My goldfish pond

[HARO]

Keith; typical raccoon habit... bite off the head and leave the entire fish lying there. I've seen this far too often, including their paw prints, so I know who the culprits are. John

 

[addy1]

Addy, I took your advice and am using some of the excess liner to make the sides more even and raise the edges in a few spots where the walls were low. The pond is slowly growing again. I think one day my wife will notice it grew when when it takes up the whole yard!

laughing, she just might! Sneaking in pond growth...................

 

[CometKeith]

yes, it's very messy doing it this way. She does notice all the mud I track into the house. Haro, That's good to know. I guess I have to stop blaming that grey cat that hangs out by the pond.

 

[addy1]

Yep hard to blame a cat for man size mud prints...............

 

[CometKeith]

Definitely wouldn't blame the cat for the mud prints inside the house! lol. I actually need to watch the movie "Holes" again. I think I would understand it more now. I find digging, planting etc to be very therapeutic. It sure beats sitting behind a desk all day.

 

[j.w]

That's a lot of wasted pond digging going on in that movie LMAO!

 

[CometKeith]

yes, but could you imagine if they were all filled with goldfish how cool that would be?
Here are a couple pics I took this afternoon of the newly expanded pond with the happy residents!

 

[koiguy1969]

VERY NICE C.K...(THATS COMET KEITH, NOT CALVIN KLEIN)..........LOL

 

[addy1]

Great job, you newly expanded sneaky pond looks great.

 

[okiee]

Fish are getting big! Looks good!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks! CK hahaha. They are getting more photogenic. I think since the raccoons got all the snails and stopped coming around the fish are less skittish now. I did lose a fish when the pond was recycling 2 weeks after I changed the liner. It was the only fish I lost in 18 months and it was sad because it was my pretty white sarassa with the red dot on it's back. Everything seems to be fine now. Now that the pond is bigger do I get more fish? if I just go by surface area of 1" of fish per 1 sq ft of surface area I should be able to have 60-70 inches of fish and I am at half of that. The fish will grow but it seems that the pond grows as well! I have been pretty good at not expanding the bio-load and keeping a good balance but it is tempting...

 

[CometKeith]

ok, here's an update. The fish I got from a friend didn't make it. I think changing the liner in the middle of the summer wasn't a great idea. I lost 4 fish total and a 5th looks like it's a goner. The other 8 or so fish look pretty healthy. If I had a quarantine tank it would have made life easier and i could have moved the sick fish and treated them. I probably should have stopped feeding for a month after changing the liner but I was hoping the existing biofilter would keep things in balance. I'll take some more pictures soon.

 

[j.w]

That's too bad Keith and hope the others stay well. I don't like losing fish and it bugs me when it happens and I keep going over what I could have done different. We live and learn from it all and teach others.

 

[CometKeith]

I guess I could have done constant water tests checking ammonia and other things but since it was so long since any of my fish were seriously ill I wasn't monitoring it as closely as I should have. Also I have the lame excuse that i have been super busy with work and didn't have that much time for it, but it is true. The last fish that was sick I gave a salt bath to the other day and it is looking much better now. All the other fish that are left are doing fine. I got two new additions today because I needed new airstones because the raccoons eat them and I couldn't resist the end of the season fish sale at the garden supply store. Here are a few pics of the expanded pond and some of its residents.

 

[j.w]

Glad the others are doing well. Your pond looks nice and clean and I see you have the lovely long finned ones that I wish I had some of. Someday I will find some somewhere. Got my little shubbies this summer anyways.