Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

I wondered if the fantail may have gotten caught behind or under the skimmer. Tried to mess with it tonight, to move it around, and ended up dropping 2 large stones into the pond, darn it! So, I quit. I'll have to get into the pond and get all those dropped stones out. LOL The fish were all hovering around me, wondering what I was doing, since I was hanging over the edge and had my hands under the skimmer ... had to move 2 snails to make sure a not smoosh them, too! Didn't find the fantail, but didn't get the skimmer all the way moved either. That's the last place I can think of it may have gotten caught and not able to get out. I had put a rock under the front edge of the skimmer when my level was really high, trying to decide if that was the level I wanted it, or lower, so didn't do anything permanent. Got to thinking that the front of the skimmer box tipped up may have allowed the fantail to get underneath and not back out. But, the little I messed with it tonight, I didn't see it or feel it under there. Also, have a rock put on the shelf for the lily pots, and have a couple of pots on it and over the edge of that, so a fish could get under that, too, but it would be able to get back out, too. If it's clear again in the a.m., I may just pull the rocks away from the skimmer edge and pull that box out enough to check under it. I just don't think a predator came, I think either it died and something scooped it out, or it's in there and just hiding. BUT, it was always out with the other fish before, never missed more than a day seeing it, so I'm sure it's gone, just would prefer to know it was dead, if that's the case, and find the body. I know if something scooped it out, it's long gone, too. Once I get all the possibilities checked out, I'll quit worrying about it.

 

[CometKeith]

CE I was missing two fish for over a week. The other day a raccoon came by and pried out one of the large rocks in my waterfall and sent it to the bottom. It would have been impossible for it to come out by itself because it was nestled in the waterfall and not near the edge of the rocks. I guess he was smarter than me and figured out where the missing fish were.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I even wondered if it was under the stream liner, which is extended into the pond, but I checked that last night. I just have this sneaking suspicion that I'm going to find that fish, and it's going to still be alive, and just fine, just been hiding all this time. It was about the time the hyacinths arrived, which has been 10 days ago, so somehow I think it's there, just got to find where! That makes me wonder ... I did finish putting rocks along the edge last weekend, and although the fantail has been missing longer than 5 days, I wonder if it got behind the rocks somehow and went forward, but cannot come back out. Kind of like your fish must have gotten up on the waterfall rocks, then got stuck and could not come back out. I'll have to investigate that as well! Maybe it got behind rocks that have been in place for a long time. I'll have to make sure that can't happen now or in the future, or if a fish can get behind the rock, he can get back out, too. So, what works visually, may not be the best for the fish!

 

[CountryEscape]

FINALLY have clear water 3 mornings in a row. Gets somewhat unclear by evening, but I'll take it. Need to do some major water changes on the koi pond, see if I can get that one clearer, too. Here are some pics from this morning.

 

[sissy]

Koi produce a lot more waste than goldfish and thats why I have 2 filters one on each end of my pond .As the koi get bigger it gets worse ,feeding them less helps .I feed mine only 2 or 3 times a week .The more you feed the more waste you get and over filtering is the only thing you can do then .

 

[pondlover]

Woo hoo. Congrats on the clear water CE. I know how bad you wanted that and I totally understand.

 

[CometKeith]

CE, Your water and fish look great. Hope you find the fantail. Re your floating plants. If they take off you will be pulling out at least 20 or 30 plants every day by mid summer because they will be taking over you pond! I usually have to take out about a half dozen every day and start out with only a couple plants.

 

[CountryEscape]

It was clear this evening, so I'm happy, things have finally cycled. BUT, koi pond is another issue. Water smells bad in that pond, so now I'm concerned about that! And, filter in koi pond is leaking slightly, so will have to mess with that tomorrow and try to seal it back up. Also going to do a MAJOR water change on the koi pond unless someone tells me a good reason not to. Water looks brown, not green like algae at all, and tonight it is smelling yucky, like old pond water. I'm going to rinse the bottom of the filter and flush it and then see about doing a big water change, maybe 25-30% Anyone know a good reason NOT to do that? I'll check water tomorrow. Had to add about 3" of water from the leak, but planning to do far more of a change tomorrow.

 

[CountryEscape]

CK, if I have to pull them out, that will be fine. So far they are holding their own. I could not grow them at all last year but had them in the koi pond. So far so good this year. And, if they grow that fast, I'll remove the netting on one of the rings in the koi pond and let them munch away.

 

[sissy]

have you tested the water in the koi pond .Koi stress out easy this time of year .I use 2 tank filters on mine and how much do you feed them .Sounds like dead algae if it is brown ,do you net the bottom koi poop a lot

 

[27goldfish]

Any old leaves or anything like that in it? That could do it.

 

[CountryEscape]

Nope, no leaves down there. I netted the bottom again today, and 95% of what I got up was green, algae looking stuff, same stuff I get everytime I net it out. Have no idea what is going on. By the looks of the water in a bottle, it looks pretty good, but looking down into it, not so much. Even when the koi are at the surface, the water makes them look blurry. I cannot see past about 12". Makes me sick!
I did find the leak, it's on the outer wall of the bog, I'm pretty sure. I can see the water seeping under the outer wall landscape stones. So, I'm off to get some repair items, and then to get ME some flowers for my beds. I figure I deserve it! Also loosened the drain pipe on the filter for the koi pond, so took that all apart and regooped it with the roofing goop Addy uses, so hoping that will finally fix that issue. I bumped it when I was draining it, and loosened the silicone. I sure thought I redid it with roofing goop, but evidently not. Stupid me!!! We'll see how long this stuff works. I'm going to leave it to dry overnight before I refill it. Have all the filter media with pond water in a big tote.

 

[sissy]

maybe you are getting some stuff from the leak washing into the pond .Nutrients from it can do that .

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm going to switch over to my koi pond thread to continue about this problem with the leak. It's getting worse, darn it .... :-(

 

[CountryEscape]

Went into the goldfish pond yesterday, got all the landscape stones out of the bottom that had fallen in during the build. It's soooo nice to be able to see the bottom, even saw several trapdoor snails. No fantail, though. I looked everywhere I can think of. It's just plain gone. I have 3 other smaller fantails, so they will have to grow and make some babies for me. LOL Put the last 5 small goldfish into the pond. The others that were slightly larger got put in 2 months ago, and they are probably 3x the size of the ones in the aquarium, which had not hardly grown at all. They will grow fast now, though!!!