Pond in the foothills

[MitchM]

Only the 1 shubunkin a few days ago. Last October there were 4 6" shubunkins and 3 7" koi.
I'm keeping a watch out for any more.

 

[sissy]

sorry to hear but could it be acid rain .i know here I actually took a bucket of rain water and tested it and it did not test good and i was really amazed at the stuff that was floating in there .I think it could have actually been cause by the pine trees all around the back of my property

 

[MitchM]

They seed the rain clouds around here in the summer with silver iodide, but I don't think that would affect the KH of the rain.
Snow PH is 6.7, KH unable to determine, probably 0. Well water is dkh 16/ 286 ppm KH

I suspect that the long time spent under the ice is what killed them - plus it was a newer pond, not much vegetation for the fish to eat and the fish were small to begin with.

 

[sissy]

I just fed my fish today again with the wheat germ mixed with garlic ,They went nuts .Water temp is just under 60 degrees .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Mitch, very sorry to hear of you fish loss, I know it must be a real disappointment after all the hard work you put into building your pond. I agree that the long period they spent under the ice was bad, as mold can build up and with no winter vegatation to sustain them combined with the fact that a new pond is trouble cause it is not yet fully established. Over time you will get plants established and you will get better at wintering the pond, and find a way to make things work. I am sure you have some ideas for next winter.

Things will get better as you gain more knowledge of what may have gone wrong. Hope you are able to find some fish alive...

 

[CountryEscape]

Dang, sorry to hear, but hopefully those were the only two that died, and you will have others found hiding yet as your ice disappears. :fingersx:

 

[MitchM]

The last iceberg has melted and the NW passage is now ice free, lol. April 5 is the official 1st ice free day this year. I'm not expecting any more to form again.

One koi has shown itself, looks to be swimming normal, thanks everyone.

I'm going to start focusing on what to do about the berm and the liner that I left draped over it last year. I built the berm out of the clay that I excavated from the pond dig. It came out mostly in clumps or loose powder and I figured that it would settle with the freeze/thaw this spring. I'm glad I did because as I walk on it now, it's like walking on mush or like a soft pillow. There is no firm structure to it at all. If I had placed rocks over it, they would be a mess and I would have had to redo them.
I also came across a couple of diagrams somewhere on the discussions here that showed it may be better to place some large rocks on the plant shelf and fold the liner back over itself. That would prevent the water from wicking over the top through the soil/debris that would settle there.

Here is the berm today



The pond is built on a slope falling away from the main building so the berm starts out at 1 foot tall and progresses to maybe 4 feet at the back.
The extra long section of the liner you can see in the second picture is for an overflow that will run back into the forest.

 

[sissy]

about time you see spring .Thought you were in Alaska for awhile . :razz:

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes I see you still have snow on the ground huh! Pond looking nice without the ice!

 

[j.w]

Good you didn't finish off that berm as you would have had twice the work now. I know the diagram you are talking about and rock in your case w/ the liner flipped over and another set of rocks on top to hide the flap sounds like the way to go. Thinking of redoing mine that way. Glad you are in the thawing mode.

 

[MitchM]

about time you see spring .Thought you were in Alaska for awhile . :razz:

You may be right there, sissy...... :grumble:

Ice came back on the pond today plus six inches of snow, with more snow predicted near the end of this week.

I did get a chance to remove a leaf net and the leaves that had fallen last year before this snow came. There were a couple of fish hanging out right under the net but went back down to the depths with no overhead cover there anymore. I had an extra piece of 2' x 4' rigid foam so I put that on top of the ice today. Maybe it'll help give them a sense of security until I can get some plants in there later this year.

 

[MitchM]

In order to accommodate my fish indoors next winter, I'm going to set up an aquaponics system.
I have an extra 200g aquarium that I'm going to put in the greenhouse and see how that works out.
I built this stand for the upper media beds and lower sumps today:



I'll work on getting the aquarium in place next.

 

[j.w]

Wow quite the setup you have there! What ya gonna grow?

 

[MitchM]

I think I'm going to grow herbs in one bed, vegetables in another, some kind of fruit in another (maybe melons?) and flowers in the 4th one. See how that goes.

 

[j.w]

Cool, I tried growing melons once in my green house. We just don't get enough sun even w/ the green house and there were tons of vines but only a couple 50 cent size melons on them. You get lots of heat up there in the Summer so yours must do really well!