Yaupon Berries toxic?

[Gail Hollis]

I set up my pond early in the summer and a Yaupon Holly Tree shades it. The tree just sprouted full of red berries, some of which I am sure will fall in the pond, either by themselves or from the birds eating them. Are these toxic to fish?

 

[DrCase]

I have one over my pond and my fish don't eat them,

 

[Gail Hollis]

That's good to know, DrCase. I lost a few fish in the last week with no indication of what went wrong. I've been chasing down a few theories, and that was one of them. The city sprayed for mosquitoes in an adjacent neighborhood, so that's my next suspect. It wasn't close enough to initially get my attention, but thinking maybe it has affected them because I'm running out of ideas. :/ I did a 20% water change 3 days running and now 48 hours without a fish demise, so hoping that stopped the problem.

 

[dieselplower]

I did a quick Google search and found they can be used to sedate or kill fish.

 

[Priscilla]

That's good to know, DrCase. I lost a few fish in the last week with no indication of what went wrong. I've been chasing down a few theories, and that was one of them. The city sprayed for mosquitoes in an adjacent neighborhood, so that's my next suspect. It wasn't close enough to initially get my attention, but thinking maybe it has affected them because I'm running out of ideas. :/ I did a 20% water change 3 days running and now 48 hours without a fish demise, so hoping that stopped the problem.

We have mosquito spraying here daily, by plane and by a truck that drives around. So far no impact on my pond.

 

[DrCase]

I did a quick Google search and found they can be used to sedate or kill fish.

Did the fish have to eat the Berries to be sedated ?

Just wondering , I have netted out a bunch of them in the past that sunk to the bottom of the pond.
I cut the holly back really hard over the last 2 seasons, so I don't get as many in the water any more

 

[Gail Hollis]

I've found a few sources which indicate they might be poisonous. I'm not taking any chances, the tree will be coming out.
http://plantsciences.utk.edu/pdf/PlantsthatPoisonFish.pdf
http://www.koi-pond-guide.com/toxic-plants.html

 

[dieselplower]

Did the fish have to eat the Berries to be sedated ?

Just wondering , I have netted out a bunch of them in the past that sunk to the bottom of the pond.
I cut the holly back really hard over the last 2 seasons, so I don't get as many in the water any more

The article did not say. It basically said American Indians used them to sedate or kill fish before catching them and eating them. It's in the first link in Fails post. Page 1, second column, at the top.

 

[Dave 54]

I would think that like native indians in South America that eveything would be first mulched up to in a had weaved net to first release the juices of the berries DrCase.
This has the effect spreading the juice of the berries throughout the river or pond they wish to fish from .
Thus bringing the fish to the surface, there to be scooped up in nets by the women and children of the tribe
Which when you think of it is a very cleaver thing indeed and shows just how much of the skills we the people of the modern age have lost in the last 200 years .
In my childhood my Grandma's would still resort to polticess and various other plants for this and that now sadly these skills are fast dying out

Dave

 

[Wyndrunhr]

I set up my pond early in the summer and a Yaupon Holly Tree shades it. The tree just sprouted full of red berries, some of which I am sure will fall in the pond, either by themselves or from the birds eating them. Are these toxic to fish?

 

[Wyndrunhr]

I set up my pond early in the summer and a Yaupon Holly Tree shades it. The tree just sprouted full of red berries, some of which I am sure will fall in the pond, either by themselves or from the birds eating them. Are these toxic to fish?

Last winter, I had a flock of hundreds of birds descend upon my Yaupon holly‘s full of red berries and in a matter of two days thousands upon thousands of the berries were completely stripped by the birds.

They certainly seemed like they knew what they were doing, so I would say that based on that anecdotal evidence, they are not poisonous at least to birds.

 

[addy1]

Welcome Wyndrunhr to the forum! This is a 2014 post but thanks for the info

 

[j.w]

@Wyndrunhr
Good to know at least for birds!

 

[GBBUDD]

The robins went ballistic for our 25 foot tall holly , The cars got the short end of that deal. Tree came tumbling down in a storm i was not heart broken

 

[Lisak1]

We have a crabapple that over hangs our pond - the birds love the berries and then they leave lovely purple droppings. Everywhere. Gotta love 'em!