Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

Oh, my, a dark red?!!!! That makes me very happy! I got one deep red at Menards last year and it was the only one that did not make it. People kept opening the bags to see the tubers, and then not closing them and so they were drying out. Only one left, so I gave it a shot, and lost. I am excited I will get some dark red after all!
JW, the mini is not actually a mini, just an infant, I guess. LOL It has a "raspberry colored flower with 50 petals per flower", so it will look like a double lily, I guess. Here's a link of a pic of one. http://www.naturalenviro.com/productinfo.php?sku=Miami-Rose&surl=tropical-water-lilies Since I know it's not actually a mini, I doubt it blooms this year. It's a tropical, so the only lily I will need to bring inside for the winter. Hopefully after another year or so I'll have extra tubers to share!

 

[j.w]

Lol, I think I was talking about the little mini that addy sent you.........she said it's called Almost Black and I think it is a true mini. Tried to find a mini on the net w/ that name but couldn't.........only big ones. I'm staying away from anything that I have to bring inside, just doing the hardies. Too lazy to bring in.
Your tropical is going to be a very pretty one when it blooms by the looks of the picture on that link CE!

 

[pondlover]

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks, PL. I think the fert tabs are what got the lilies blooming. Now they are talking 45 for low in a couple of days. I think all the plants are going well, though, so it shouldn't bother them, especially since the water will be warmer. Bet I get "fog" above my ponds that morning! I hope it won't last too long, but I sure enjoy the cooler temps! 70's for this girl any day! Love it!

 

[CountryEscape]

I can see the bottom today .... crossing fingers that it continues to clear more each day. Still very murky water in the koi pond, but since I reworked the bog in that pond, and there was some silt coming even after rinsing the new pea gravel, I will give it an extra week before worrying. Been using beneficial bacteria product twice a week, with weekly dose each time, instead of doubling the dose like on the bottle. Pet shop owner said it would be better to do it that way, so I'm trying his way. Maybe that has helped, or maybe the added hyacinths, or maybe the bog starting to grow in the warmer temps (although temps going to drop again this week Grrr ...), but whatever the reason, I'm happy I can see clearer water daily the last 3 days. Now, if I can just spot my huge fantail I got from Pond Kid. All others are present and accounted for, but the fantail has been MIA for over a week. Other fish I seldom see, but will spot them maybe once a week, so I'm hoping the fantail is preferring the lower water or maybe under the hyacinth rings ....

 

[j.w]

Oh no I do hope you find the fantail and maybe he/she is just hiding! You don't have any predators there usually do you CE except once you had a snapping turtle?

 

[addy1]

Last spring was my first true bog and pond spring, it took mine a week or so to get the water to clear up. We built a temporary skippy type filter to get rid of some of the pea gravel dust dirt.

This spring it took one day to clear the water, 24 hours. I pleasantly surprised.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, just like last time, in the a.m. it was pretty clear, could see bottom easily, but tonight, not so much. Drat! I can see the pots of the lilies, so that's an improvement, as they are about 18-22" down. But why does it keep teasing me like this?
And, yeah, JW, I would be worried about predators, but that pond is right next to the dog's pen, and I have to figure that if a heron or anything else happened to come to the pond, Yukon would notice and bark. And, why just the fantail, why not the others that are just as friendly and big? I'm so bummed if it's gone. I'm secretly hoping it has decided it likes to hang out under the hyacinth rings. There are 5 small Comets and Shubunkins. I see one all the time, 2 of the others I see about every other day, and the other 2 only once every week or two. I have no way to know what is there or not until the water clears. I'm tired of messing with the quilt batting, which does catch stuff, but doesn't seem to make a difference one way or another. So, that tells me what is murking up the water is algae stuff, not dirt or silt. So, until everything cycles, I'll just have to sit back and wait ... and use the beneficial bacteria to help things along, at least that's my hope. :redface: :redface: :redface:

 

[pondlover]

CE.... this is just a thought for you. I made a ring for my hyacinths and when I first put it in and did a head count on my Koi. Jet, one of my butterfly was missing. Turns out the little sneak had gotten in the hyacinth ring. So I pulled my ring out and put a piece of pipe insulation around the top ring to keep it out of the water more. Maybe look for your missing fish in your plant rings.
You can see in this pic how i put the foam around the top. It has really helped and now they can't get in. Funny I put the rings in there to keep them from eating the roots and the silly fish got inside the ring. LOL

 

[CometKeith]

CE, Wow everything looks great! The tree roots were a neat idea.

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks, CK! And, PL, I never thought of that!!! I will do that tomorrow, however of the 2 rings in the goldfish pond, only one of them has netting, the other has roots free floating. I want to see if the goldies are going to bother the roots, or if they will leave them alone. So, I will definitely check that tomorrow. I did make it so that tiny fish could get into the netting, but maybe there was a spot where the fantail got caught on the netting. That will make me sick, too, if it's stuck on there and died cause it could not get unstuck. I would go out right now, in the dark, but I figure if that's what has happened, then it's already dead. I'll just hope that it's not stuck on the outside or jumped to the inside and is not caught up in the ring. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I would not have thought of that, at least had not yet!

 

[pondlover]

When I discovered jet in the ring he was fine and had been feasting on the roots.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, darn it, good news bad news. Bad news is looked under and in the hyacinth ring, no fantail. :sad: Good news is water is clear again this morning. :razz: I stood out there for probably 10 minutes, searching, waiting .... Still not seeing 3 of the little ones, but hoping they are lurking under the hyacinth. Big goldies from Pond Kid were spawning this morning, swishing up under the hyacinths. Didn't notice others going after the area, or maybe she was just practicing and didn't actually release her eggs. I have no idea what could have happened to that fantail. My house cats walk the bog wall, but they have no claws on front, and no way could they have caught a fish. It's possible it died and someone scooped it out, though. I will just have to get over it! It was my favorite though, wouldn't you know. :sad: I will just have to focus on the clear water again ....

 

[addy1]

Darn ce, That is why I don't pick favorites, I like them all. Now some to stand out more.........but not naming them favorites lol

 

[j.w]

addy is right, no naming or getting attached to certain fish...........it's a sure jinx! Saw a small maybe 3" goldfish in the pond one day and noticed it had a longer tail...............well I really wanted longer tailed ones so was happy seeing that one. Got attached to it and then one day noticed it was dead! All I did was call it the one w/ the long tail so not even that is done now. Everyone else was just fine except him/her! All just fishies now!