Gross Pond

[Priscilla]

First off, sorry I've been off the grid lately. My personal life is a bit mad right now and with summer vacation coming up, its just going to be busier. Kids! My pond is a disaster right now, I haven't been keeping up with it.

I got a call from a friend of a friend kinda thing, she just moved to the island and rented a house. She saw some water in the front yard but thought it was just a water feature until one day she saw some movement and realized there are fish in there.

I'm attaching a picture. I've never seen anything like it before, completely green pea soup thick. No real moving water, just a fountain in the middle that was trickling out water. Couple of plants scattered around, they were doing pretty bad too.

She threw some food in for me to see and the fish (she said there are koi, cat fish and a shark of some type) came up for a second and off they went into the shallow (18 inches or so) depths.

Man, I was blown away. The fish are still alive, the house was empty for months, no bio filter, barely any moving water and I mean barely. I was like what the ...... and I stress out about my pond every 12 hours or so if I haven't checked on it.

I suggested she get one of the pressure filters with mechanical,UV and bio combined with a waterfall bucket and some lava rocks. Yeah, yeah, I know what's coming, she can build one - BUT she's not into ponds, she's rented the house, its not hers. She doesn't want a hassle, she's not going to build anything so that seemed like the best options for a none pond person. Now as we know, these things aren't cheap, sooooo if the owner, who only built the pond for a Christmas party, doesn't want to buy it, then I may have inherited a bunch of fish! Woo hoo! If something doesn't change, the fish will die with no circulation (right?). I know the pea soup is keeping the fish alive right now, but I guess it can't go on forever (right?).

On another note - my stinking water hyacinth is dying again. I'm giving up on it. I will NOT buy another bunch of it (BUT if they give me some, I will take it! lol).

So that's it for tonight.

 

[Tula]

I think this pond has potential. It's a shame the owner and renter have no interest.

 

[Mmathis]

Wow! What a shame!

 

[Priscilla]

I know. Its right in the front driveway. Could be very interesting to drive up and see the fish. Plus those doors open up from the family room.

Anyways, I'm really hoping that she gets rid of the fish so I can have them! (insert evil laugh).

 

[JohnHuff]

Call your local SPCA and make the owner do something. Fish are animals too. If they are in a neighborhood call the HOA.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Poor fish! It does look strange, a door way that leads you to the pond, could look good if a little work and attention was put into it! Hopefully she will give you the fish!

 

[dieselplower]

Wow that doesnt even look like pea soup. It looks brown to me. It's not easy to say if the fish will die from lack of circulation/air or not. Reason being that pond has a lot of surface area. Surface area is where the gas/air exchange takes place. They might be ok but I wouldnt call that ideal.

 

[j.w]

So I'm understanding that the new person in this house just discovered that there are fish in this pond of the new home she has rented. So it's not her fault, it was whoever lived there before and left this mess to this next renter right? I hope they can get the pond cleaned up soon so the fish can live in a well maintained home. A slow water change will help a lot but not too fast or it could kill them.
If you get the fish from there be careful cuz those fish are used to that crappy water and nice clean water might be a real shock to them. Might be a good idea to get that pond up and in good shape before you take any fish from there.

 

[adavisus]

Very nice pond, lucky fish... Assuming their numbers are low density they will do fine dining on skeeters and whatever bugs fall in

A day bloom tropical waterlily and a night bloom tropical waterlily and it is perty much perfect as ornamental ponds go

Regards, andy
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[shakaho]

If I were in your place, I would build a filter for the pond and loan it to your friend. When she sees how nice the pond is when it's cleaned up, she may take an interest in it herself. If she doesn't get interested, you will have a spare filter when she moves out, and maybe some some nice fish if there is something in the pond you like.

For cleaning up the water, I would run a very slow trickle of water into the pond -- little more than a fast drip. This should gradually clear the water without distressing the fish.. Once you can see into it, you can determine if the bottom needs cleaning. (Yuck.)