Waking back up

[Crimedog]

Had a lot of string algae - cleared out dead matter, expect algae to clear. Water is super clear. Water Cress trying to take over - pulled up a bunch. Cannas are trying to beat the water cress (they got 6’ last season) Parrots feather back and less leggy. Lilies are sprouting.

 

[Crimedog]

In the storm

 

[brokensword]

In the stormView attachment 137626

where are you at that your parrot's feather comes back? Here in Mi, seems I have to overwinter it if I want easy access next spring. And how much water is over your parrot's feather? I used to have mine in the pond proper on the marginal edge but the fish and turtles liked it too much. I grow it in it's own pot now and let it crawl down to the pond and attempt to make its way across the surface. I have too many fish for that to be successful, though.

 

[Crimedog]

TX we only had a week frozen. The parrots feather is all over. Just Goldfish, Gambusa, and Shite Cloud Minnows... so it doesn’t get munched.

 

[jmajid]

Nice... looks like you were probably north of us as we didnt get as much of the snow as you did and the snow we did get was so very fine, almost like powdered sugar.
Our lilies are back and have been pushing the leaves up for a couple weeks now and the tarot that we had is also pushing up leaves, but I may have drowned it this week after adding too much water to the pond.
Wish we could have watercress, but the couple of years we tried hornwort taught us that our koi love it!

 

[Crimedog]

If you get in the area - I could probably give you a handful of watercress. I started out with a bundle from the grocery store.

 

[jmajid]

I see you have fancy goldfish, fantails etc. I guess they did OK with extreme cold?
Also how did the cloud minnows do? We have some mosquito fish - the population goes up and down through the year... but this year the population seems to have taken a dip after the cold spell. I do see they like the faster moving currents - always funny to see them swimming against it.
Did you lose power during that storm?
We lost power for a couple days... pond froze completely over... i had to break a hole for the gases to escape.... now i am thinking about how to have a backup air pump run from a DIY solar or USB type powerbank that i can have to just provide some air to the fish.

 

[Crimedog]

Did not lose power. All 4 of my remaining Goldfish made it - I think two got taken by birds last summer. The white cloud minnows did great.

 

[Mmathis]

If you get in the area - I could probably give you a handful of watercress. I started out with a bundle from the grocery store.

What grocery store? I haven’t been able to find any in NW Louisiana.

 

[Crimedog]

I think I got it at HEB Central Market - a Sprouts might have it. Or look for an Euro-Asian Market

 

[addy1]

My parrots feather gets frozen and comes back every spring just fine. I end up needing to yank a lot of it.

 

[Tula]

I bought some water cress at Meijer a couple weeks ago and it's taking root in a water filled jar. I'm going to let it grow a bit before I take it to the pond and bog.

Is there a difference between water cress and water celery ?

 

[mrsclem]

Water cress is an edible green, don't think water celery is, unless you are a groundhog. Water celery is usually tricolored, pink, green and white. Highly invasive!

 

[brokensword]

I see you have fancy goldfish, fantails etc. I guess they did OK with extreme cold?
Also how did the cloud minnows do? We have some mosquito fish - the population goes up and down through the year... but this year the population seems to have taken a dip after the cold spell. I do see they like the faster moving currents - always funny to see them swimming against it.
Did you lose power during that storm?
We lost power for a couple days... pond froze completely over... i had to break a hole for the gases to escape.... now i am thinking about how to have a backup air pump run from a DIY solar or USB type powerbank that i can have to just provide some air to the fish.

in a hundred more years when Texas has another ice/snow storm, remember this; don't ever pond/break the ice a the shock can hurt the fish. Take a pot of boiling water and melt a hole by laying the pot on the ice.

Just a tip from those of us who see such hundred-year weather events EVERY year!

 

[jmajid]

in a hundred more years when Texas has another ice/snow storm, remember this; don't ever pond/break the ice a the shock can hurt the fish. Take a pot of boiling water and melt a hole by laying the pot on the ice.

Just a tip from those of us who see such hundred-year weather events EVERY year!

I would have, but due to insurance requirements I have this gate/fence around my pond and the gate was stuck closed and i had no other access...by that time the pond had likely been frozen for some hours, at least overnight due to no power and close to 8degF temperatures.
I'd like to prevent something from happening and not have to correct it once it's happened...
I have indoor fish and have taught my daughter not to tap on the glass for this very reason.