Is something eating my water lilies?

[Bangkok Pond]

I’m living in Bangkok in a rented house with a huge pond stretching the whole length of the house. For the past 3 years I enjoyed the view of beautiful water liliies across the pond.
Never really had to do anything with the pond, so no experience. There are fish in the pond, though nothing colorful, we even saw turtles, and maybe even a monitor lizard?
Lately the lily pods have been turned upside down, some clumps of mud appeared floating on top and the lilies have disappeared. My gardener said it was ‘oil rot’? (maybe a bad translation from Thai ) and added some fertilizer. But my lilies keep disappearing, from hundreds we went to none- still some leaves left, but no flowers, and the few that are seem chewed up and do not open. At night I hear large splashes in the water, it seems something quite big is splashing around, I cannot see what it is. But I suspect something is actually eating the water lilies. What can I do??
Have uploaded some pictures before and after. Thanks for your help!

 

[Tara]

Wow, something is sure doing a number on those lilies. Could you perhaps get a critter cam, so you could see what is getting them. Not sure of the wildlife in your neck of the woods, but could it be an animal swimming in to get them. Whatever it is I hope you find the answer.

 

[sissy]

WOW nice pond .Have you taken closer pics and maybe try to find someone from a pest control company tell you what it could be .Not sure what you have available to you there

 

[j.w]

@Bangkok Pond Wow what a nice huge pond. Sure sounds like something is eating your plants. Wonder if turtles could be causing this? Check out this link on water lilies vs turtles: https://www.pondtrademag.com/why-i-dont-like-turtles-in-my-ponds/

 

[Bangkok Pond]

View attachment 115977@Bangkok Pond Wow what a nice huge pond. Sure sounds like something is eating your plants. Wonder if turtles could be causing this? Check out this link on water lilies vs turtles: https://www.pondtrademag.com/why-i-dont-like-turtles-in-my-ponds/

Yes, I actually read this article. It certainly could be turtles. Now when I look at the leaves (as there are no fliers left) many of them seem to have bites and tears out of them. I just wonder what is in there that wasn’t in there a month ago, when my whole pond was full of flowering beautiful lilies. But it is raining season here, Apu could be that something came over from the neighborhood...

 

[Bangkok Pond]

Wow, something is sure doing a number on those lilies. Could you perhaps get a critter cam, so you could see what is getting them. Not sure of the wildlife in your neck of the woods, but could it be an animal swimming in to get them. Whatever it is I hope you find the answer.

Thanks. Do critter cams work in the dark? I sit there a lot and cannot see anything during daylight or at night when the floodlights are on the pond. But every night I turn the lights off before going to bed I hear huge splashing about. Literally seconds after I turn the lights off.

 

[Bangkok Pond]

WOW nice pond .Have you taken closer pics and maybe try to find someone from a pest control company tell you what it could be .Not sure what you have available to you there

Not sure either, but good idea to look for pest control and ask if they have any ideas. They already helped me with a tick infestation earlier.

 

[Lisak1]

Oh my gosh! This is so beautiful!

I would guess you have a big turtle either in your pond or visiting frequently - if something is both uprooting and eating leaves, a turtle would make the most sense. Are the lilies potted or just growing in the pond bottom? In either case, I would guess they will come back just fine once the mauling stops - they were pretty well established and would be hard for even a determined critter to completely eradicate at this stage.

Good luck!

 

[Bangkok Pond]

Oh my gosh! This is so beautiful!

I would guess you have a big turtle either in your pond or visiting frequently - if something is both uprooting and eating leaves, a turtle would make the most sense. Are the lilies potted or just growing in the pond bottom? In either case, I would guess they will come back just fine once the mauling stops - they were pretty well established and would be hard for even a determined critter to completely eradicate at this stage.

Good luck!

Thanks! I think they are just growing on the bottom of the pond. Actually I’m sure as there weren’t as many 3 years ago when we moved in, they gave just been multiplying until now. Looks like I need someone to catch and remove this large turtle. We have seen one large yellow one in there about 2 years ago, haven’t seen him recently under all the lilies, but never ate the lilies before...

 

[Tara]

Not sure what's available there, but a critter cam with night vision should work. Oh and by the way that is a lovely pond.

 

[Bangkok Pond]

Oh my gosh! This is so beautiful!

I would guess you have a big turtle either in your pond or visiting frequently - if something is both uprooting and eating leaves, a turtle would make the most sense. Are the lilies potted or just growing in the pond bottom? In either case, I would guess they will come back just fine once the mauling stops - they were pretty well established and would be hard for even a determined critter to completely eradicate at this stage.

 

[Bangkok Pond]

So we ascertained it must be turtles- thanks to all- but it took a couple more weeks to find a turtletrap in Bangkok- at long last I found one on the roadside during our weekend trip last weekend to Sukhothai. Set it up in the pond last night, and this morning there were about 15 small fish and 2 turtles in the trap. Here they are. Would you think they can be the culprit? I was expecting larger specimens, but then I’m not sure this trap’s entry holes are big enough for larger turtles. Actually from the bite marks I remember it could well be these guys. Does anyone know what type of turtles these are?

 

[Jack B. Nimble]

I'd vote a muskrat they love to eat everything. We had one clear out a whole bay of waterlillies and bullrushes which was good as it was a swimming area.

 

[Jhn]

Those look like black marsh turtles.

 

[Bangkok Pond]

I'd vote a muskrat they love to eat everything. We had one clear out a whole bay of waterlillies and bullrushes which was good as it was a swimming area.

And they would swim in to eat the lilies ???