GardenBanter.co.uk - Ponds (moderated)

Raccoons

~ jan[_3_] — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:26:13 GMT

Ah gee... now they're bringing me presents...

The raccoons have come back to the squirrel feeders. Hearing the familiar
bonk of the feeder after dark is the known sound of the mask marauders. So
the other night when we scare them off they left behind half a bloody mouse
for us. Is this their way of saying they're actually "worth" having around?
Course now that the dead half-mouse has been sitting on my deck rail for 2
days... I'm thinking not. You'd think they or the Magpies would have
carried it off by now. Ugh! ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Pond Predator Unk

JB[_1_] — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:27:21 GMT

I came home to something unusual today. There was a decapitated goldfish,
about the size of my hand, laying on the bank of the pond, with the head
nearby, both underneath the bird netting I'd placed over the pond to keep
out leaves. It's the typical black netting, about 1 inch squares, that I've
used for years. The netting will get weighted down with leaves and will rest
on/near the pond's surface until I shake them off and pull it back taut
above the water's surface.

The head looked cleaning severed. The body wasn't in too bad shape, a few
scales missing but I didn't notice any puncture marks on it before I placed
it in it's final resting place, the mulch pile.

I'm thinking GBH. Got frustrated that it couldn't pull the fish through the
netting and flew off, though I would have expected there to be more damage
to the fishes body. Maybe got tangled in the netting and took off? Maybe it
was spooked in my driving up and flew off before it had much time to make a
meal out of it's kill.

Any other ideas from the group?

This is a first in my 10 years of ponding.

TIA

JB

florida climate

Michael Grossman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:48:37 GMT

I've been lurking in this group for a while and I'm very
pleasantly surprised that it is not full of bots and trolls.

Anyway, I have a pond that has been green since August. It's about 1000
gallons and has 3 small fish: 2 6-inch koi and one tiny 2" shubunkin. I
noticed that all my plants started to look ragged and rot within the first
month of setting up the pond, so I figured the goldfish were eating them
and I set up a 30 gallon plastic tub and put what was left of my hyacinths
and hornwort in it. I stuck a big hose on the pump and connected it to
the tub. Then I added a pipe from the tub back to the pond so the water
could drain back. The plants still just fall apart and die!

Even the water hyacinth has just barely hung on to life; after 2 months I
still only have one. The hornwort just turns dark, sinks and dies.

The pond liner has a peculiar smell: sort of minty. I noticed that it has
imparted this odd smell to the water. Even 6 months after starting the
pond, I can still smell this strange smell if I touch the water. The pond
liner was bought from pricebully.com and says that it is made for fish
ponds. It's 40mil and 10x10.

So to test whether there is something wrong with the liner, I set up a 60
gallon plastic pond about 20 feet from my big pond. The second pond
doesn't smell funny, but I get the same results. One water hyacinth just
kind of stays alive and doesn't spread. Hornwort just sinks and rots.
There are just a couple of platies swimming around in there to prevent
mosquitos from breeding in the pond. This was in september.

Now by october, I was figuring that cooler weather would slow down the
algae and maybe help the plants some. Also, with the rains stopping, there
would be no more run-off getting into the pond. Now it's november and the
temperature rarely tops 79. Overnight lows are 50s and 60s. Still both
ponds are green and I only see fish when I feed them.

The tap water around here has kind of high phosphate and nitrate: both are
typically over 10 mg/L. I use this water in my fish tanks and the plants
do well enough, even the hornwort, which is not a difficult plant anyway.

Against the recommendations of LFS salespeople, who are pushing RO/DI
systems, I use regular tap water in my lightly stocked 55 gal marine tank.
The fish seem fine, there is lots of coralline algae and several species
of macroalgae are thriving in my refugium. I do not keep corals and other
expensive invertebrates because I'm afraid they're being unsustainably
collected.

Anyway, I just can't figure out why my pond is always green. I'd like to
see the fish more than once a day when I feed them!

Fall with power

Phyllis and Jim — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:44:32 GMT

Fall has hit here. Our hyacinth are browning and the lilies are
done...almost gone. I still have not put in my new pump. That may
wait until Xmas.

May your ponds thrive over the winter.

Jim

Formatting on this group.......

ReelMcKoi[_3_] — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:49:04 GMT

Why is the formatting on some posts so messed up? It makes posts here ve
ry
hard to read. No matter what NSP I use, my posts seem to be the worst.
?!?!?!?
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(�>