My pond is by my front porch and I have a lot of flowers around in the front yard, although not right by the pond. I had treated my vulnerable plants with fungicide and insecticide before with no bad effect to the fish.
However, when I had an influx of spiders and their webs on my porch and spider mites on my mandevilla, which is right by the porch and pond, I sprayed an insecticide. A slight breeze sprang up and I guess this time, some of the poison wafted over the pond and into it.
One of my fish floated to the surface, dead. A few days later, a second fish died. I didn't see the remaining three for a couple of weeks. When I would sprinkle a little food in twice a day, no fish swarmed up to gobble it. I felt I was feeding dead fish. However, no more little finnies floated to the surface. But there was no sign of them.
Neighbors said, well, if they haven't floated to the surface, they're still alive. The pond lilies were looking a little ragged and I surmised that maybe they died, floated to the surface, and the visiting cats who look lustfully at my fish, had scooped them out, disturbing the plants.
But then one day recently I was sadly observing my pond when I saw one of the lily pads jerk. Hurrah! Something down there is eating them! Probably my fish! A few days later, I saw some flashes of gold. Now I've seen all three survivors, who again come to eat when I feed them, although I think they're still nibbling lily pads.
My supposition is that I poisoned the fish. The survivors were sick and didn't come to the surface. When their systems cleared a bit from the poison, they began eating greenery, which helped that process. Finally, they were able to return to their normal behavior.
I hope I don't goof up anymore. But Mr. Nobby Head! He was one of the first to die this time. This is why I had no plants or fish in my first pond in my townhouse backyard because I didn't want to be responsible for their deaths! However, a pond with live things in it is so much more fun. We learn from our mistakes.
