Tis the Season!

Its the end of November already and the weather has been pretty awesome so far. In fact, Thanksgiving day they are calling for lower 60's. Water temps in the outside ponds have been in the mid 40s in the lower pond and staying close to a steady 50 in the covered new pond. I did wake up a couple mornings to find ice on the quiet stream area. But, no measurable snow, which is just fine with me. Fish in the basement seem to be doing fine so far. I know I'm way overstocked down there, but the drip through water seems to be helping so far. Its been over a month now since we brought them inside. This is the mark where I start getting a little nervous about them breaking out with something. I'm feeding them some mandafu soaked in a vitamin water concoction I mix up. They seem to enjoy it, so am hopeful it will help boost their immune systems while being so crowded. The fish in the open lower pond, seem OK so far, too. They are doing their normal fall/winter behavior. Harry has the stream blocked off already so they can't go up into the shallow/colder water. We'll probably put in the heater and after Thanksgiving shut down the water falls and pull the pumps down there, also. We'll turn down the air to just a trickle and pray for the best as winter will surely come with full force shortly. The new above ground pond is totally experimental. I'm hoping that it will not freeze and that I won't have to use a heater in it at all. That's my hopes for the winter covering. We'll see, I'll give updated reports as to how its behaving. Just don't want the pipes to freeze. I feel like I have fish just everywhere! 3 ponds and 1 aquarium, seems like a hand full. Hate the thought of winter coming. I have something going on every weekend till after xmas already! Tis the season.

Getting ready for winter.

I finally have a cover!! This past weekend my ever so talented husband constructed a cover over the new pond. It's made of 2x6 lumber and covered with a large clear tarp. We placed 4" sheets of insulation around the pond and then even piled bales of hay around the parameter. Using hay as an insulation is an old trick the old timers used to do to keep uninsulated homes warmer in the winter. Harry made me a little door so I can get into the pond area, but I can also see in there through the window in the garage. Since it is a new pond and this is the first winter, we still brought in most of my favorite fish into the basement pond. Its totally packed down there and we may even have to bring some back out. I just want to see how the pond does in 20 below weather. Will the pipes freeze cause they are out of the ground? I don't know. We'll drain all that we can, but it will be interesting to see if the filter, which is above ground will freeze, or if the cover will protect and prevent that. I have about 5 fish out there as my ginny pigs. Meanwhile inside there are 19 fish in less than 1000 gallons of water, which I know is WAY too many. I'm doing a constant drip through of water and testing daily. The ammonia levels are still there, so thus I may have to put some back outside regardless if I want to or not. Even my drip through is not keeping up. Last weekend we completely drained the larger lower pond and removed the 8-10 large Black koi. I gave away 3 at the pond meeting last night. I do not need 10 black koi in my ponds and really wanted them out before winter. They were just taking up space, eating my expensive food, and adding to the water quality waste. So out they came. They were my 2010 leftover baby fish. Not sure what will happen with the rest, but am thinking I'll be putting them to sleep and they'll be fertilizer in my garden. I'll see maybe I can get rid of a couple more at the next pond meeting. I'm not keeping them through the winter, that's for sure. It's cold this am. Temps in the 40's. Suppose to get a killing frost tonight. I haven't seen ice on the pond yet, but know its just around the corner. Boo hoo...

Beautiful Koi with big problems

Went out last night on a fish call. I've been out to see this fish before. The local vet was present also as we were going to give the koi an injection of antibiotics. We visited this koi several months ago regarding a open spot between its pec fins. At that time, we felt it appeared to have a thin layer of skin growing over it, so we were optimistic that it would heal itself. The koi's owner has some of the best water quality around, which has helped this koi immensely. It has been in a qt tank all summer. Just recently it has developed some sores along its back and tail and just seemed to be stressed in general. The smaller koi in its tank were continually picking at its sores which made the mater worse. The owner has since separated the koi from the pickers and they now share a split tank. Last night we again pulled the koi, put her to sleep to examined the sores, gave it an injection of antibiotics and cleaned and dressed the ulcers. About what we did months ago. Hopefully with the help of the antibiotic, she will return to her beautiful self. The pond owner has done an excellent job of keeping this koi healthy so my hopes are high that she will be just fine by spring again.

I"m sooo depressed.

It's mid September and I'm so depressed. Worked in the garden a bit last night, cutting out spent flowers and weeds. It was absolutely beautiful out. I ended the rounds through the gardens by netting out fallen leaves from the pond. It was so nice I didn't want to go inside. I wanted to savor every fleeting minute of Summer. Since Harry was wanting dinner, I relented and went inside to do the normal evening duties, cooking, cleaning up, and a little TV before bed. At 10:00 I got up to head to bed but again was drawn outside. It was still warm out and there was a reflection of a full moon dancing off the pond surface. The string lights on the new pond give off a mesmerizing blue light that reflects across the surface of the moving water. I couldn't resist and grabbed my camera to see if I could capture the beauty of it all. I walked about the gardens in the dead of night and found myself sitting in a chair in the dark all alone. The town was quiet. No traffic, no kids yelling; only the sound of crickets chirping in the background and the waterfalls singing it's calming songs. The moon was full above me and it by itself was beautiful. I see the upstairs bedroom light go on, so I know Harry has gone to bed. The light goes out again and is replaced by the soft glow of the small TV in the room. Funny, he must realize I'm not there, but didn't even come to find out where I've gone to. I can smell the tuberosa flowers. Tiny 1" white flowers that are the most fragrant flowers I have ever known. Their Jasmin like smell drifts on the night breeze and I can smell them from clear across the garden. Summer is gone, I'm thinking. The weather man is saying it will 20 degrees cooler by midweek and possibly even a light frost. The elephant ears are in their prime and now I have to be thinking about cutting their 2 and 3 foot leaves off. The whole Fall thing makes me sad. Harry said just tonight that we need to get out the leaf netting as the walnut tree is already dropping leaves into the ponds. I hate Winter. Oh there are a few nice Fall days when the leaves turn all beautiful and the season has a few high points. But, not enough to justify my preference to it over Summer. So, I sit alone in the dark and it only makes me more sad. I finally give up and make my way to bed. Harry has a fan going in the window and again as I lay there in the dark, I swear I can smell the tuberosa flowers. A last smell of Summer. A couple times a year one has a few times when something strikes them as somber or too beautiful for words. For me, last night was one of those times... I'm sad....Fall is coming...

Summer's End

August, and signs of Fall are already upon us. The walnut trees are beginning to drop both nuts and leaves. An even bigger sign of Fall in our household is the guys all begin to talk about hunting again. We're headed to southern Iowa over the Labor Day Weekend to "hang stands". For the next 4 months all conversations with the boys and Harry will be centered around the hunting seasons. Everyone is working frantically to clean up their "honey do" list so that they can be free to go hunting. In the gardens, the Summer flowers are starting to give way to the Fall bloomers and the pumpkin patch. Tomatoes are beginning to come on strong now as are the cucumbers.
Discussion on how we are going to cover the new raised pond this winter have begun. We've discussed everything from portable buildings to using roof trusses. Nothing seems to be the perfect solution. The water has finally turned perfect as far as clarity. You can see the fish well and the bottom of the pond too. Regardless of it's clarity, I am still getting ammonia and nitrite readings!!! While the pond itself has grown a nice little patina on it, the filter area remains super clean. Nothing growing on the liner or filter mats??? The pond water cleared as soon as I put some clay in it. I then added two floating bags of additional bio balls in an attempt to add more surface area. Still I get readings. I changed the fish food to less protein and more of a fall mix as well as limit the amount of feedings. I feel like I'm starving them at a time when I should be pouring on the food. Plus with all the water changes to help maintain water quality it is keeping the water cooler than normal. I'm adding microlift pl and am now going to change to Microlift nite-out. I've also added a small amount of salt to help with the nitrite uptake. Am doing everything I can think of. Also, am thinking I need to shut off the UV. I figure I have another month perhaps to get it to cycle or I'll have to consider bringing all the fish inside for the winter and not worry about keeping them in there all winter at all. If it's not cycling, I don't see how I can leave them out. I'm already spending a small fortune on Cloramx.
The lower pond is preforming great! Maybe its best year ever. No string algae this year, since we discovered Pond Balance. Water is crystal clear and parameters are all good despite the fish overload and feeding 5-6 times a day. Really happy there. It's the new pond causing me grief.
I've gotten a few fish calls this month. One today even. Pond owner said he had lost several small koi. Water parameters were not so bad as to be loosing fish. Suggested massive water changes as he had not done any all season and a little salt. If they don't' improve, I'll go out and do a scrape and scope on them. Call I got a month ago, described fish as lethargic, clamped fins, dieing fish, and some acting really wild. A scrape on these fish, found a massive fluke breakout. Prazi was suggested to get rid of the flukes and told them to pray they don't break out with ulcers. A third caller told of dieing fish. Pictures looked like the fish were dying from spawning trama. Those male fish can be so hard on the ladies.
Tomorrow is the first day of Sept. and the temps are suppose to be the hottest of the Summer. Nearly 100 degrees! Good thing it's only going to last one day. Fall is coming, which isn't so bad, but man we just got done with Winter, so am not looking forward to that at all.

Lumps on my Fish.

My fish have lumps. That's the recent phone call I received. A friend of mine was calling to say several of her really large goldfish had these huge lumps on them. What do I do? she asked. She was already buying Melifix to put in the pond and thinking about big parasite treatments. She emailed me these pictures of her dead fish and was worried that what ever they had would be catchy to the other fish in her pond. I asked her to quit throwing her money away on these sort of pond additives. While I couldn't say what caused the fish to die, the lumps were probably not the cause. Possibly a symptom of a poor immune system, but not the cause. I have seen cases like this before, usually always on goldfish. To the best of my research they are actually skin tumors. They are hard pimple like lumps that are often bumpy in texture also. Being tumors they are not life threatening and a fish may live a normal life so long as they don't get too large. Still do not know why they died. The pond owner had not a single water testing kit. (As normal) The rest of the fish in the pond seem to be doing fine. There were no other ulcers, but the fish looked grossly bloated in one picture. So the mystery of their death remains.
On another note, it will soon be August. July was brutally hot. I heard one pond club member's pond was 97 degrees! Surprised he didn't loose all his fish. At home we've been doing water changes to help keep the water cool. I brought the last of the baby fish out of the basement pond and put them outside. Basically, got tired of taking care of them. Put them in the bottom pond where they will find lots of natural algae on the pond walls to munch on. Surprisingly they have joined right in with the rest of the fish. Usually they stay alone and hide in the deep corners of the pond. The outside pond is actually warmer than the inside pond, so they have to be liking that. Bottom pond continues to do fine, actually looking a little crowded again with all the little fish bouncing around now. Upper pond still shows low signs of ammonia and nitrites. Still has a little green cast in the water. Its killing Harry to not be able to feed them several times a day, like he wants to and does the lower pond fish. Took the net off the upper pond for a recent pond meeting at our house and haven't put it back on. So far, so good. No jumpers. I'm loving the new pond and being so close to the fish. Easy to flush the filter, and well...I just like it all around.

Hot, hot, hot...Got to Love July

July 1st, and the heat index is only 105 degrees out. Both ponds have been doing ok. Still trying to cycle the new pond to get the ammonia and nitrites out. I'm still getting low readings, but with these high temps and my high pH any ammonia is almost twice as toxic. Just because your test kits read say .25 ppm it really depends on water temp and pH. With water temps in the 70's-80's and a pH of 9 or more, I'm really looking at almost twice that reading which is very stressful if not lethal. So, I'm adding Amquil and now that I'm out of that will be adding the cheaper ClorAm-X. I've been adding Microlift PL and gel to try to get the bacteria going faster and even a little salt to help with the low nitrite reading I'm getting. I have nitrites in my well water, which doesn't help. So, its very important to get my bacteria going as soon as possible. It's been a full month now since I put the fish out there and while the levels have held pretty steady, they have not begun to go away. It's hard to get a brand new, never used filter material to start growing bacteria. I keep watching the liner for signs of a growing patina. The water is taking on a slight green tinge, which I don't like, but know it is probably good for the fish. And, while Harry wants to feed about 6 times a day, they get just a small amount once a day. Not good for growing. But a dead fish won't grow at all, so water quality comes first.
The old lower pond is doing great. Maybe our best year in a long time as far as string algae. I got to give "Pond Balance" all the credit. Using it has taken all the string algae out of our pond. Filters have been half as full and pumps are a lot easier to keep clean. I've had no problems with that pond this summer so far. Knock on wood!!! Usually when we leave for the 4th of July weekend, we come home to a creek and pond full of the stuff. Not this year. Yaaa whooo!
Getting ready for the 4-H fish club's debut at the Linn Co. Fair next week. Kind of excited and getting some good press, too. A lot of work. Thank goodness for the help of Carol and Dennis Sindelar and Greg Bickal. They're the best!!!!
Gardens are doing ok, tomatoes and peppers are slow to grow though. We'll be gone for the next 4 days, fishing in southern Iowa, so I suppose I'll come home to shriveled up plants with all this heat and no rain.
Both pond clubs will be holding their pond tours on the same day, July 10th. Unfortunately, I can only work at one, and that will be EIPS. It is also during fair week, so I'll be busy, busy.

jumping fish!!!

Well, the new pond has been going good so far! I'm fighting ammonia and nitrite levels, though. I had added some aged bio balls to the filter to help seed it, but I can tell the pond has not begun to cycle at all. Harry is doing small water changes and adding Amquil to help bind the ammonia and salt to help with the nitrite up take which can cause brown blood disease. The water has a green cast, but I'm ok with that for now. I think the UV has been helping with that but have recently shut it off too in an effort to get the bacteria established. Started adding a little Microlift PL hoping that will help get the bacteria going, also. We've been keeping the pond netted, just because I'm nervous about the fish jumping out. We took it off Sunday while we were home all day and it's so much nicer viewing the fish, but put it back on Sunday night.

We've been watching one particular doitsu kohaku we recently purchased at Koi Acres. His mucus seemed to be taking on a milky cast. Possible ammonia burn??? Stress??? Salt I was adding bothering it???So, Harry was concerned and didn't want to just "watch" it any longer. We decided to net it out and put it in a QT tank for awhile to see if it would improve. So about 5:00 pm we put it in a tank in the basement, added a little anti bacterial medicine to the water, covered the whole tank with a double layer tarp to keep him in and left him to rest and adjust. Went to check on him around 8:00 that evening and you guessed it, he had jumped out of the tank and laid dead on the basement floor!!! d**m d**m dang!!!! There was no movement at all, but I still worked with it to try to revive it for at least an hour. Moving it through the water in figure 8's and holding it directly in the bubbler with it's gill plates propped open. No luck. So another favorite fish gone. Just like that. Try to do something proactive and it ends in tragedy. Just the opposite of what we were trying to do. Lesson learned...cover on tank must be weighted down all around!!!He jumped up hard enough to lift the tarp and slip under it and over the top, which was a good 12 inches above the top of the water! This is not the first time we've lost fish in QT tanks from jumping so you would think we'd know better, but I actually thought it would be enough. In other cases it was because of no cover or a particular hole at one end or something. Sad, just very sad!! So the 15 inch fish is now flower food in the garden. Just so frustrating. Harry just shook his head at me. I wanted to cry. So now we are both worried about the netted pond outside. Do we need to always keep it on? It should be no different than a pond at ground level, right? The water level on the new pond is only 4 inches from the top. An easy jump for any of them. Got my favorites in there. It would be just devastating to loose one of those.. oh, what to do.....

Finally the fish are out!

Finally the fish are outside! Harry has worked so hard to get them out. With just a little more touch up paint and some primping with flowers and all around the edges to soften things up, and the new pond will be finally done. The fish seem to enjoy the current. With the addition of the eductors which can triple the water flow coming out of a pipe, the water becomes a river of current in the pond. You can watch the fish swim to it, relax, and just get kind of thrown back from the current. The water swirls around the pond edge while the bottom drain aerator creates a upward current in the middle. I'm totally happy with that. The only problem we are having is the floating skimmer is not working. Seems we don't have enough pull through it. The single 4" bottom drain is supplying enough water for the pump so that there is no pull through the skimmer. If we taper the drain down in the filter or put a stand pipe in it, then the filter begins to go down as the 1 1/2" pipe from the skimmer is not enough to stay ahead of the pump. So, we need to play with that. But, I'm just so happy to have the fish out. I purchased a small hoola hoop to use as a feeding ring. But, it doesn't work. It either floats too high in the water, or the before mentioned current is so strong that it pushes the food right underneath the ring and out into the pond. So, one more thing I need to figure out. Any suggestions are welcomed!
I've covered the pond with a net at least for the first few days. I don't want any of my larger fish jumping out. Am hoping after a while they'll get used to their new home and not even try to escape like the 2 little fish we put in earlier did. By the way, one of those tiny guys did die, while the other chagoi one is still swimming around. I should post a picture of this chag. This is a 6" koi from my basement pond that has had a unhealing sore on it's shoulder for months. It starts to heal, then stops and then starts again. He's just been a mess since way last fall. But, he's hung on and I haven't had the heart to pitch him. Thus, he became one of the sacrificial koi. Then after he jumped out of the new pond and I picked him out of the dirt and put him back in, he kind of got this fin rot and white spots starting to grow on him, but I couldn't catch him, so he again got to stay in the new pond. Now, I see him, and can not believe how he hangs in there. Almost feel like he deserves to stay alive and grow big. Hopefully he will. He certainly is a survivor! If he had been a 100.00 beautiful fish that I bought, he'd of been dead a long time ago, I guaranty that! Funny how the fishy world works.
Am loving the window we put in the pond! I can now see every little imperfection on the fish, though. Kind of scary. Koi are definitely meant to be viewed from above. They are no where as pretty from their sides. The fish seem to like the window too. It was designed to be seen from my kitchen table. I can sit and eat and watch the fish go buy. Harry is already wishing he had put a second one in, viewable from the deck were we sit outside.
Here's a few pics of the filter set up, the fish and my view from the kitchen table. We finished it to look like the filter house in the yard that we use for the other pond. I'm just so happy it's done!!! Can't stop smiling.

It's getting there!

Gee, it's a month later and the new pond still is not finished. At first it was competing with Turkey hunting season, then mushroom season... but now, Harry has been working all day on this for me. It's near finished but now comes a 3 day Memorial weekend and another halt in work. Can't really figure out why this is taking so long. Perhaps because there is no real plans. Everything is figure out as you go, so that means fifty trips to the store for materials. It has rained all day today, forcing Harry back into the garage, which is ok, cause now he'll spend a day putting together the filter pad cubes. An indoor job that we've been putting off for a rain day. Monday we put in 3 small sacrificial koi to check the water quality, as much of the water in the pond is the original water put in after the new liner was installed. I have not done a full water change on it. Anyway, Tuesday morning as I went out to work, I found 2 of the koi in the dirt along side of the pond! Both were still breathing! I quickly picked them up and washed them off a little and put them back into the pond. The only thing I can think of is in a black pond, maybe with the first daylight they wanted to swim towards the light. Fortunately for them, I was up going to work and they must of just tried their get away or they would be dried up toast on the ground. Today, they are still alive and haven't tried that trick again. But, I did buy a net, which I will be putting over the pond after I add the rest of the fish. With the water level a mere 3 inches below the edge it's a subject that has come up before in conversation. I'm hopeful they will stay put in the pond and we don't have any trapeze artist in the group.

The temps have still been pretty cool. Water temps were an all time high of 68 degrees last weekend. Fish have shown no sign of spawning. There were done, this time last year. Toads have been procreating, though. Hundreds of them! I netted out at least 30 pair a couple weeks ago, simply because I didn't want that many eggs in the pond. I have a lot of hostas and plants, though, so I like the toads. I welcome their kinship, just not in my pond.

We've been so busy trying to finish the pond that I haven't even taken the time to enjoy the other flowers in my gardens. The weeds have. They are enjoying themselves everywhere I look. Just finally got my tomatoes and peppers in. I still have flowers I bought sitting on the deck waiting to be planted. Still have tropicals in the basement with the fish that need brought out and planted. And, it's almost June!!! Going to be a short Summer. Feeling overwhelmed just writing this. I need a week off work, just to get caught up with my normal gardening. Got a long weekend coming, but are we going to stay home and get caught up? Nooo way! We're headed to southern Iowa to go fishing and camping all weekend. It's a family tradition. So, again, everything is on hold. Fish will wait till after the weekend to go into the pond as I want to be around to keep an eye on them when we do. In the mean time, we'll keep picking at it. We are close, so very, very close.

Rain, rain, go away

Man the weather has just sucked this month. We're trying to get this pond thing done, but it wants to rain every other day if not every day. And when it's not raining, its freezing out. I feel so sorry for the fish in the basement. I want so badly to get them outside. The water temps in the big pond were only 54 degrees last night. I have to have another 10-15 degrees yet before I can get the fish outside. As I look at my records, I've had the basement fish outside on May 1st for the last 2 years. Not going to happen this year. I really wanted the tank empty by the time we went to the Koi Acres open house, just in case we bought a fish there that would need qt'd. But, the new pond will certainly not be done by then and at the rate we're going the other outside pond will still be too cold! So we wait for mother nature. Hopefully the April showers that bring May flowers will also leave with the month of April.

Despite their crowded conditions in the basement, the fish seem to be doing a lot better. The single fish I brought in earlier from the outside pond because it was starting to pine cone, seems to be all better. Thank goodness. All the fin and mouth rot is gone also. So, think we're on the mend. (Knock on Wood)The fish outside are already eating daily and seem to love the new Madafu. Between turkey hunting and pond construction Harry is keeping super busy.

Sat/Sun work on new pond

Oh, I'm so sore! Spent all Saturday and Sunday constructing the walls of the new pond. It looks huge for now. This is a picture from inside my kitchen window. It's made from 2x6 treated lumber that weighs a ton. Throw in the fact that most of it is below grade or near ground level and you are constantly bending and crawling around on the ground. This old body doesn't move like it used to. Up and down, up and down. And tiny rocks from the nearby walking path everywhere. On the upside, it was beautiful out. Temps in the 70s to near 80 degrees on Sunday. I actually fed my outdoor fish for the first time this season. They quickly gobbled up the Mandfu and Tomigoi I fed them. Easy does it, though. Their tummy's have been basically empty for 4 months. My largest Bekko was showing some severe signs of pineconning. So first thing Friday night we netted him out and set up a hospital tank in the basement for him. I'm slowly trying to warm him up in a little salted water. The temps in my outside pond still only read 48 degrees. I'm hoping with this weeks temps getting up to 60 every day, that maybe the pond will pickup a few degrees. The Bekko is the largest female I have, and I'd sure hate to loose her. QT is hard on them too, so am hoping the heat and salt will help her feel better. Debating on antibiotics, but need to get her temps up before that can even do her any good. The pineconning doesn't seem as bad today, but she's still very red, which is not good. You should see my basement. I've got one tub full of 20 shubunkins I'm holding for my 4-H fish club members, one 100 gallon tub for the Bekko, and the big pond for wintering over some of my koi. So,it's a regular maze down there. There is barely room to move between all the tanks. Without proper filtration, I'm doing manual water change outs every night to help maintain water quality. It's quite the operation. Just trying to keep everyone alive and well. Sure will be nice when everybody goes outside. Am so looking forward to the new pond. I'm excited. It's not coming along as planned though. After putting up the walls, I've realized there is so much fall between the house and garage, that my gravity fed filtration now has to be elevated. Not good. I'm going to have to have steps to get on top of it. Well, you'll see as it progresses. I thought it would be like maybe 2 foot high, but it's more like 3 foot. Not good at all! I'll keep you posted.

3 stitches already

The work continues. Today I came home and Harry had the rubber pulled out and had begun to shape the new pond by first taking out all the existing plant shelves. Last night we staked out the new dimensions and over the weekend we'll probably finish shaping out the pond edges to square it off. It will be 10 x 16 feet, I think and we're still debating on the depth. It will be at least 4 foot. My head wants to double that, but my good sense says, "no way can you handle that." Harry sustained his first injury, which he basically has shrugged off. 3 stitches he's not very proud of. He actually was using the saw to cut points on some stakes and the saw kicked back and caught him. He said he was just glad he still had a finger. Could have been worse, a lot worse! Looking forward to the weekend and getting a lot done.

2011 Pond Redo

What have I done? This picture reminded me of how good the pond could look. Well this is the year. We are finally going to redo the upper pond. This pond was built 16 years ago. It has no rock shelves and plant shelves that were too narrow and over time tilted down. Only 20 inches deep, it was designed to be more of a water garden. That was all before I got addicted to Koi. So, we're not getting any younger. We decided to raise the edges so I could sit on the short wall and hand feed the koi. This will increase the depth by 2 foot at least. We're trying to think through this so that it is easy to clean and maintain. We don't ever want to have to redo it. Someday, if we find we can't handle crawling down into the filter pit of the other lower koi pond and we have to fill it all in, then at least maybe we can still maintain this smaller pond. And so, the hard labor part begins... I thank God I have Harry. He is going to do all the back breaking work of course. We started last Sunday by moving all the necklace rock out. In a mere 3 hours we had most of it out, had relocated it in other various parts of the yard and were both suffering from lower back strain! After only 3 hours, we were both ready for the couch and we still felt like we had got a lot done. There was no turning back now. The pond was in shambles. Harry had to take a ax to the now large bush that was planted next to the pond, while I began to dig up and move other plants that were also planted next to it. Over the past 16 years there was actually almost 6 inches of dirt that had filled in the area around the pond. The rubber that originally ran under the necklace and was only covered with a few inches of gravel is now buried under 6 inches of rock and dirt. Looks like a mess now. There are no real building plans drawn up or anything. This will be a design and build as we go project. Stay tuned for more pics and pains!

Basement mystery solved

Look at this nasty little critter! I've been fighting with my basement fish having mouth and fin rot since I brought them into the inside pond in the fall. When I brought them in, I used Terminex and Prazi on them to prophylactically de=bug them. But, despite that, while many got better and most of the ulcers healed on the big fish, many of the smaller fish still have been fighting something. I've fed medicated food to try to help them. I have one small chag that has had a sore on his back for at least 3 months! Not getting any better, not getting too much worse. Danged if I could catch him though. Then just last week a second chag started to develop a sore. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to net him during feeding. I did a scape on him, and much to my surprise here was this guy, a fluke! I was blaming all my problems on bacteria, cause the fish never displayed any fluke signs like flashing or hiding in the corner or anything. While I could see problems with them, they always acted quite normal. And, mouth rot is not really a sign of flukes. Regardless, there he was under my scope, big as day and doing his familiar fluke dance. So, apparently my previously de-bugging didn't take care of them all. So, I re dosed with Prazi again and am hoping for the best. Knowing this, and knowing they were having problems before they ever came inside, I know I have flukes in the main ponds. So, now the trick is to get them out before they take over and kill my outside koi before their immune systems wake up from their winter nap. Which may be a trick. I will need to dose as quickly as the temps will allow. I swear, I have no idea where these things come from. It's a mystery.....

February Thaw

Here's a couple pictures I took this morning. Which in themselves is not too interesting. But, these pictures are of my "THAWED" pond. I can not ever remember seeing my pond open up in February! Now, I don't believe for one moment that it will stay that way. My notes say my pond was open last year on March 12th. And that was with the help of a running hose we used to preform a water change. So this is a full month earlier. Today's temps are in the 50's! The water itself was a little murky, but I could see most the fish. At least, I didn't see any on their sides. So, I'm sighing a little relief. Perhaps it will end up being a good year me. I mean them.

Wow, finally, it's above freezing! We're getting our February thaw since we didn't get one in January. With over 2 foot of snow on the ground, there hasn't been a whole lot to talk about outside. Sunday, the temps finally started to go up so we did another water change on the pond. Dropped the sump in and took out about 8-12 inches of water and replaced. When we did that, the ice cap all collapsed in on the pond. I only got a glimpse of a couple fish swimming around, so am crossing my fingers that the rest all all ok too. Actually, March and April are my worse times. As the water begins to warm it has not been unusual for me to loose a couple fish. Usually the larger older favorites. It has been sooo cold for sooo long this winter, I certainly hope the fish have been able to survive. The temps will be in the 40's all week so I expect the pond to clear enough that I'll be able to see the fish by Friday. Cross you fingers for me....

Went to the Waterloo Home and Landscape show on Saturday. Harry wasn't going to take me, but for some reason changed his mind. Of course, I droll over all the stone patios and outdoor kitchens. We are planning on redoing the upper pond this Spring, again maybe for the 3rd or 4th time now. This time I want to elevate the sides, so I can sit on them and be closer to the fish. Add a little more filtration of course. While at the show, we talked to a vendor from Quasky actually that has a new product he thought they could blow on our pond to form a seamless liner. A real dream come true, but costly and more than I wanted to spend. Harry likes the idea, though, so we'll see what Spring brings. Can't wait, can't wait......