Snapple -
anything new on your koi spawning? I still have that one female that looks rather eggy. She is not as round as she was, but she is not as slim as she used to be - what is up with that? I remember you posted something about that earlier. Not sure what to do at this point. As I mentioned previously, I have seen my koi spawn as late as September and I am hoping that happens again this year.
Have your koi finally spawned? I noticed you mentioned spawning activity but nary an egg....... Every time I look at my yamabuki I wonder - this is her first year that she is old enough to bear eggs.
Koi Spawn?
No spawn. My biggest oldest female died suddenly Saturday. There wasn't a mark on her anywhere. Her gills looked OK and there was no fin streaking. I don't have a microscope so if it was a parasite I couldn't tell. I did open her up and she was loaded with eggs but she was not impacted. The egg sacks were soft and the eggs bright yellow. I've been too bummed out to post about it. For the last three days I've done a ProForm C treatment in case there was a parasite and I just wasn't seeing the symptoms. I do a big water change tomorrow and I'm done with treatment. There is no sign of any spawning activity. The other two females are still egg loaded. Last year I had a huge spawn, eggs everywhere. This year - nothing. I could just cry.
ohhh.... Snapple. I am so sorry....
Oh, I am sorry Snapple, it's so hard to lose a fish.
Wow, so sorry Snapple. This ponding thing is not for the faint of heart, as I keep learning and saying. I suppose in nature it is no big thing for the life cycle to work as it does, but when fish become our pets, loss is heartbreaking. Hugs to you...
Brenda
Snapple....I'm so sorry...I understand what you're going through.... :( Let us know if you find anything out about the cause.
No spawning here either , except for one shubunkin...
The Yellowish orange doitsu butterfly on the left is still eggy bellied. She's probably 18 inches long.
Sooooo beautiful!
Thanks for the picture. I have always wondered what an 'eggy belly' looked like
Got up this morning to see my showa being pushed around by several of the males and cloudy water (figures when you are expecting company that the water clouds up!). Anyway, the spawing continues - I am hoping to soon see a much slimmer and trimmer yamabuki!
Gosh! I hope so! Keeping my fingers crossed~ Here's another eggy bellied matsuba, doing litterally nothing in my pond but swimming.
Well don't give up hope. My koi started spawning this morning, and are still at it.
I don't know the water temp but the air is 60*
Nothing here. I've given up.
Momma's got her girlish figure back, but got beat up in the process. What can I use to help prevent an infection?
If the eggs are still in the same water, you want to limit any chemicals. Upping the level of salt, or adding a bit of Melafix can sooth beaten up fins.
In the middle of the night I had to use the bathroom and on the way looked out my bathroom window on the second floor down to the pond and saw all these bubbles on the surface. I rushed down to the pond to see what it was because I thought the fish were gasping for air at the surface but instead they were eating these bubbles. They weren't even shy of my presence and ate and ate and ate. My fish are too young to spawn and there was no smell. Anyone have any ideas what these mysterious bubbles were?
This morning there wasn't any trace of the bubbles.
"Usually" but not "always" bubbles come from protien...so you may have had frog eggs (temporarily) in the pond, which have now been eaten. Fish won't touch tadpole strands of eggs (they are bitter) but will happily eat frog eggs, which float on the surface, as well as frog tadpoles.
I have a question and I hope it doesn't sound too dumb. Is there a difference in tadpole eggs and frog eggs?
Yes, there's a difference. Tadpole is a term used for both frogs and toads babies...between egg and adult, but toads have a protective bitter taste, as do their tadpoles. Frogs for the most part do not, because of their ability to leap and swim as their defense.
Frog eggs float on the surface in a mass of gel......toad eggs are in long black strands of eggs that tangle all over your plants.
Fish will eat the tadpoles of frogs as they hatch, but not of toads.
very interesting--learn something new everyday. Thanks, Lavern
MerryMary and Snapple
did your fish finally spawn? My yamabuki finally did. I noticed that she has her girlish figure back......I also noticed quite a few red scales missing on my hi asagi - hoping the color comes back on those scales....
I'm afraid that nothing ever took place with my koi ( a little with my shubinkin and sarassa goldfish) I'm going to see if once the water begins to cool at the end of the season, it may spark something again (?)
I'm also getting ready to re-do my pond, so maybe the whole enviromental change and water change will maybe get things going. If not, I guess I'll just wait again for next spring. All fish seem healthy, even if they never spawned.
No spawn. After I mysteriously lost my biggest koi I treated the pond for parasites. Then 3 butterfly koi either were stressed from the ProformC treatment or they had hemorraghic septecemia. They all had red streaks in the tail fins. I didn't want to risk the latter. So, DH and I gave each koi a round of 5 antiobiotic injections ( Baytril). Though we have some bashed up tails from the catching routine all the fish seem fine. It wore me out though. Luckily I have a new young vet ( substituting for my regular vet who is recovering from a stroke) who is a koi enthusiast. Very easy to get medication and diagnosis.
At the moment I have a healthy pond. I guess that's something anyway.
Wow Snapple! I had no clue you were going trhough pond issues. I haven't seen you posting for a while. Great news to know you have a vet that has a koi spirit! I don't have one, so just sort of "wing it" when I have a problem.
I've entered a garden contest sponsored by the local Botanical Garden where I volunteer. Like everbody else I've had neighbors go ooh and ahh in the gardens but, with the exception of one guy, I've never had anybody with real expertise look at them. So this has become an all consuming project. I have worked at it every single day since mid April. I found out I was a finalist two weeks ago. The final judging is next week. I'm certifiably a crazy woman. The horticulturalist I work under at the botanical gardens is also coming next week to take cuttings of a Yakushimanum ( rhody) for propagation to plant at the botanical gatden. I told him in the spring how big it was and what cultivar it was. He took a look at it to verify the cultivar and said he's never seen one that big outside of a botanical garden in Germany. It's about 20 yrs. old. They are so intent on getting the cuttings to grow that they are sending them overnight to Seattle to someone who specializes in propagating Rhodys.
He also encouraged me to enter a Dranculus vulgaris ( Voodoo Lily) in an upcoming regional garden show in the horticultural division. I've never entered or been to a flower show before - ever. But to please him I did. (He's a great guy.) I didn't go for the judging. Thought I'd just go pick up my stuff when it was over and see what else everybody brought. Well, he called me from the show after the judging. That stupid lily won three awards. Best in its division. Best in overall presentation and amazingly best entry in the entire show. I had handfuls of ribbons and people clapping for me and patting me on the back when I went to get my little old lily. I was speechless.
So. That's where I've been all summer. Weeding and dead heading every day. Grooming the container plants. Edging. Pruning. Spraying for diseases. Popping out plants that weren't performing and scouring garden centers for replacements. It's over next week. I'll tell you one thing. The flower show and the garden contest are my first and my last. I'm happy just to be a finalist. There are twelve gardens in the finals. A couple of them on estates and much older. I expect a 12th. That's OK with me. I'm pooped.
Congratulations Snapple on your Voodoo Lily awards. I'm sure you'll place much higher
than 12th on the garden contest.
Thanks! But I don't think so. These are ancient establish gardens, with an incredible selection of mature conifers. The kind of stuff you see in magazines. One is located in a gated community. I live in a tract house on a small lot in a subdivision where one of my neighbors can't even get around to mowing his lawn on a regular basis! Across the street the weeds around a bird feeding station are higher than the bird feeder. LOL. I was just thrilled to get into the finals. I can say I gave it my very best. It also forced me to "finish up" some areas that needed attention. Next season I won't have much to do at all except the routine maintainence. That'll be nice.
You know I never paid a lot of attention to my neighbors and how yard lazy they really are until now.
Snapple, that is funny, I would be a certifiable crazy woman as well... we just had a barbeque party and I was a little crazy about finishing up jobs, making sure everything looked nice, etc.... and that was just a casual party, LOL! Congrats to you, how exciting to be a finalist, and big congrats on the Voo Doo Lily! Fantastic!
Brenda
LOL! Snapple, I hear EVERY word you say! First of all, congratulations on your awards!! How very exciting to have something bigger and better than everyone else, even IF you didnt realize it at the time! :D
My hubby always wonders why I put so much time into my yard when I have a few neighbors who insist on making our little subdivision look like the ghetto. (Yep, I have one neighbor on my cute little cul-de-sac that decided to paint their house electric periwinkle blue. Go figure that I'm about to invest way too much into my back yard with larger koi ponds and decks..... BUT, with my happy privacy fence, it's my own little tropical escape, so very much worth it!
Again, CONGRATS! Simple nature can make us all so humble and SO very content!
:)
Snapple -
Congratulations! That is so exciting!
I also am totally with all of you on neighbors and their yards - my next door neighbor likes to keep his garbage cans on his front porch - take about ghetto! They started out doing that for the winter months a couple of years ago. Now they have the garbage on their front porch all year long. Makes me glad we spend our time in the backyard with the fish instead of sitting on our front porch - I can imagine smelling their garbage in the heat of the summer.......
Garbage cans on the front porch! Oh brother. They must not ever open their windows? I do have one neat freak on the block. He's my next door neighbor to the west. But let me tell you what kind of "neat". He does not like anything in the way of his riding lawn mower. Anything. So, with two exceptions, he has cut down every single tree and shrub in both the front and back yard. Yup. The guy has one fir tree and one miserable scrawny lilac in the front yard - period. There are no plants of any kind. Nothing at all in the back yard. The rest of the property is fence to fence half dead grass from being cut way, way too short. I've seen better landscaped Army barracks. To top it all off, he told my husband about two weeks ago that the last tree is coming down this year. The lilac should be put out of its misery. The fir tree is healthy. When that tree comes down I''ll post pictures of what it's like to live next door to a house with nothing green or alive anywhere.
This idiot is a realtor! Apparently he doesn't believe in curb appeal. I stay away from him. I know I couldn't keep my mouth shut about how he has uglied up the neighborhood.
I just came back from an awards ceremony. I won Best Shade Garden. I'm dumbfounded and over the moon. While I could never hold a candle to the the best overall garden, or even the second place best overall garden, I 'm pretty happy with the results. Made the local newspaper and everything. Read my lips though - I will NEVER again enter a garden contest.
Oh yeah? Never say never. . .
Congratulations on your success! Your win is a win for all of us here at Dave's - Water Garden's! What is the name of the contest?
Linda
Mary
Congratulations! That is so exciting.....
WOW! That's outstanding! As happy as you are, and as excited as we all are FOR you, I also understand you saying "never again"....lol...
Give it some time, who knows what's in the future...but as for now, soak in all the glory you are deserving of!
Congrats!
:)
Congratulations!!!! How exciting! We need a new thread with pics of your winning shade garden... I'm in year one of my shade garden and can use all the help I can get. If you do start a new thread, please direct us from here with a link so those of us from other areas are sure to see it, okay?
Brenda
I'll get some pics. The contest was Toledo Botanical Gardens "Gardens Galore". Here is one shot. Not the one they chose for the newspaper but it's my favorite.
Very pretty, Snapple! I'd love to see more pictures. My husband put in a conifer and heather bed this year that I'm hoping will look something like your garden when it grows up!
I love the picture-what types of conifers are in that picture?
Going clockwise. Back center is Juniperus scopulorum 'Skyrocket' ( 20' H X 2' W in 10 years ). Partially pictured to the right is Taxodium distichum 'Cascade Falls - a deciduous Bald Cypress, grafted and expensive. The dark purple mound shrub is Berberis thunbergii 'Concord'. It holds that deep purple from leaf out until frost. In front of it is a small weeping Hemlock, 'Coles Prostrate' . It's a true dwarf ( growth rate less an 1" per year). It will never get any taller, only wider. The two pink shrubs are Wiegela 'My Monet". They are deciduous. They come back every year. They stay small. Any akward branches can be snipped back any time. They hold that pink, green, white variegation from leaf out until frost. They do not like to dry out. Keep them watered regularly, otherwise a trouble free tiny colorful shrub. Those are three yrs. old. Between them is a ground hugging creeping gold Juniper - Juniperus horizontalis 'Mother Lode' . Slow growing and can be somewhat pruned with care. The low conifer to the left of 'Skyrocket' is Juniperus x media 'Daub's Frosted' . It's a gorgeous blue/green with yellow tips. It will probably require careful handling/pruning to keep it in bounds. I've already done some shaping to keep it from shading the base of 'Skyrocket'. Behind them as a backdrop is a pair of mature Fraser Firs. The site gets sun from 11:00 on. Just barely eonugh. Not to blow my own horn here, but I deliberately sited those plants just that way hoping it would look just the way it does. Now, the challenge is to keep them maintained in that small space. Those of you with more room can easily duplicate this and maintain it without trouble. Just space them out farther. Everything is hardy to Zone 5 or better. They are fertilized in the spring with a 10-10-10. They are watered weekly with an irrigation system. I do not allow them to dry out. This would be dynamite in front of a brick wall or the sunny side of a house. Just remember to allow enough air circulation behind the Junipers, otherwise you're asking for spider mites. It's proof you can have permanent color from spring until frost without deadheading, dieback or any of the other labor associated with fussy annuals or perennials. Please try it.
For goodness sake. I forgot two plants. The green ground hugger in the foreground is Arabis caucasica - Wall Rockcress. It flowers white in very early spring. It's trouble free. Spreads slowly. Never invasive. It may melt a little in the hot afternoon July/ August sun but comes back when the weather cools. It's an alpine plant. Always looks good though. The blue flowered plants are Campanula carpatica 'Blue Clips'. Beautiful blue flowers all season. They would probably flower more heavily if I dead headed. I don't bother with them. They are very hardy.
This message was edited Aug 24, 2009 4:20 PM
This message was edited Aug 24, 2009 4:21 PM