ready to give up

[steph o.c.]

thanks everyone for all of your suggestions. I appreciate the help and the pep talks!! we won't make any quick decisions. This weekend is supposed to be nice so we plan to hunt for the leak.

 

[addy1]

I had a beautiful red long finned gold fish, I came out of the basement door just in time to watch the heron swallow it.
It likes to sit on our roof, looking down at the pond. It has not been around , that I know of since we put the netting up.

Don't give up we all have had to fight leaks, predators, algae it can be overwhelming, just take one problem at a time.

 

[CountryEscape]

Ditto to what Addy said. And, if we have not had all of those problems to deal with yet, just wait! I am continuing to be thankful no herons have come to feast on my fish. I know the ponds being right off my back deck have nothing to do with them not visiting. I have heard they will stand on people's decks to fish. I have a feeling my dogs are what are keeping them away. That, and the fact they have "free fishing" in my farm pond in my horse pasture. It's fairly shallow, and has tons of fish and frogs for them to eat. Not clear water like my backyard ponds, but still easy enough to fish in.

 

[Priscilla]

I just saw the heron today, perched on the roof overlooking the pond. I did happen to find around 10 tiny goldfish. I hope they are too small for the bird to be interested! But I think it will eat anything...it's huge and not too afraid of us.

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about! My heron used to mock me. It was a bit scared of my husband who hit it once with a coconut (by accident, hubby throw a coconut and the bird got scared and flew INTO the coconut). So the bird knew he was business, but used to mock me.

In a freak and I mean freak accident, some how the heron flew into my Mom's chain-link fence (she is my neighbor) and got tangled up in that and died - how? I don't know. The fence is tight, so we don't know what happened. After that guy went bye bye, we have not had an aggressive one like that around. I think he got so many fish he just wouldn't give up. The new guys have not had much luck so they aren't as aggressive.

I also once left my hose in the pond after filling it with well water. Unplugged the pump and woke up to a near empty pond after the hose syphoned it out. That was some stress because I thought the pond had a major leak and it was only a month old.

Good luck through your trials. We've all been there in one form or another.

Do you have some caves (bits of pipe) or something like that for the fish to hide in?

 

[steph o.c.]

a quick update...we have decided to continue with the pond. We drained and cleaned it last weekend. There are ~20 small fish and an equal amount of tadpoles. Dragonflies, frogs and birds are certainly happy that we decided not to fill it in! No heron sitings lately but i know he will be back. We still have a leak but it seems to have slowed a bit. We removed the pump and examined the box and all around the box but didn't find anything. This weekend we will attack the waterfall...my hands were raw after moving so many rocks. I understand that it is rare to have a leak in the underground piping...at least that is according to the expert. Does anyone have any experience with that? thanks again : )

 

[Meyer Jordan]

In almost 20 years of installing and servicing ponds, I have seen only one instance of an underground plumbing leak. It was an improperly glued fitting on the bottom of a biofalls unit. 99.9% percent of leaks are around the waterfall/stream.

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, obviously the heron did not wipe out your pond if you had that many fish and tadpoles still in there. Good deal. Now, to find the leak. Once you tear things apart, do trial and error fillings, if possible. Leaks can be very small, almost not visible with the naked eye, but given that drip drip drip going on for 24 hours, can amount to far more water loss than you would guess. If you can't find the leak above ground, you may have to dig up the lines underground. Is it possible the lines froze with water in them this past winter? You said you were gone, power outage caused pond to freeze over, so is it possible the water lines also froze and possible there may be a hairline crack in one of them? If you are digging stuff up, now is the time to dig it ALL up and replace anything that looks suspicious. PVC line is cheap compared to the time it takes to dig it up. We are cheering you on! Good luck.

 

[addy1]

The best way I find leaks is wait for dry hot weather, then look for wet/green areas. If it is a small hard to find leak.

 

[Big Lou]

Addy please further explain "look for wet/green areas".

 

[addy1]

When I have had small leaks, if they are not bothersome enough they can wait, once we hit our dry hot summers, the wet dirt and greener vegetation is very easy to spot. Esp my pond in arizona, 118 degree days, dirt rock hard and dry.

I have used that method here to find my stream issues, the deer like to walk on the stream during the winter munching on my plants, in doing so they smash down the edges which sometimes I miss. I walk the stream checking the edges looking for wet dirt. But it has to be dry, not raining etc.

I have not had pond leaks here, but did have some in arizona.

 

[Rach B]

I have to reseal my rocks on the waterfall each spring as they always develop leaks over the winter but good luck with it x

 

[addy1]

I don't have waterfall leaks, my main problem is the stream and the deer mashing it in the winter.

I put liner under the rocks, with long edges that curve up to the sides, then covered the extra with rocks. It keeps the splash and any diverted water going the right direction, back into the pond.