Linda - do you think it is the fact that you have the caves that allows the oxygen to stay in the water? 5.5 feet is deep and I know the water would be cooler down deeper on the water, thus cooler water retaining more oxygen.
Belle - how are you feeling? Have you been able to get around any better?
I am in MOURNING!!!! Lost 21 kois!!
My pond deepest part is only 4 feet.
Carolyn,
I thank you for remembering me Carolyn. I am feeling much better, stitches came out last Wed and the incision is very clean but still swollen. I am going back to see him in 4 weeks and if the x-ray is OK I will then have a walking casts. This cast somehow is heavier, added 1 roll of plaster. I have purple instead of orange. LOL!!! I take pain meds only three times a day now and no wonder he prescribed a lot.
I went out today and had breakfast near the pond. I have a walker with wheels and a wheel chair when we go out.I still stay down stairs because it takes a long time to go upstairs.
DH harvested figs today and will make preserves to sell to fund the health in the fall.
Stay cool !!
Belle
Hi Belle and Bonnie, I've been out actually getting some work done. So Belle, How are you doing? Where are you at with your pond? I guess not far if you've been ill. Bonnie, The only place I've posted my koi (that I can remember) was on the Koi Vet site. A lot of expenses came to a halt with 2007/2008. My pond is still in temporary state or not yet finished. It's 6000 gallons, with a bottom center drain, and a de-gasser/oxygenator.
To add to the koi diet are tangerines, spinach and greens. Tadpoles, frogs and other larger things that fall into the pond. Detail upon request.
Back to work.
Belle - sounds as if you are mending well. I am so glad you were able to have breakfast by the pond. My favorite time is my morning coffee out by the pond - I tend to go through withdrawal during the winter. Feel better soon and make hubby wait on you. I know I tend to feel odd when I have people waiting on my, unless I am in a restaurant.
My pond is also 4 feet at the deepest, but I don't think we have been has hot here as you have been in VA.
Feel better soon.
Irish - when do you think you will have your pond completed? Is this in addition to a pond that is already up and running? Wondering where your koi are if you are renovating. We would love to see some pictures as well on this site and we can always try to help with health issues.....
Belle it is good to hear of your positive progress to return to full walking health.
Jan
My koi are in my pool while renovating. Not a good summer to not have it for human use! :)
Belle
How are you feeling? I keep thinking about you. Are you able to get around more?
Carolyn,
Thank you for thinking of me. It had been a very trying time for me being so independent and staying at home a lot is depressing. I use my walker inside the house and has calluses on both palms.
DH golfs almost everyday but he makes sure I have enough food nearby.
In 6 days I get an X-ray and if everything is OK then I get a walking cast for 2 weeks then PT.
Have a nice weekend.
Belle
Belle
Sounds like you are getting very bored. At least you are able to get around some. I would probaby be on the phone driving all my working friends nuts. I know I did that years ago when I was pregnant and on bedrest. My BFF was always decent about it, but I know I drove her nuts at work.
We are always here if you want to keep posting. I'd love to see some fish and garden pictures - do you have some to share with us?
Belle,
I am still praying for your GOOD recovery. If you have any soft thick fabric; you may want to wrap and tape it to you walker handles. 1/4" foam which is available at any Walmart is good. I wraped my crutches handles years ago cause I got big blisters. Of course I have a lot of bottom baggage to haul around and it sure didn't help.
Take care and keep progressing. We are all routing for you.
Bonnie
Good morning to all my ponding friends!!!
Up early and energy level is high!! Why??? I am om steroid, 3 months ago I had some kidney stone blasted on my right kidney. Some bacteria showed on my urine on my Urology visit so they started me on Microbid and on my 4th dose I developed severe allergy that my face got swollen and itch all over with hives. My lips were swollen 4 times. Took benadryl with little results so my GP prescribed some prednisone. this happened during labor day which the pharmacy that I use was closed. DH went to Walgreen, had to pay for the drug because they lost there contract with Tricare.. I am feeling much better !!
My cast came off yesterday and the fracture line does not even show according to my surgeon. I have to use a below knee boot and I am walking still with a walker because it still hurts when I step on the affected foot.I start PT next week .
I rewarded myself with a home service manicure pedicure and boosted my spirits!! LOL!!!
I want to thank you for your care and patience during my ordeal and your you had been nice!!! It feels like we are friends for a long time.
I would like to visit your ponds the next time we are in Orlando area.
My warm regards to all of you!!
Belle
Belle - that is wonderful news. One quick thing to help keep the stones away, cut a fresh lemon into wedges and squeeze one or two into your iced tea or a glass of water. There is something about the lemons that combats the stones. I learned this from a friend who's husband had problems with kidney stones and this was something his doctor told him to do.
Good for you Belle, a little pampering never hurt anyone. Glad you are making such good progress.
Anytime you are in Orlando area you have to come see us ponders. I am just 23 miles from Orlando. If you play any of Disneys courses we are not far from there.
You will be back banging that golf ball around again soon. Keep your chin up.
Bonnie
Hello!!!
I am reading all your post and such a friendly group.
My cast is off last week and has a below knee walking boot, had 2 PT;s already and doing bikes for muscle strengthening since I lost some tone on mt left leg and thigh.
i was there for 1.5 hours yesterday and I was in tears because they got me walking with my sneakers and it was still painful. It was all in my mind because i was afraid of falling but I got a belt and 2 personnel with me.I also learned how to use the single crutches which i am mastering with my boot.
MY therapist told me that I should be walking without aid by early next month. DH does some PT at home.Ebjoy the rest of summer.
Belle
Glad your bouncing back so well. Keep on keeping on.
Bonnie
Sounds like you are on the mend Belle. So glad to hear that.
Belle, thanks so much for the update, so glad it is off so you can begin the road back to walking again. Sorry to hear about the pain, that is the down size, but soon that too will be a distant memory. I've heard that the fear of falling gets to some at first, but if you trust your PT folks, then make sure to let them know of your fear they will help you through it, you aren't the only one with that feeling.
Keep us posted.
Jan
Good morning!!!
PT is very aggressive and doing more, 1.5 hours twice a week. I do not know when I will be pain free!!
DH does some PT on the incision line because of adhesion. I lost muscle on my ankle as well as my whole leg so the incision is adhered to the bone. Does it make sense? LOL!!!
They got me walking with out crutches in my heavy boot and expect me to use it while I am inside the house. I am allowed to use crutches when i go out but if DH id around he is accessible to help me.
I am still on ibupropen three times a day.
The flexion on the ankle is still off and will be awhile before I am normal again
t.
We are supposed to play golf next month in Las Vegas but DH will be the only one playing.
I thank you for your emotional support.
Belle
Belle
sounds like slow but definitely making progress. I would do everything the doctors tell you to do. I am still doing PT exercises they gave me for my lower back 5 years ago and I know if I don't do them, it causes me pain and stiffness through out the day.
Best of luck to you. Sounds like you should try your luck at the slots or blackjack tables if you can't be on the golf course.
Geeez....Had killer lightening storms this evening. They rolled in just as I was finishing up backwashing one of my ponds. When my husband came home he said he could hear something in the back yard. I went out to check and a hose had come off of the pond (that's what I get for rushing around and not doing a good job) It had completely drained the pond. In the 2 hours between cleaning the filter and finding it bottomed out, I lost 23 koi. Hopefully the rest will survive. I think I'll make my morning coffee extra thick before looking in the morning (just to be a little bit brave!) :-/ ugh.....
MM -
Let us know - I would be just sick. You may want to put a bit of kahlua into your morning coffee.
Merry merry,
i feel for you , it is an awful experience!!1am thinking of you!!!
Belle
This message was edited Oct 6, 2012 4:48 AM
Thats awful. Would you like some koi back? They have grown and look great.
Oh Goodness Bonnie NO!! :)
I'm fine...
It's just terribly annoying to know that you can give them the best high protein food, keep an immaculately clean pond, have outstanding water quality, buy high end koi from reputable breeders, quarantine.....and all it takes is one broken pipe or hungry heron, to completely humble you.... sheesh....
MM
It happens to all of us from time to time. That is one reason we have each other on these forums.
I am so sorry this had to happen - how many fish have you lost?
23 total....Nothing I can do about it.....Of course I checked all the hose lines about 400 times today anyway!
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss Mary, wish I could help.
I found one of mine in the early summer that had jumper out of the pond and flopped around in the flowers till I found him covered in mud and no movement or breathing. I would guess he'd been out 30 min to an hour or longer. I washed him off in the pond, cleaned the mud out of his gills and administrated CPR . You know it actually worked. There was a little flip of the tail, kept forcing water in his gills and he finally swim away. Not fast and ended belly up or on his side several times for the 1st day them recovered pretty good. Now as strong as ever but a little less daring.
Tom
PS: My Lesson learned from your disaster - Design new pond to be fail safe.
MM,
Been thinking of you and you remember this happened to me few months ago. O lost 26 total and all the butterflies are gone. i do not have a single butterfly.
I wish I can do something for you.
How many is left?
Belle
I have my larger ones still, they were in my swimming pool waiting for the new pond to someday be finished. These were my smaller 6-14 inch fish. All of them were butterfly, either ginrin scales or doitsu. Very pretty ones. Once the new pond is finished, I was going to sell off some of the very large ones with standard fins and replace them with some of these beauties. Back to the drawing board!
Tom - I have tried the koi CPR myself and it does work if you get the fish in time. I am assuming you are talking about drawing the fish backwards through the water to force the water through the gills? It made me feel so good when I was able to do that.
MM - We had that problem a number of years ago with hose blowing off the pump, however we were able to catch it after only about 1/3 of the pond emptied out. Since then we had a fear of the pond emptying if we were out of town. What we did was to pull all of the pumps about 10-12" off the bottom of the pond, with the exception of the largest pump in the skimmer. If something happens, then yes, we lose the pumps, however we still have enough water in the pond to sustain life.
We also have a large bubbler for a 7000 gallon pond in the deep end, so when we go away, the bubbler is on and the large pump in the skimmer is turned off and the smaller pumps in the pond are left running. So far, knock wood, this has worked for us. I don't know how many pumps you have running in each pond, but the idea may work for you -
Not sure why you all would have so many pumps running in one pond. All we have is one in each pond and they are down inside of skimmers. Talked to husb. about it cause now you all got me worried and he said no way could pond be completely emptied cause water wouldn't go down lower than pump intake if the hose did blow off. I put them on with hose clamps pretty tight. All other plumbing is heavy duty PVC buried in ground.
Also asked him if knew what fish CPR was and he said same thing you said. Pull them backwards in water to force air into gills. Thanks for the lesson. I do have one that we named Jumper and it wouldn't surprise me to find it in the plants sometime. If I get to it in time will try your method.
What a wonderful help this forum is.
Bonnie
Bonnie
We have a total of 4 pumps running in the pond. We have 3 waterfalls and then a small pump that runs through the bog for filtration. Your husband is correct that the water wouldn't lower any further down than the pump, however if the pump is sitting on the bottom of the pond, then you would only have about 2-3 inches of water. That wouldn't be enough water to keep my koi alive. What does concern me is that DH has said in the next pond he wants to go to 1 pump, but I don't think he has been remembering that we need at least 2 pumps so we don't have this problem. We do have a back up pump that I suppose we would use if we go on vacay.
Yes, in my normal ponds, the pumps are a bit off the bottom, but while I'm under reconstruction, things aren't the norm.....SO in this case, the pump is just sitting on the bottom....it was the drying out of their gills that couldn't let me do fish CPR on them. I've seen fish come back from the dead if their gills stay moist and can take in oxygen, but it just couldn't happen in this case.
OK Carolyn, now i understand why you need all the pumps. My pumps have water going into the top which is high up inside of skimmers. Don't know exactly how to explain but if pipe came off of pump and it was still running only place it could go is back into pond. If electric went out and couldn't pump and water did go down it would still leave over a foot of water in the pond. Hope I make some sence. Which sometimes I don't. I'm to the point where I really don't want to loose fish and have to start over from scratch.
MM, I am sorry this happened and the offer still goes for some koi for you. I told Jeff and the first words out of his mouth were we have to take her some fish Mom. Don't think he knows you have some others. I am so glad it wasn't your large ones.
Have you started digging new pond?
I have to 2 "hard" sides of the pond done. (Cement block) The other 2 will be softer sides of wood, similar to bulding a deck. The upper pond will look like it's all a part of the whole thing, with a water fall under the walkway bridge, into the larger pond, but it will be an optical illlusion...and actually be 2 separate ponds. So no, I haven't started digging (which must be done by hand, no equipment) but I have the walls in, and the grass removed. Because I have to dig by hand, I'm not sure what to do with the dirt. I'm trying to build yard perimeter planter boxes, to accept some of it. I live in a subdivision, so I can't just move it "somewhere" ....and because of the zero side yard, I can't get a kubata or small scoop into the back yard to dig any of the dirt and dump it in a truck.
Jeff is so sweet....please tell him I'm fine, bummed but fine. No worries...
It was actually weird this morning when I threw the fish food in the little pond.....I always take the same amount, and forgot only half the amount of fish were in there....then I had to scoop food out, they just couldn't eat it all. Habit I guess! :)
Never have seen zoning that had zero lot line. There is a very small Bobcat with bucket that I thought might get in there. Geez thats really hard to dicard all that dirt. I can remember moving dirt away from a site with 5 gal. buckets. No fun but I got er done.
Maybe a FREE DIRT sign in front would get neighbors to come take some to make flower beds in their yards. Don't laugh, need to get creative here. Just tell them to bring their wheelbarrows.
We have had excavators stop here and want that big pile of dirt in our side yard and Charlie won't let them have it cause they sell it and he uses it to fill bull holes in pasture or any place else its needed.
Offer to help still stands. I could try and recruit my grandsons also but football may be an obstacle. Not for me I don't play. LOL
Just let me know.
Bonnie
You are are the kindest sweetest person! As we say, here in West Orange County, you get an extra gem in your crown in heaven!
We have a trailer (it's a closed trailer) but we thought maybe if we borrowed wheelbarrows, we could do maybe 6-8 at a time, haul them away...dump them...make a round trip....etc/etc/etc.....over and over.....and just get some of the dirt out of here. Some can go in my planters, but some will just have to go elsewhere....It's very clean dirt, so anyone can use it, but it's just a matter of getting it out of here.
I can dig it...I just need someone else to drive the wheelbarrow....for some reason I am the world's WORST wheelbarrow driver EVER! I tip them, crash them, roll them....it's just sad...embarrassing and sad....
There are only a couple of things I simply can NOT do.....1) make jello......2) make chocolate chip cookies (although I am a serious upper level cook/baker....and 3) drive a wheelbarrow.....
who knew? lol
MM,
Just bought one of those garden carts that tip out load cause my wheelbarrow completely wore out. We have Charlies old PU truck that we could haul dirt away with.
There is ALWAYS A WAY we just have to explore possibilities.
Call me and we will set up a day to dig and remove soil.
You have waited so long and been patient much better than I am.
Just have marked out on ground where you want dug out and we will go at it.
I'm not what I used to be but I can keep going longer than most 30 yr. olds. especially now that its getting cooler. We were digging in high heat.
LETS GET ER DONE.
Bonnie
Bonnie,
What a TROOPER you are and with a BIG HEART too!!!
Enjoy your good deed!!! God Bless you!!!!
MM,
I hope you say YES!!!
Belle
RE: dead Koi
My pond is 10 ft x 15 ft. Deepest part is 2'6" --- which is kinda shallow, I know.
The koi / goldfish population is/was 27 (until the herons hit last spring!
This summer, the air temp here in So. Jersey (near Phila) peaked at 104 degrees.
The only Koi that I lost was 24" long and weighed 14 lbs at the beginning of summer.
We called him Brutus. I had been offered $5,000 for him in early spring, and then I found him floating belly-up in August. The only change was in the diet: I ran out of Tetra pellets and, following advice of some other Koi people, I fed the pond a few handsful of Cheerios. The next day he was a bit sluggish. Day 2 he was bloated. Day 3 he was dead. None of the other fish were affected.
By the way: In response to those who lost fish when the electric went off and the pump died: with all our 20+ fish, without any plants or lilies, in spite of the shallow pond (2'6"), in spite of the high daily temperatures, we have never before lost fish except now --- AND we do not keep the pond aerated and have only one small 250 gph pump that circulates the water.(it used to be the bilge pump in our boat)
