My wife and I bought a home in 1984 and lived there 20 years before
moving into our current home. I built my first pond in 1998 and, with
knowledge gleaned from the rec.ponds group I had a pretty successful
experience.

My pond was about 900 gallons. I made my first pond filter out of an
OASE 1200 gph pump wrapped in a mesh bag filled with bio-balls and
housed in a milk crate. Don't laugh! It worked just fine.

For me, my first pond experience made me want to build a second, larger
pond. (Ponds and aquariums have that effect on me.) So, when we bought
the new place I did: 3,000 gallons but that's another story documented here.

Our previous home is close enough that we drive by it almost every day.
Several months back we noticed it was for sale. Then, a couple of months
ago, we saw a moving van parked out front. The house has been vacant since.

Were were always partial to that place, being our first home and all
that. I'd planted 20 dogwoods, about as many azaleas and a lot of other
TLC gardening.

Stopped by one day to take a walk around. Heard a clicking sound coming
from the pond area before I got over to it. It was the pump in the
skimmer box. It barely had any water in it at. The falls weren't running
and the water was almost 2 feet low. I filled the pond and have been
returning once a week to do maintenance - cleaning out the skimmer, the
filter falls, dredging leaves from the bottom, etc.

My wife called the real estate agent for the house and mentioned that
all he plants were in need of water and they might have a hard time
selling a home where the front yard reeked of dead fish (5 large
goldfish. Sorry, forgot to mention them.)

Anyway. looks like all of the dogwoods are dead and most of the azaleas.
I'm determined to keep the pond going as long as the powers on and the
water runs.

The wife says take the fish. My pond could probably accommodate them as
this year's yellow bellied water snake took some out before he got his.
But, I've heard bad tales about introducing new fish.

Once again, I'm ending with a question, What to do? What to do?

JB

"JB" wrote in message...
My wife and I bought a home in 1984 and lived there 20 years before moving
into our current home. I built my first pond in 1998 and, with
knowledge ----- I had a pretty successful experience. ---
Several months back we noticed it was for sale. Then, a couple of months
ago, we saw a moving van parked out front. The house has been vacant
since.
---- My wife called the real estate agent for the house ---
I'm determined to keep the pond going as long as the powers on and the
water runs.
Once again, I'm ending with a question, What to do? What to do?

Yeah, always a tough question.
I tend to think it might be somewhat relevant,,,,
(sold probably 2004/5?)
Is it for sale by real estate agent working for the person
who purchased it from you?
Is it approaching foreclosure, in foreclosure, or bank owned?
(at either end of above, there is some motovation to
keep place looking decent. In the middle,,, sadly not!
And, that process can be very, very slow!)

On 7/30/2012 11:14 AM, a425couple wrote:
"JB" wrote in message...
My wife and I bought a home in 1984 and lived there 20 years before
moving into our current home. I built my first pond in 1998 and, with
knowledge ----- I had a pretty successful experience. ---
Several months back we noticed it was for sale. Then, a couple of
months ago, we saw a moving van parked out front. The house has been
vacant since.
---- My wife called the real estate agent for the house ---
I'm determined to keep the pond going as long as the powers on and the
water runs.
Once again, I'm ending with a question, What to do? What to do?

Yeah, always a tough question.
I tend to think it might be somewhat relevant,,,,
(sold probably 2004/5?)
Is it for sale by real estate agent working for the person
who purchased it from you?
Is it approaching foreclosure, in foreclosure, or bank owned?
(at either end of above, there is some motovation to
keep place looking decent. In the middle,,, sadly not!
And, that process can be very, very slow!)
Nope, the current owner bought from the people that we sold it to in
2005. I've no idea as to their financial situation but I do know that a
vacant house is a drain on one's finances.

On Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:14:29 EDT, "a425couple"
wrote:

"JB" wrote in message...
My wife and I bought a home in 1984 and lived there 20 years before moving
into our current home. I built my first pond in 1998 and, with
knowledge ----- I had a pretty successful experience. ---
Several months back we noticed it was for sale. Then, a couple of months
ago, we saw a moving van parked out front. The house has been vacant
since.
---- My wife called the real estate agent for the house ---
I'm determined to keep the pond going as long as the powers on and the
water runs.
Once again, I'm ending with a question, What to do? What to do?

Yeah, always a tough question.
I tend to think it might be somewhat relevant,,,,
(sold probably 2004/5?)
Is it for sale by real estate agent working for the person
who purchased it from you?
Is it approaching foreclosure, in foreclosure, or bank owned?
(at either end of above, there is some motovation to
keep place looking decent. In the middle,,, sadly not!
And, that process can be very, very slow!)

Similar tale of woe here. Original owner, who put in the pond moved locally
and currently has not put in a pond. New owners ended up in foreclosure,
and the house sat. OOwner got call from neighbor that they didn't leave
pumps running and when he checked on it pond was black. We did a pond club
rescue and people showed up to help and take fish home. Many of the very
big koi were dead, they had to drain the pond way down (4-5' deep) and
neighbor was kind enough to allow them to use his water to refill once they
had them out.

Either way, you should get something to quarantine the fish at your place,
then decide if you want to keep or give away, unless you have a club that
can do a rescue mission.

What a lot of work when you no longer even own the place. And then to see
all your hard work dead.

We saw similar at our old house, yard all pretty, which sells the place,
but people don't realize that daily maintenance is needed to keep it
looking good and not turn into a big mess. It became a mess, they ripped
out a lot of plants I had always kept under control, fence fell down,
things died, etc. They moved (or passed away). Someone else takes it on
fixes it up and the cycle goes again. How it is for starter homes in
particular. :-( ~ jan

------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

What finally happened with the fish?

On 9/22/2012 5:33 AM, Phyllis and Jim wrote:
What finally happened with the fish?

They're still there. We were going up weekly to add water and feed them.
The temperatures have cooled and the drought broke. I'm headed into town
a little later today and will look in on them. The house remains unsold.

JB