What is your weather like ... today

[CountryEscape]

Well, we are going in the toilet here again this week. Yesterday, could not have asked for a more beautiful winter day! 49 degrees and sunny, no wind. But, that all changed over night. Right now, it's 7F, and tomorrow not going to be much better, colder yet on Thurs. Ho hum ....
Haro, when your fish first started dying, did I read that you were scooping out leaf litter on the bottom of your pond? I wonder if the cold weather that followed and stirring up the pond in the winter might have affected the fishes health, too. Can't remember the details. Colleen says you lost power, but that should not have caused the deaths, or I would not have thought. I lost power for 22 hours, ponds totally froze over, everything was shut off for several days afterwards, too, it was so bitterly cold here at zero or up to 10 degrees for several days. I have no dead fish, at least none that I am aware of. Unless you had a very small pond, I don't think your koi would have run out of oxygen in that short of a period of time, would they? Colleen, what's your thought on this? I wasn't able to move any water for either of my ponds for over a week, although I did get the heaters plugged back in ASAP, it still was several days with total ice coverage. What would be the recommendation if there was loss of power and bitter cold, and no generator? I have a couple of battery operated aerators, but that would not have done much good in those frigid temps, and I would have had to drill a hole to get them into the water, too. Just wondering, for future reference. I don't have a generator as yet, although that may be in future plans, for sure by the time I retire! I just wonder IF I remember correctly (and I may be way out in left field with my memory) that Haro was cleaning up the bottom of his pond, and then if it got bitterly cold and froze over with the loss of power, if those two things could have contributed to the deaths. Learning as I go, and don't learn if I don't ask questions.
As everyone else has said, I'm really sorry for your loss, but we can all learn from this and hopefully keep it from happening to us in the future. For sure don't give up. I have issues with my goldfish that I have never really figured out, but we have to keep working on solutions to continue to enjoy our ponds and fish, and I sure don't plan to stop enjoying them anytime soon. :blueflower:

 

[JohnHuff]

As a scientist, degrees Fahrenheit does not make sense but we're all used to it, and we always work in C or K in class.
As a regular person, a foot is an easily pictured length. A meter is too much and a cm too small. Inch works great too. Like, I'm about 6 ft tall, rather than 182cm or something like that.
Same as pounds (lb). I know what a pound of food is. Or a pound of anything. Same as a gallon as in we drink a gallon of milk a week, etc.
So it's mostly all things which are easily pictured in the mind.
OK, for you Brits, what the heck is this stones in weight? How far back does that weighing system go? Henry VIII? Ethelred the Unready? "Yes sire, we doth found a bride for that knavely scoundrel and she weighs nigh over 14 stones."
Ya, you guys can talk...

Five o'clock and -2 F! And while I'm here, why do Americans insist on using these old measuring systems? Temperature in degrees Farenheit, and distance in football fields! :dunno:
John

 

[callingcolleen1]

CE, I am not sure the size of his pond, but he lost power for like a week, and the temperatures in Ontario are colder generally than where you are, and you have had many days above 50 degrees, where John and I are lucky if we see temperatures above freezing! Then the ground here is much more frozen and frozen down much deeper than where you are. The trees are not budding there yet that is for sure. Ground that is frozen deep is a MAJOR factor in winter, as when the power goes out and if the ground is frozen several feet down, the pond will freeze solid, several feet down, or I think in Haro's case, the pond probably had very thick ice, like over a foot thick, and that would mean much less water and oxygen for the fish. Then Haro may not have a big pond like yours, or maybe his fish were bigger? It is hard to say for sure, but my guess is that they ran out of oxygen cause the ice got way too thick. I have seen ponds here with no power that froze solid to the bottom, several feet into the ground during hard winters like what Haro is seeing these days. No fish can live for long in a pond that is frozen very deep with little to no water left under the ice.

CE when your power went out, how thick did your ice get? I would be willing to bet that your ice was half as thick as Haro's ice and maybe your pond is deeper too...

Today was not a bad day except for the cold wind, had to wear my thick warm hood and jacket to keep the cold wind away. Not any sun to speak of as it was cloudy and colder than yesterday for sure!

 

[addy1]

Looks like we have around 10 inches of snow at home, 54 here clear sky, mid 60's during the day.

 

[DrDave]

Colleen
Great Video!
That reminds me too much about why I left North Dakota. We will enjoy another day in the high 70's here today.

 

[callingcolleen1]

The city has finished building this new Trans Canada Bridge, and they pulled all the big rocks out of the river that were used to make a road over the South Saskatchewan river to build the new bridge, now I have hit the "Mother Load" of rocks, must pick threw and decorate my yard and finish the cobbling I started last fall...

Is it too early to collect rocks for spring project? The ground is still frozen and the permafrost goes down several feet and won't defrost till late April! Oh well the top of the ground will defrost first, and you can NeVER have too many rocks! :razz:

 

[sissy]

rocks rocks :cheerful:

 

[HARO]

CE and Colleen; Just to set the record straight, I did NOT disturb my pond before the koi deaths. I dredge the bottom in the fall, so there was very little sludge on the bottom. During the ice storm, our temperatures were right around freezing, and there was a 2' diameter hole in the ice. Power was off for 30 hours, but the hole remained open during that time. The temps then plunged to -5 or so (Farenheit) and stayed below 10 for a week or more. It was during this time that the corpses started floating up. My pond holds 1,500 gallons, and the ice around the edges gets to be about 6" thick; the de-icer keeps the ice towards the pond center to no more than an inch or so, with the hole open MOST of the time. I've never used an air pump, but I picked one up a couple of days ago and placed the airstone about a foot from the de-icer. Using a pool skimmer, I managed to scoop about two cups worth of cedar leaves and spruce needles from the bottom, as well as three dead frogs. (At least I THINK they were dead!) That is where the situation stands now.
Yes, Colleen, you are right about the ice build-up here. Ice fishermen routinely drive cars and pick-ups over the ice of the local lake (Scugog) and back when I used to fish, I measured ice thickness of OVER 3' on several occasions! My pond, however, is on the south side of the house, protected from the cold NW winds, so it will only freeze to 18" or so if left to itself. I doubt that lack of oxygen was a factor, since cold water holds far more oxygen than warmer water. A day ago our temps went back to the -10 to 10 range, and should stay there for about ten days!
And FYI, Colleen, permafrost exists only in the far north, and, as the name implies, it is PERMANENT! Only the top inch or so will soften under the arctic sun.
Thanks for your interest in my dillemma! John

 

[sissy]

Haro do you think anything could have gotten in your water and contaminated your water .

 

[HARO]

As a scientist, degrees Fahrenheit does not make sense but we're all used to it, and we always work in C or K in class.
As a regular person, a foot is an easily pictured length. A meter is too much and a cm too small. Inch works great too. Like, I'm about 6 ft tall, rather than 182cm or something like that.
Same as pounds (lb). I know what a pound of food is. Or a pound of anything. Same as a gallon as in we drink a gallon of milk a week, etc.
So it's mostly all things which are easily pictured in the mind.
OK, for you Brits, what the heck is this stones in weight? How far back does that weighing system go? Henry VIII? Ethelred the Unready? "Yes sire, we doth found a bride for that knavely scoundrel and she weighs nigh over 14 stones."
Ya, you guys can talk...

First of all, Sir John, "Who you callin a Brit, boy???" I'm a Squarehead, and don't you forget it! :grumble: But seriously, I'm with you on this issue. (All except the football fields!) I came to this country at the tender age of seven, and grew up with the miles, pounds, gallons, etc., and still use that system for the most part. Canada converted to metric back in the late 70's, I believe it was, but still builds with 2x4 lumber on 16" centers, covered with 4'x8' panels! Go figure. I guess some habits are harder to break than others. And no, I have NO IDEA how much a stone weighs! Have a nice day! :cheerful:
John
P.S.... Have you heard of the Arkansas Method for estimating the weight of a hog? You balance a long plank on a pivot, put the hog on one end, and then place enough rocks on the other end to balance it. Then you estimate the weight of the rocks!!! :biggrin:

 

[HARO]

Haro do you think anything could have gotten in your water and contaminated your water .

Nothing except some spruce needles and three dead frogs.
John

 

[sissy]

Do you think that they could have done something to the water quality after awhile or has this been the same over years .More meaning the spruce needles as I know from my father being a tree man all my life that they are very acidic and actually I break out from hives from them .I remember my mom yelling at my dad because she thought he allowed me to get near poison ivy when I went to help him at the Duke Estates property .Took me to the doctor for it .Fred Flintstone has stones that's all I know about stones and wish we could use them for money ,us ponders would be rich :cheerful:

 

[j.w]

Sounds like we will never really know what happened w/ Haro's fish. All we know is something did and we know that they were not injured as not all would die and don't think he saw any damage to prove that either. Now could the death of the first fish and a few dead frogs pollute the water enough to start a chemical chain reaction? Who knows? How long did the first dead fish stay down under the ice before it was pulled out? Or is the first fish that died somewhere still in there decomposing? But at the cold temps he is having I would not think the fish/frogs would decompose fast at all would they? Are all fish accounted for at this time? Wonder if the needles off the trees could do any damage? Could it be a disease that one just cannot see? Where is Dave w/ his new disease books? He may be able to find something in there. It's all just to awful to lose all your fish so fast at once.

Weather here just dry,cold and cloudy today w/ no chance of snow

 

[JohnHuff]

Sorry Haro, most of the Canadians I know are transplanted Brits. I never heard of the AR hog weighing method but it sounds fun.

First of all, Sir John, "Who you callin a Brit, boy???" I'm a Squarehead, and don't you forget it! :grumble: But seriously, I'm with you on this issue. (All except the football fields!) I came to this country at the tender age of seven, and grew up with the miles, pounds, gallons, etc., and still use that system for the most part. Canada converted to metric back in the late 70's, I believe it was, but still builds with 2x4 lumber on 16" centers, covered with 4'x8' panels! Go figure. I guess some habits are harder to break than others. And no, I have NO IDEA how much a stone weighs! Have a nice day! :cheerful:
John
P.S.... Have you heard of the Arkansas Method for estimating the weight of a hog? You balance a long plank on a pivot, put the hog on one end, and then place enough rocks on the other end to balance it. Then you estimate the weight of the rocks!!! :biggrin:

 

[addy1]

12 at home 55 here, the snow is beautiful with the bright blue sky