How do I fix this. Have 51 fish in there now. Going to have to WEED THE ONES I DO LNOT WANT OUT AND TRY TO SAVE THE REST.
Rains caused the bank edge to give way
Pond repair
Uhg, I had a leak last year and had to react quickly (finding an almost empty pond when I woke up one morning)
I went to Walmart and found the cheapest large swimming pool I could find ( I think it was a 12 or 16 foot round) I pumped as much of the remaining water from the pond into the pool and took the largest fish out first and tranferred them to the pool. I left the smaller air pump in the older pond, and move the tubing for the filters into the pool. SLOWLY I added more water and anti-chlor (and rock salt). As I drained the pond further, I could catch the smaller fish and put them in the pool and add more and more water, a little more anti-chlor, etc.
That bought me the time needed to reline the pond and make the repairs needed. Before adding the fish back, I decided which fish I reaaaaly wanted to keep.
Use rubber maid storage tubs or large trash can (clean of course) buckets for the smaller ones.
You could advertise in your paper and give away the ones you don't want.
Mine were 16-28 inches, so tubbies wouldn't work. I needed something large that I could transfer air and filtration to. I've seen fish listed on Craigslist before, so people can pick them up locally. If you feel like shipping, I'll take any butterfly, blue shusui or gin rin!
Do you have another ponder in the area that will hold your fish for you while repairs are being made?
Otherwise, I think the pop up swimming pool may be your best option. They're about 3 feet deep and $100. Maybe you can find a cheap used one on Craigslist too.
a livestock tank would work also if there are not too many.
I guess it depends on how long you think the repairs would take, just a couple days or a couple weeks would make a big difference in what you did with them.
The pool is a good idea, then when you are done with it, you could either sell it, or set it up :)
I put them all in a stock tank with an air stone. Took about 16 of them I did not want to the lake and turned them loose.
Cleaned out the pond and have started digging back and stacking cinder block along that side.
TARogers, sorry about your mess. I am wondering about turning fish loose in local lakes. Is there any concern about ecosystems? non-native invaders? I am just wondering. Does anyone else know?
Thanks,
Helen
In MO it is illegal to release anything into a waterway that has been kept in captivity.
Fish bait is exempt, as they are raised under strict conditions and rules.
No left over bait is allowed to be released alive in the water. Now, I don't know about lakes, if that is considered a waterway unless it empties into a river, creek?
who knows. Of course I would think you could release things in a private pond?
Well all states are different in their rules, but at any rate, I wouldn't let anyone know if I had released anything....
Thanks I put the rest I did not want in a private pond.
Everything is back up and running. Now have to redo the falls and rocks.
TARogers,
I am glad to hear you are up and running again. It looks like you will have a beautiful pond soon. Let us see when its doing better.
Helen
It is totally illegal , here is Maryland if you release any fish into the reservoir, lake pond 10,000.00 fine, same for stealing any plants out of a natural wildlife ares. One option is ,the humane way to kill a fish is to chop off his head with a very sharp knife. That was in one of our pond books. Don't flush fish down the toilet either.
you have a very large pond i hope that if wasn't to difficult to fix and get up and running. Good luck on your repair project..