Have my pond eight years, gradually built up to 24 fish - including 6 of
original fish I put in when I first built it - and a !*#$ing Heron cleaned
it out last week

Anyway, I've had a problem with murky water last few years, all tests
showing it ok* and no problem with sick or dying fish, I've put it down to a
probable combination of the pond getting too much sun and too few plants
for the number of fish.

I put in some extra plants last year and I'm wondering if I should now leave
the pond for a year with no fish to get rid of the murkiness in the water.
Any opinions on this?

(*I have a UV filtering system and there's a waterfall in the pond which
obviously helps the oxygenation)

What a bummer. I am sorry for the losses.

On the murky water, is it particles, mud, algae? Do you have a
mechanical filter of some kind? A veggie filter serves that purpose as
well as grabbing nutrients and providing bacterial surface.

Jim

"Martin Harran" wrote:
[ . . . ]

I'm very sorry to hear of the loss of your fish, Martin. 24 fish! Where
were you? Had you taken any steps to protect your pond from predatory
birds? If you had enough vegetation, some of the fish might still be hiding
under it. I had one goldfish that hid for several years. Get some garden
sunscreen at HD or wherever. I found it to be great for reducing the
sunlight and keeping the pond temperature lower. Do you ever clean your UV?

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~

if you saw the fish before but arent seeing them now it could be you
had a visitor and the fish are hiding. OTOH, if those 24 fish were in
a shallow, less than 200 gallon pond, most might be gone.
you need to build a good veggie filter to clean up the pond. Ingrid


On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:48:02 CST, "Martin Harran"
wrote:

Have my pond eight years, gradually built up to 24 fish - including 6 of
original fish I put in when I first built it - and a !*#$ing Heron cleaned
it out last week

Anyway, I've had a problem with murky water last few years, all tests
showing it ok* and no problem with sick or dying fish, I've put it down to a
probable combination of the pond getting too much sun and too few plants
for the number of fish.

I put in some extra plants last year and I'm wondering if I should now leave
the pond for a year with no fish to get rid of the murkiness in the water.
Any opinions on this?

(*I have a UV filtering system and there's a waterfall in the pond which
obviously helps the oxygenation)

In article , "Martin Harran" wrote:
Have my pond eight years, gradually built up to 24 fish - including 6 of
original fish I put in when I first built it - and a !*#$ing Heron cleaned
it out last week

Anyway, I've had a problem with murky water last few years, all tests
showing it ok* and no problem with sick or dying fish, I've put it down to a
probable combination of the pond getting too much sun and too few plants
for the number of fish.

I put in some extra plants last year and I'm wondering if I should now leave
the pond for a year with no fish to get rid of the murkiness in the water.
Any opinions on this?

(*I have a UV filtering system and there's a waterfall in the pond which
obviously helps the oxygenation)

I had a visit from a Heron last year and it ate quite a few of my fish.I
thought it had eaten them all, but some were hiding and didn`t show themselves
for a couple of weeks.I even had a decoy Heron in my pond ,but that obviously
didn`t work. Rick

"Nick Cramer" wrote in message
...
"Martin Harran" wrote:
[ . . . ]

I'm very sorry to hear of the loss of your fish, Martin. 24 fish!


Where
were you?

Don't know how long it would take a heron to catch/eat 24 fish - goldfish,
shebunkins, commets and golden orfes - but he may have been there for a
while

Had you taken any steps to protect your pond from predatory
birds?

My pond is 2' deep which I was told a heron wouldn't wade in and water is
usually about 10" below surrounding rocks. There's a shallow ledge at one
side where I got a heron a couple of years ago - only lost about 3 fish that
time - so I put a board across that to keep them out and have had no trouble
since then until now.

We've had a *lot* of rain here (Ireland) recently so my pond is a bit higher
than usual - about 6" below surrounding rocks so I suspect it was feeding
from rocks.

If you had enough vegetation, some of the fish might still be hiding
under it. I had one goldfish that hid for several years.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Get some garden
sunscreen at HD or wherever. I found it to be great for reducing the
sunlight and keeping the pond temperature lower.

The pond is in a very natural setting - I'll take a photo at the weekend
(if the rain stops!) and post it to tinypic - and I don't really want to
spoil that appearance.

Do you ever clean your UV?

Every year.

"Rick Yerke" wrote in message
...
In article , "Martin Harran"
wrote:
Have my pond eight years, gradually built up to 24 fish - including 6 of
original fish I put in when I first built it - and a !*#$ing Heron
cleaned
it out last week

Anyway, I've had a problem with murky water last few years, all tests
showing it ok* and no problem with sick or dying fish, I've put it down to
a
probable combination of the pond getting too much sun and too few plants
for the number of fish.

I put in some extra plants last year and I'm wondering if I should now
leave
the pond for a year with no fish to get rid of the murkiness in the water.
Any opinions on this?

(*I have a UV filtering system and there's a waterfall in the pond which
obviously helps the oxygenation)

I had a visit from a Heron last year and it ate quite a few of my fish.I
thought it had eaten them all, but some were hiding and didn`t show
themselves
for a couple of weeks.I even had a decoy Heron in my pond ,but that
obviously
didn`t work. Rick

That's encouraging. My fish varied from Golden Orfe's about 8" to young
goldfish about 1 1/2 "" so I was kinda surprised that it ate them all;
fingers crossed that some of them may be hiding.

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
ps.com...
What a bummer. I am sorry for the losses.

On the murky water, is it particles, mud, algae? Do you have a
mechanical filter of some kind? A veggie filter serves that purpose as
well as grabbing nutrients and providing bacterial surface.

I have full Cyprio filtartaion system including UV lamp. Pond is about 1200
(uk) gallons BTW, upper pond 200 gals feeding over waterfall into 800 gal
main pond where the fish are.

I've changed water and tried barley straw and various chemical cleaners to
no avail; also took water sample to local aquatic centre and they found
water well balanced and fish are - were - doing really well in it.

The problem started about 3 years ago when I removed some plants that had
got a bit bedraggled plus put a few extra fish in so that's why I'm thinking
too many fish, not enough plants plus too much sunlight.

"Martin Harran" wrote in message
...

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
ps.com...
What a bummer. I am sorry for the losses.

On the murky water, is it particles, mud, algae? Do you have a
mechanical filter of some kind? A veggie filter serves that purpose as
well as grabbing nutrients and providing bacterial surface.

I have full Cyprio filtartaion system including UV lamp. Pond is about
1200 (uk) gallons BTW, upper pond 200 gals feeding over waterfall into 800
gal main pond where the fish are.

Should be feeding intoo 1000 gal main pond.

Hi Martin,

We will all look forward to your pic and to hearing about the fish.
It would seem unusual for the heron to take all of them.

I suspect you are right...too much fish waste with too little plant
life. The heron may have changed one part of the equation! You can
change the other.

Good luck.

Jim

"Martin Harran" wrote:
"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
[ . . . ]
I have full Cyprio filtartaion system including UV lamp.

Also, you might be running your water through the UV too fast. I found that
bypassing the UV with half the water,gsve me a clearer pond than running it
all through the UV.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~

On Jul 13, 8:51 pm, Phyllis and Jim wrote:
Hi Martin,

We will all look forward to your pic and to hearing about the fish.
It would seem unusual for the heron to take all of them.

I suspect you are right...too much fish waste with too little plant
life. The heron may have changed one part of the equation! You can
change the other.

Good luck.

Jim

Could it have been a raccoon? They are known to clean out a pond
pretty quickly
Deb

where herons cant wade in they can fly in and float like other water
birds. they dont care if there is another heron in the pond either.
Ingrid

where herons cant wade in they can fly in and float like other water
birds.

Just goes to prove that animals are
impervious to embarrassment.

k :-)

http://public.fotki.com/Martin-Harran/my-pond/

Didn't have time to tidy up around it before I took the photos