Advice needed with fruit drops into the pond and started fermenting...

[miamicuse]

Hi, new poster here looking for help.

First, my apologies for being totally ignorant about ponds, since I have recently acquired a property with a small pond and I need some help and directions with a rather urgent matter.

This pond is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sub tropical climate, and is mostly shaded by palms, a large oak tree and a giant strangler fig tree.

The pond is a small pond, and is made of irregular shaped concrete. There is a wood bridge that walks over the pond. I estimate the pond volume to be about 1500 gallons.

Last week, the strangle fig tree started to drop it's fruits, a small fig that is about 1cm in diameter. It drops many many figs. I swept cleaned the front brick deck and the wood bridge, and four hours later it's full of them again. Here are some pictures.

Many of them dropped into the pond.

There are several fish in the pond, I am not sure what kind. They are about five to six inches from head to tail. They hide under the wood bridge all the time but they are clearly affected by the drop figs as they seem to come up for air most of the time.

I immediately removed all the floating figs from the water. The next morning, they are completely full of figs again. I have been removing all the floating figs twice a day for an entire week. Two days ago I had a tree service company to come trim the strangler fig tree branches away from the pond.

Yet the fish do not seem happy at all. They seem a few steps slower.

Today, even with no more figs floating on surface, I see a layer of cloudy foam on the surface. I think the figs - some of them must have sunk to the bottom of the pond, started fermentation. I scooped up some of the fruits, and they have the odor of wine.

What you see below on the water is not moving water. The water is completely still. It is the foam floating on top.

My question is, what can I do to save the fish? Is there something I can do to neutralize the effect of these fermenting figs? I do not have another pond or aquarium to put them in.

 

[JamieB]

Since you say you estimate the pond volume at 1500 gallons, get a pond pump that moves 2000-3000gph, and fest it up with filtration for the pond. I’d guess the problem to be a lack of oxygen. Moving the water, adding an airator, and getting filtration set up are key. If you absolutely have to, set up a couple of kiddy pools or sturdy plastic totes with aquarium air pumps and filters, fill with pond water, and then add the fish. If you have to drain the pond, use every thing you can to hold the mature pond water. But a filter and air pump should be a good start. Then net out the debris on the bottom with a pool net.
The fish appear to be goldfish.

 

[Lisak1]

With that much fruit falling into the pond, your best bet for the future is to get a net to go over the pond once the fruit starts to fall and keep it in place until it's done. Many pond owners do the same thing for leaves.

Do you like the fig tree? Is the fruit edible? Maybe getting rid of the tree would serve you better in the long run.

 

[miamicuse]

The pond does not have a level perimeter. There are rocks and boulders all irregular shaped. One boulder is over five feet above water with a water fall thing that's broken and the other is three feet above water. There is a bridge across the pond. I don't think a net will work in this case. Besides, these figs are smaller than M&Ms, so the net needs to be 1/8" net?

 

[Lisak1]

You don't need to be level - most ponds are not. You could even use a tent shaped structure which would catch the fruit and let it roll to the ground. Or you just drape the netting over the rocks and pull it taut, securing it to the ground on the exterior. But yes, the holes would have to be small enough so the fruit doesn't fall through.

Other than removing the tree, there's really no other option that I can see.

 

[j.w]

Me too, agree a net or getting rid of the tree is the only fix that I can see. You don't want to spend your life netting out figs all day long. Can you post a photo of the fig tree and it's location to the pond?

 

[mrsclem]

Fiberglass window screen material would work but looks like you would have to clear it off several times a day.

 

[miamicuse]

Me too, agree a net or getting rid of the tree is the only fix that I can see. You don't want to spend your life netting out figs all day long. Can you post a photo of the fig tree and it's location to the pond?

The tree is a HUGE tree. It is a ficus, specifically Strangler Fig, and it spreads like a banyan tree and shoots out aerial roots which establish themselves so what I have is a tangled mess of this tree but I can identify possibly three "main" trunks. Here is a picture of this tree. To give an idea of scale, there is a palm right in front of it and the palm stem diameter is just under six inches. This is the tree as it looks today because I did a major trim back on Wednesday which cost $3500. That's why you can see light through the tree normally you can't see through it.

To completely remove this tree would be cost prohibitive (over $20000). assuming the city and county would let me do it.

As of right now I got most of the overhanging branches trimmed back from the pond.

Here is a picture showing both the tree and the pond.

But on the other side of the wood bridge is an oak tree. That tree doesn't drop fruits but drops lots of leaves in December/January.

I am still not getting the net thing. Would the net be erected above the water but under the bridge or would the net be raised high so a person can walk on the bridge under the net?

A few other pictures showing different angles of the pond perimeter.

 

[Lisak1]

It would be challenging to net your pond with the bridge running through it. Typically you would just drape the net over the entire pond.

If the tree has to stay - and I totally get why it would be nearly impossible to remove, now that you've shared photos - you may want to just erect some kind of permanent "fig catching" structure over the pond that you can walk under. Like a canopy, but one that let's light pass through.

Others with more engineering skill may come up with better ideas!

 

[j.w]

You might be able to erect a nice looking pergola over it and drape the netting over that. Not sure how feasible that will be but maybe some kind of black iron looking structure to match your fence somewhat.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Wrought+Iron+Pergola+over+a+fish+pond&t=ffnt&ia=images&iax=images

 

[miamicuse]

I am not sure about erecting a gazebo structure would fit into the current setup.

I have been thinking of redoing the bridge, and change it into an slightly raised arch bridge something like this without the railing but with distressed lumber. May be I can anchor the net to the sides of the bridge?

I will have to trim the tree in March, before the figs are produced.

 

[miamicuse]

I spoke to the city yesterday and I will need to hire a arborist if I want to remove that tree. The arborist will charge a fee (about $750) to write a tree report which I will use to apply for a tree removal permit.

The city will then make a decision on whether to allow it to be removed. The removal cost is very high. But get this, the city told me usually tree removal is not as big as an issue, but the code calls for a new tree to be planted in it's place, that tree has to be no smaller in size then the one I removed. I can't find a new 15 foot diameter tree even if I can print money.

 

[zinjy]

I think the more immediate issue to help the fish would be introducing more oxygen into the water, if the ones in the water are fermenting. A temporary tent-like netting structure with steeply angled sides would be best to cause the figs to roll to the sides instead of into the pond, there would need to be two tents on either side of the bridge. It seems like this wouldn't be a new issue; is it possible to contact the previous owner about how they handled this?

 

[miamicuse]

I think the more immediate issue to help the fish would be introducing more oxygen into the water, if the ones in the water are fermenting. A temporary tent-like netting structure with steeply angled sides would be best to cause the figs to roll to the sides instead of into the pond, there would need to be two tents on either side of the bridge. It seems like this wouldn't be a new issue; is it possible to contact the previous owner about how they handled this?

Thank you. The problem is resolved for now.

First, I had a tree trimming company here to trim most of the branches away from the pond. There are still figs dropping into the pond, but the number has been reduced from 300 figs an hour to less than 10 an hour. One of the tree branches fell and crashed my wrought iron fence, but that's another story.

Second, I netted out all of the floating figs and leaves.

Third, I was able to catch all the fish with a net. They seemed sluggish in the water. I transferred them into a wheel barrow (biggest container I have) full of clean de-chlorinated water and fed them some Tetra fish food, they seem to be doing much better.

Forth, with the fish out of the water, I stirred up the bottom and got rid of more debris, I added more water each day to dilute the existing water, and it rained heavily this weekend. By Monday morning finally the water seems back to normal. No fermenting smell. I put the fish back and they seem happy and alert and not coming up for air constantly.

Now I need to think of a longer term solution.

 

[Lisak1]

Wow! I've never heard of a city having so much control over trees on private land... weird! It sounds like keeping it well trimmed will alleviate the problem to a great degree, but that ain't cheap either! Maybe invest in your own tree trimming tools so you can DIY that... if they'll allow you to!

Your "secure the netting to the bridge" plan sounds very viable. You could also keep your current bridge and add railings and accomplish the same goal. Where there's a will there's a way!