A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 WAAAAAAA...

WAAAAAAAA...WAAAAAAAA...WAAAAAAAA

ALL MY POND FISH ARE DEAD!!! WAAAAAAAA!!!

I looked out the windows this morning and didn't see them swimming around as usual, and we've had pouring rain ALLLLLLL night and morning. I saw that the water was about an inch from the top of the bathtub pond, so I went out to bail some out. The fountain was still working fine. When I got outside, they were all floating on top of the water, and PURE WHITE like a ghost!!! Not a single speck of that beautiful orange left on them! WAAAAAAAA!!!

What do you think happened?
Am I dealing with acid rain here?
Or was it too much new water mixed in with the pond
to offset the chemical balance?
Somebody know??? I need to find out so this doesn't happen again -
my poor poor fishies!

I'm sure it wasn't the racoon or another critter,
as they would have taken them and eaten them whole, ya know?

Anyone?

Oh, Lynne!
I have no idea what happened...because I don't know much about ponds or goldfish, even though I have them! You'd think mine would be dead if new water was the culprit...I add water to my pond about every other day...straight from the garden hose. (I must have some indestructible goldfish.)

I'm so sorry about your fishies.

Cindy

Thanks, Cindy!

I, too, added water just about everyday straight from the hose - not too much though, and never had a problem. Maybe this was just tooooo much added at once? I really have to wonder about the chemicals in the rain water though...

No kidding!
That would sure make me wonder!

How aweful! It might be acid rain, it could also be some water that had pesticide/weed killer made it into the pond too from splashing. Is your frog still around?

When raccoons go for the pond you wouldn't see any fish. They eat them. They eat pond snail too. They are very destructive when they invade.

That's what I thought about the racoons, too.
Freddie frog doesn't come out at any particular time, so I'll have to look around for him when it stops raining.

We do not use any chemicals near that pond at all, but I'm wondering if any might have somehow found there way here from our neighbors who had something sprayed over a week ago?

I haven't feed the flowers surrounding the tub all summer, and my husband hasn't put anything on the lawn for months!

Thanks for the response, Gardencrazy!

I was reading (on another forum ) where someone had their whole pond killed out because of a neighbor spraying. The wind blew towards her pond and killed everything. I think it was a herbicide.

When it is time for us to treat the yard for fleas and ticks I am so nervous it isn't funny. I cover all of my water features that have fish. If I could get away with out using chemicals I would but having the critters we do we have to fight fleas and ticks with big guns.

Donna

I agree with all you've said, Donna, but I'm just surprised if this would be from the spraying next door that was done a while ago? I would think that would have an immediate effect, so I'm still leaning towards the rain as the cause, I guess... not to say that the chemicals didn't get into it also...

Sorry about your fish Lynne....

Would they have gotten ick or anything like that?

Depending on how often you change water on your pond (if it's small) or add water (if it is too large to do water changes on)...if you typically don't add new water and it rained a lot, likely you had a significant pH change.

When plant debris, fish waste and uneaten fish food breaks down, it forms acids that deplete the kH (buffering) of the water and allows the pH to dip. Fish can adapt to a wide range of pH ranges, but they can't always deal with large swings. So, if there hadn't been regular water changes or additions (to keep the kH strong and pH stable) and there was suddenly a lot of rain water, there would have been a sudden jump in pH which easily could have killed them. It would likely not have been selective and would wipe out the entire stock.

Sorry for your loss.

Gosh, Lynne, that's terrible. I am soooo sorry you lost your little fishies.

Dianna