Azaleas killed off my pond

[missfishy]

Hi Everyone! I'm new here but wanted to share this story just because it was such a shock. I have had a goldfish pond for a few years, and have only once ever lost a fish. My fish have been very healthy and even successfully spawned new fish. My pond was moved last fall and my fish have been fine in the new location, but last week something diabolical happened. Over 4 days 22 of 23 fish died. I couldn't figure out what happened, until I did some research. Apparently Azaleas are toxic to fish, and there were three Azalea bushes near the pond. Because it is springtime they were pollenating and the pollen was landing in the pond, poisoning my fish. I have since removed the Alazelas, and am slowly restocking the pond. I've read some posts here about people putting Azalea roots in tanks. Don't do it! Every part of the plant is extremely toxic to fish, and dogs and people. . . Azaleas are the worst.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Thanks for sharing that info

Sorry to hear about the fish dying

 

[itiwhetu]

"All types and all parts of azalea bushes are considered poisonous. They contain toxins called grayanotoxins. Ingesting these toxins can include symptoms which may vary between humans and animals"
From the internet, we are gardeners and are always careful where we dump both Azalea and Rhododendron clippings, both plants are from the same family of plants.

 

[Uberhoust]

Did not know Azaleas are poisonous. Thanks for bringing this up.

 

[Stan510]

Your are right they are listed as a poison to fish. But we've all seen Japanese gardens with clipped Azaleas around the edge of big Koi ponds.
You must have a small pond if some pollen from them was enough to do that much damage. It might have been leaf litter? Or run off from the soil under the plants to the new pond?