This evening I went into the pond to remove some dead or yellowing waterlily leaves and what t my wondering eyes do I see? A few little fishies about 3/4 long. I assume that the mommy layed many eggs and that these few are the survivors of the lot - unless there are other hiding who knows where. The ones I saw came out from under the dead leaves. Maybe I should not mess with mother nature and leave things alone?
I also wanted to inspect the submersible pump as not enough water is coming up out of the waterfall. I have this net around the pump with filter material inside of it. I removed the net and let the pump run without any cover. Wow! What a difference. So the filter is filthy and needs cleaning. Do I really need that thing just to pump water up into a waterfall?
I guess I can clean this thing with a good stream of water?
My Cannas are blooming.
Fred
babies have arrived
Yes, you can clean your pump and pump sock with the hose. What kind of pump determines if you need the cover. Do you have some kind of filter other than this one? Do you have Koi or goldfish? How big is your pond? All of these things make a difference. How many fish do you have?
I was reading somewhere after I found 20 goldfish babies last year that the goldfish will eat the Koi eggs but the Koi won't eat the goldfish eggs. I have 4 little goldfish that I can't catch and I want them OUTTA THERE. In about 7000 gallons of water what do you think the chances are of me catching them. Yeah, that's what I thought too...ZERO. I am not draining the pond just to catch them but they better not get in my net when I'm dipping out leaves.
Oh, it's called a pump sock. Live and learn. My submersible is only for a waterfall feature. I have another pump for the filtering. I have koi in about 9000 gallons. If I could catch the little guys I might be able to save their lives by putting them up one level but I'm afraid they will let themselves be flushed down to the big pond again.
Fred
Congratulations on your parenthood Fred.
dylancgc - I share your pain with goldfish in the koi pond. Biggest mistake I made. I have been trying to catch them for 6 yrs. I have dropped the level two feet and netted with a sein. That was the best I could do and I got down to a dozen. From nearly 100 I think. In case you're wondering I started with about 4! This year my goal is complete eradication. I bought a minnow trap. I am going to bait it and drop it in this week and see what happens. The opening is too small for the koi so I don't think the koi will have a problem. I don't know what to bait the trap with though. Anybody have any ideas?
Koi WILL eat goldfish fry up to a certain size. I have watched them do it. The fry that survive are the ones that stay hidden in the plants until they are too large to become a snack. Problem is the goldfish reproduce three times a season. You get the picture.
My koi are cannibals they eat they're on fry too.
My koi will swim at the surface with their mouths open eating the mosquito fish, pretty smart if you ask me :o) Darn tootin' they eat their own fry. They also eat goldfish eggs.
I also have an albino catfish(Cracker is his name) that is about 4" across and 18" long. He doesn't seem to mess with the koi or goldfish but I was told if there is another catfish and it will fit in his mouth he would eat it.
I tried to capture some and move them to a safe area but I can't find them. Maybe they're all eaten up already. What cruel world.
Fred
You wouldn't think it cruel if the little orange devils tried to take over your pond. I make mine into fertilizer. Tasty tomatoes.
I had one (goldfish) in the top pond, I don't know how it got there but it did. This winter when he was really cold, barely able to move, I captured him and was going to put him in the stock tank with the others but the stock tank had about 6" of ice on it. I had to get to work so didn't have time to melt the stock tank ice, I was not about to put it in the bottom pond with the other fish so my Standard Poodle had a snack, I threw it into the dog yard on the way to my vehicle. It was gone when I got home so something got it, they probably ate it in my bed, that's my luck.
I took the chicken way out. There is a fish euthanasia product (oil of cloves) that quitely puts them to "sleep". Fosters & Smith sell it. I can't quite just lest them toast in the sun as my DH suggested. Then when all have departed they are buried in the garden. Boy how I wish I had never put those four in to begin with. I knew dogs would roll in dead fish but I didn't know they would eat them.
I do have a smaller pond just for comets and shubunkins. They don't seem breed out of control in there. Because it is only 400 gal I have to keep the stocking level appropriate. I have a few favorites that have been in the pond from the first day 7 years ago. When the numbers get too high out go the ugly and the plain. That's just life in the jungle I guess. I long, long ago wore out my welcome with my pond owning friends and neighbors trying to give them fish. One year I even took a couple dozen to the local pet store. They sold them as feeder comets. How cruel is that! One minute you're chasing around in a pond with your buddies, the next minute you're being chased around in an aquarium by a hungry Oscar!
You guys are tough. I'll let a fly out the window rather then kill it. :-) My wife is the swatter. No mercy from her.
Anyway, on the babies - I guess mine were little koi as my two shubunkin are still too young to mess around. I think.
I always wanted to have my own koi multiply which is why I had the upper ponds but now I dodn't know how to get them there and keep them there. The water flows thru these areas and I filled two of them with much rock. Little guys would be ok in there but won't they flush down with the water sooner or later?
Maybe I should build a little safe house for the buggers to go to. I was thinking of an area surrounded by PVC pipes and some kind of netting. Inside would be plants the big boys can't touch but the little guys would feel at home in. I just don't know if the koi are too stupid to stay there and not get eaten. I guess in their world its quantity that counts.
Has anybody done this kind of thing?
Fred
Fred, the lady that helped me set up my pond told me to put a new cotton mop head down in the shallow end of the pond during spawning season the fish will deposit the eggs for some reason in the mop head and you can easily pick it up and put in another area.
I've never put fish in my top pond but somehow they are there and don't float down to the bottom.
Once something happened with the pump and it pumped all the water out of the bottom pond except for about a 1' wide area about 6" deep. Would you believe somehow the fish knew the water was going out and all the fish were safe in this 6" deep area. Didn't loose a single one. I don't know how?
I guess I have to put all this off until later as we have to go north to start to get our home ready for sale. It'll probably take us a couple years and then we'll be here in paradise fulltime. I just hope I live long enough to do all the things I still want to do.
Fred
Me too!!!
Gosh you guys are mean. LOL Can't you put them on freecycle or take em to a pet shop or something? I can't even bring myself to compost my water lettuce when it takes over.
I just set out another bucket or give it away.
Wow, I cant belive some were left. when they spawn they will eat all the eggs. Those koi will be you grand champs!!!! Its not so far fetched...
Regards,
Rick
Sorry but fish are like all the baby puppies & kittens in the world, you can't save them all or you would be so overcrowded they would all die eventually. I like my fish and I would love to just have these 20 that I have and no more but noone has come up with fish birth control yet. I work for a veterinarian and we spay/neuter, too bad you can't do that with fish. My boss says I'm nuts.
I have gotten harder hearted over time, but after 16 years working with the vet and of seeing the way people treat animals, you have to get 'mean' or the job will break your heart. The best part of the job is watching the babies grow up. I love playing with the babies, and sending them home for them to terrorize the owners homes. God made babies, any species, cute so you didn't want to kill them sometimes, especially when they try to eat your house or stomp all over your favorite/prized plants.
Yeah, right now one of my big babies (16 lb cat and he's not fat) is hanging out of my amaryllis plant . That's OK. I can always get another amaryllis. I can't ever get another "Sir Eric The Red Can Do No Wrong".
We had a huge cat like that and he got hit by a car (HBC) last fall. We have sure missed him. There will never be another BooBoo.
My Irish Setter, Dylan, goes every step with me in the garden and he walks on alot.
Dylan cannot understand why he can't lay certain places, that green plant is soooo
cool on his tummy or side in the summer when he is hot from watching Mom garden. I love him so I guess I can handle a few stomped plants.
Pets and plants are what makes this world a better place to live.
PeggyP
While I was typing the the first post our oldest dog was at the vets. The news is as bad as it gets. Heart failure that can't be helped with meds and Cushings disease to boot. I get the sense dylancgc, that your pets are full fledged family members as ours are. This is gonna hurt.
I am so sorry to hear your baby's too ill to heal. That is probably one of the biggest hurts of life, losing a beloved pet, no matter what the cause or their age. Just love your baby while you can and you will know when it is time to send your baby to the Rainbow Bridge.
That is the hardest decision a pet mom or dad can make. I usually have to make the decision in our house and just because I deal with it every day that doesn't make it any easier when it is your baby. Clients apologize for crying over a pet, don't EVER apologize for loving your pet. I tell them I am just as bad when it is one of my own.
Euthanasia is the worst part of my job, especially when it is a client pet that I have been with since it was a puppy or kitten and now it is dying of old age or some problem that we can't fix. I have my favorites in patients and I still cry when my favs die.
You will know in your heart when it is time to make a decision to end your baby's suffering or when they are too ill to continue. It's hard to tell you the signs but you will know it's time.
Not to try to be gruesome but you need to decide what you want to do after your baby is gone, if you can discuss it now you won't have to try to decide when you can't think straight. Discuss with your vet the options open to you, discuss it with your family and let your vet know before hand your wishes, it will make it easier for you when the time comes.
If I can help in any way please let me know. It's kinda hard to give hugs long distance but I am sending a big one your way. I gave my Dylan an extra hug tonite also.
Peggyp
snapple45 I am so sorry you are facing this. It's hard to let go but at the same time you don't want them to suffer. I'm very close to making that same decision with my Yorkie? It's never easy!!! Like Peggy said you will know when the time is right.
God be with you and guide you in the right direction.
Jeri
Oh man OH man. Thanks for the kind words of support. I swore that after I lost our schnoodle 5 years ago I would NOT wait too long the next time just because I couldn't bear to part with him. And here I am. We brought Duke (pomerainian - pit bull mix) home. He is fairly comfortable for the moment. He is scheduled to have an ultrasound Thursday. We may treat the Cushings disease and see if that eases the load on his heart. I dunno.
Yes, he is pom and pit bull. He looks mostly pom. With an attitude.
dylancgc, people like me depend on people like you. Thank you for doing a rotten job that means a heck of a lot to the owner.
jeri11 - I'm so sorry we are both walking in the same shoes. Yorkies are 2 tons of dog in 4 lbs of fur. Some friends had a little guy named Otto that just stole our hearts. My husband actually considered trying to see if our friends would part with him since they traveled a lot and kenneled him often. No sale! We are a little too old here to take on another puppy but if we did we have always said that would be THE breed.
snapple45: Be sure to let us know how the minnow trap works!
Snapple45 I googled cushling disease and this is what I found.
http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/cushings/cushings.htm
Hope this helps answer some questions. It said it wasn't fatal but the heart is a different story all together.
Jeri
jeri11 - That's good information. Much of it carries directly over to the canine form. The ultrasound tomorrow is to try to determine what is pushing the pituitary to over produce. The vet says that dogs with Cushings live at most 2 years with the disease, with or without treatment! Treatment is expensive because of frequent blood tests to monitor and the medication itself is costly. Why treat then? Comfort for the dog. He is not a happy animal right now: Tired, thristy, frequent urination (and not always outside!) and trouble getting up and down even the smallest step. The ligaments get weak and he just recently tore an ACL just getting up off the floor. That is healing up OK though. So, this is about quality of life. Now when you add heart failure on top of it you have some very tough decisions to make. At this moment he is at my feet sleeping and all seems well. This just sucks! Your caring enough to find information takes some of the load off. Thanks!
I'm glad that it was helpful. Jasmine is 14. She is almost totally blind, deaf & has very few teeth and also inconsistency of the bladder. I have to make special grooming appt. on days when the groomer isn't to busy because it upsets her too much. When it rains for a couple she gets so arthridic she can barely walk. Pull out the bag of Beggin Strips she acts like a puppy cutting up. I'm to the point I'm afraid to take her to the vet for fear he will find something else. I understand where you are at completely.
Jeri
Snapple45
This afternoon I wrote you a wonderful letter that even had me crying and I got interrupted at work and when I came back the letter was gone. It's probably just as well.
Anyway, the jist of the thing was you will have your memories of Duke and that will be a good thing. I'm not going to get all mushy now, I really don't like to cry.
Please keep us posted about Duke's progress.
PeggyP
We have really gotten off topic here, should we take our thread somewhere else. I don't see it ending anytime soon.
PeggyP
Fredrump, your thread has been hijacked and I apologise. The folks on this forum are just so caring and I have led them off in another direction entirely. We can move on to lighter subjects and back to fish babies, spring and all things new and good. So how are the babies doing?
Mary
My little ones have all gone to fish heaven. I can't see a single one.
Fred
Don't give up yet they may still show up somewhere. I miss one and end up fretting and then the next time I go out there it is.
Jeri
Oh for crying out loud! This was supposed to be happy! Well, trust me, there will be more where those came from.
Oh we are sorry. Maybe they are just hiding really well. Don't give up on them yet.
PeggyP
seems like we're having an online discussion here with everyone sitting at the computer at 1/4 to 11PM
My water is turning darker again. Strange how this cycles. I added a little bacteria today. Last time I did that it really cleared up in a hurry.
You guys see all my flowers? It's a like a real water garden out there. I'm pleased to say the least. Part of my mental plan was to have flowers and plants with the fish being sort of being there to give purpose to the pond. I still have to resolve my pump issue as I don't think I have the right one. I'll probably wind up with UV lights at some point too.
Fred
You will and you'll kick youself for waiting so long.
I did.
Jeri
You know me and UV's. I swear by em. As for the pump stuff my husband claims I am the queen of pumps. One for every occaision. It isn't easy getting a pump sized right for flow rate, volume and head. I have at least four sitting in the shed that between the two ponds that didn't work out quite right. I did see your plant shots post. Kind of turned ME a little green with envy.
I think I missed them where are they?
Jeri
didn't I post a link? maybe somewhere else:
http://fredrump.phanfare.com/album/252823/356243#imageID=15070308
Oh yes, under cannas
FR