Goldfish pond – but no fish

Yesterday morning was very upsetting. I opened the blinds and saw one goldfish floating and I was sad but not really upset because it was an older fish and they do die at time. I want out to remove the body  and became very upset when I saw every one of my fish floating with a few on top of the lily pads.

They had no marks on their bodies, they were not twisted or bent (so not electrocuted), and they did not have their mouth as if trying to get more oxygen – so what killed them?

The waterfall was running so the water should have had plenty of oxygen and the filter is working. They were fine before the thunderstorm and they were all still inside the pond.

Lack of oxygen is the usual reason for a massive fish kill and I am not ruling that out completely because conditions were ripe for trouble. Dry  hot spell leading to high water temperatures followed by intense rain can cause the top water which is oxygen filled  to go to the bottom of the pond  and thus pushing the low oxygen water to the top resulting in a quick fish kill.

Also the water-lily is covering almost all of the surface area which could have inferred with the fish being able to get enough air and there were many yucca blossom that had fallen into the pond during the storm which were beginning to rot quickly also using up oxygen.

I also can not rule out predictors. I have killed many raccoons in the past month that have been causing trouble and I saw a cat trying to bat one of the fish the other day. Cats usually do not eat the fish but they will play with them and since  two of the fish were found on top of a Lilly pad close to the edge of the pond it makes me wonder.

Other common causes for a fish kill are: poor water quality which I ruled out since this is an established pond and has bio filter;  chlorine and chloramine from tap water is ruled out because I used well water;  fish jumping is ruled out since all the fish were found inside the pond; the last cause is disease and infection.  This is the hard part because the fish showed no symptoms the night before but some infections are fast acting so I guess that is always a possibly.

The plants and frogs seem to be doing okay so I will wait a while before adding any new fish. I have not had to add any fish since I started the pond almost 20 years ago so this was a shock.

The  rest of the day was better but really did not get much finished since we decided to go on a road trip. I love eating at Casa Brava in Bedford  so we headed there for dinner.

 

Cleaning the Goldfish Pond

Every spring it is recommended that you clean out the pond and I have to admit I  do this every other year and have not had any problems. I was planning on doing this later in the season but something knocked the water hose from the waterfall and I lost a lot of the pond water. I need to replace the water but since the weather was so warm last Saturday (70 degrees)  I decided to clean the pond.

Before. Lots of weeds around the pond, The waterfall basin completely knocked away from the pond, and almost half the water gone.

How to clean the pond.

1. Unplug and remove pump and filter,
2. Remove fish and place them in a clean bowl, bucket or plastic bag. Fill the container with pond water before transferring the fish. (Plastic bags should be only filled half way to allow for air so the fish can breathe.)
3. Remove plants and keep them damp in another bucket.
4. Use a net to clean the surface area of the pond.
5. Using any means that you have to remove the algae and other pond scum that collects on the bottom of the pond. I usually just cut down a gallon water jug and punch some holes at the back so that I can just scoop and let the water drain out the back.
6. Clean filter and pump..
7. Drain up to 50 % of the pond.
8. Fill pond with purified water
9. Wait a few hours  before putting fish back into the pond.
10.  While waiting re- pot the water plants. My water-lily was looking great with two new fully developed leaves reaching for the surface. I did add two new planters of water irises to the pond.

After. Weeds are gone, finally got the waterfall built and anchored, water level back to near normal.

The water is still green but that is normal for this time of year. It will clear up as the plants start to grow this spring and as the filter get a change to clean out the mess I made by stirring up the bottom scum.

While waiting for the pond to fill I decided to weed and prune the rest of the front garden.

Saturday  was also the beginning of another huge project – cleaning out my mother’s old house. We started on the porch and are separating what few things that we wish to keep. We have already gone though the house a dozen times so there is not much left in that category but there is a lot of “good” things that we do not wish to keep and a lot of plain junk that we have stored there from working in the apartments.  Yesterday we took another truckload of stuff away and have made a good size dent in clearing the rooms. That along made for a good day but after going grocery shopping I spent the rest of the day in the garden. I uncovered the strawberry bed and weeded them, Pulled the last of the kale which  was still trying to grow but it tasted bitter and cut off the old asparagus tops so that I can see the new sprouts come up. Bill harvested the next to last square of carrots and I checked on the winter crop of lettuce, spinach, carrots, and radishes which we will be eating next week. I also decided to check on the herbs from last year that were under the mini greenhouse expecting them to be gone – nope they are growing nicely so I may have to make a few changes in my bed arrangement.

You know you are having a good time when your husband comes out at 6:00pm and says it is time to come in!  Checked on my seedlings downstairs and planted two containers of cabbage and will plant two more net week and the last two the week after that – then I called it a day.

According to Growing for Market they posted this about hoophouses:

What to start in the hoophouse

When day-length is less than 10 hours, as it is during the depths of winter in much of North America, most plants stop growing because of the lack of light. But in early to mid February, the days are long enough again for plant growth to resume. If you have a heated greenhouse or an unheated hoophouse, you can get an extra-early start to your season. Here are some ideas for plants to start now through April.

In an unheated hoophouse, you can start direct seeding cold-tolerant plants including beets, carrots, cilantro, radish, salad mix (mesclun), scallions, spinach, and turnips. By Feb. 15, it is generally safe to plant these anywhere in the U.S. inside a hoophouse. In very cold areas, you may also need a low tunnel inside the house to provide extra protection. At the same time, you can start transplants in a greenhouse or under grow lights for planting into the hoophouse in two to three weeks. Plants that are better transplanted than direct seeded include chard, Chinese cabbage, Choi, collards, kale, head lettuce, onions, radicchio, and tatsoi.

Looks like I can plant Bed A in the Sun garden anytime now since I have the mini greenhouse over it!

Picture Day at the Farm

The other day I was thinking back remembering some of the animals that we have had in the past and realized that we had no photos of many of those pets so I decided to make today “picture day at the farm.”  Some may not really call this a working farm because we lease out the fields and have no farm type animals but it is still a farm – crops are raised, I have a working garden, and we have (I have) plenty of animals just not your normal farm type of animals. Looking at these pictures makes me think that I should call this place an animal rescue center since all but the fish and the snake have  been rescued from endangerment.

Our very newest – two days old and doing well.

 

Shoes – five years ago on a cold February morning she was born on our back porch. Her mother was a stray GSD that was so starved she was nothing but skin and bones. Happy to say mother and the other pups became healthy and were given away to good forever homes. Shoes was so stubborn and smart that we knew she was supposed to stay with us.

She is not happy about being on that leash but her fence broke and we are in the progress of installing a new fence line. She spends most of her time inside with us and gets very upset when forced to be outside along.She loves learning new tricks and working for treats.

Sunny was rescued from a life of uncertainly when one of our tenants became involved with drugs and was arrested. She had no one to look after them so I brought them both. They were scared and it took almost six months to get Sunny to warm up to me. Now he thinks he belongs on my shoulder and every morning uses m arm as a path to his favorite spot were he sits as I clean out the cage.

Chatty is his roommate and she is a fighter. She would bite hard whenever anyone got near her and refused to come out of the cage. It took almost two years to get her to stop biting hard (yes, she still nibbles when you approach her) but she just started eating out of my hand this week!

Artemis is almost ten years old and is almost too big for me to handle safely by myself so he spends most of his time in his cage. He will allow you to pet him and likes to have his head rubbed but not when he is hungry, When he is hungry everything is fair game and he is just like any other “wild” animal.

I am down to two inside fish. This big old gray fish named Kissy and the little orange one named Orangie. Okay not the best names in the world but fish do not seem to know what they are called so it works for me. Orangie is one that I raised from a baby.

 

A few months ago we had over fourteen cats that I was feeding (all strays) however a new cat showed up that was very sick and before we could medicate them all most got sick and died or moved on. We were left with three healthy cats when all was said and done. Sunshine gave birth two days ago and seems to be handling things well. She was purring so loud when I took this photos that you would think she was the happiest cat in the world.

My favorite cat – Furball. She/he is starting to make up with me and hopefully I will soon be able to handle it.

This is Garfield a complete “wood” cat that comes in out of the woods to eat food but runs away as soon as he sees you.

Some of the many fish in the goldfish pond – last count there were eight fish and one frog.

 

Thanksgiving Countdown Begins

I planned on cleaning the house as soon as I finished feeding the animals but I got delayed.  It was a nice 32 degrees and I noticed that the goldfish pond’s filter was not working. Not wanting to get into the icy water if I did not have to I checked the electricity connections first. Well it worked so that meant that it was not going to be a simple fix of resetting the breaker. I had to face the freezing water!  Cleaning the filter is an easy job in the summer because I just use the high pressure from the hose but this time of year I have to use the bathroom sink. The good news is that it usually does not get clogged up in the winter. The bad news I had a mess in the downstairs bathroom. The filter is fairly easy to clean even with my big helper, Shoes who kept pushing her nose over the sink to see what I was doing. The filter is now back in place and hopefully will not get clogged again this winter. I was surprised that it was clogged because the water was crystal clear.

Goldfish pond – fixed

Needless to say I started the house cleaning in the downstairs bathroom!  It took most of the day to clean everything today and change sheets on  Doug’s bed in preparation for his visit. The reason it took so long is that I still needed to deep clean the grout in our bathroom and today was a good day to get it done. I should be able to seal the grout after Thanksgiving. This is the last room that needed the grout cleaned and sealed.

Bathroom grout waiting to be sealed.

House is clean for Thanksgiving and posters hung in the basement. I still need to find/ make something for over the sofa and get some cushions for it before I can say the basement is finished. The photo ledges and the trim boards are ready to hang in the studio.

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