I need help. Pond fish are dying

[BettaMomma]

Okay, so many of you have seen the pics of the pond that is outside my house. If you haven't, it's huge - like a few hundred feet long and around 70 - 100 feet wide at its widest spots. ANYWAY - we have thousands of goldfish, ghost koi, carp, bluegills, catfish, etc. in this pond. It's a natural pond and the fish are self-sufficient.

We have another small pond downstream from the big one that's really shallow and the runoff from the big one (from rains, etc.) helps keep the water going thru the small pond.

Recently we've had a streak of REALLY REALLY hot weather with no rain - like in the upper 90s for days and days on end with no rain in sight whatsoever. That smaller pond is drying up. Lots of the fish have already died from being in the hot stagnant water - some of these fish are beautiful carp that are 1 foot long, there are also goldfish and others in there too.

I would have done something about it before but I just learned about this today. Apparently the apartment complex office was already called by several people who were worried about these fish. They have no clue what to do about it so they chose to do NOTHING. These fish are dying very rapidly.

I called animal control and one of their officers met me there today. We tried EVERYthing - climbing out on tree limbs, going out there w/waders on, - even down to the point where I kicked off my shoes and socks and waded out past the rancid dead infested fish into the water - but my feet got sucked so far into the mud and muck I couldn't even get out far enough to net anybody. There are at least 60 dead carp and other small ones around, that's as high as my count went before i stopped. I want to try to help as many as I can. I'm completely desperate for someone to offer me a great idea on what to do to get to these fish. They're currently out there cooking right now, but in acouple of hours I'm going to head back over there and see what I can do.

 

[black angel]

hi bettamomma
this sounds realy nasty for the poor fish.
as its a run off im wondering has the run off from the big pond dried up or at a trickle?
could it be dammed off for a few days?
im thinking that the only way to save the rest of the fish fast is to drain the small pond and catch the fish that way. you will need to maybe get the fire department to suck all the water out and then you should be able to wade out and get the fish that are left before the sun gets them and then transport them to holding tanks or to the main pond.
is that feasable?

 

[BettaMomma]

Hmm.
I suppose it is feasible but highly unlikely.
I'm going back out there tonight with one of the long handled pool nets to see what I can get. Someone had mentioned to me that in the past when some really expensive fish were in dire need of being moved, the fire department actually came along and lowered their long ladder across the pond and they were saved that way.

I'm about to the point where I'm ready to give them a call and see if they can suggest anything. Good thinking about draining the pond - the sad thing is that if no one does anything about it, and it doesn't rain, the pond will be totally dried up within just a few days.

 

[BettaMomma]

Oh, oops - I forgot to answer the first part of your reply - yeah, the connecting waterway between the two has totally dried up and short of letting the whole big pond drain into the smaller one there's no way to get the water going over to it

 

[black angel]

thats why it needs doing today or tomorrow or they will be suffocated anyway. Its a big job whatever way you go.
how far is the pond from the nearest house? would refilling it with a hose work or is it just too far away?
clutching at straws here i think.
ummmm, cant think of anything else im afraid sorry. the fire department seem to be your last hope, or lots of people with waders and nets.
keep us updated with how it goes and hopefully someone else might come up with another plan. good luck and hope you manage to save some of them at least.

 

[black angel]

or, breaking down the run off so more water can flow through and fill it up more?

 

[BettaMomma]

I will think of something.
At this point I'm going to make a few trips with a huge rubbermaid tote from big pond to little pond - dumping water from big to little so they at LEAST have a teeny bit of fresh water and some surface agitation.

Not that it will help much but at least it might add a few hours on that they can live until I can figure something else out. I'm also going to try the long handled pool net too. Even if they tell me I can't I will.

 

[Tcian]

get a pump and hose from the local rental shop or even one of the local underground pipe contractors in the area who use large pumps and hoses to drain wet areas where they need to excavate. Pump the water from the big pond to the small one. You will need to fill to a much higher level than before to help reduce the contanimation from the dead fish.

 

[William]

How deep is this "shallow pond". Would it be possible (with volunteeers to dig a channel to the middle. The silt should be very easy to shift. It also sounds as though all the runoff has caused a lot of silting up of this smaller pond -which in turn has contributed to the water evapourating and why this year was so much worse than previous years.

Would it be possible to get the people in the appartment to chip in money. If you could lease a digger for a day that's probably all it would take- hire a person as well, and you should be able to clear it sufficiently to get to any fish as well as ensuring this does not happen next year. This would save a lot of manual labour- unless there is plenty in supply.

If possible (assuming the base is natural soil- ie not plastic or concrete) this digging out would be the best possible solution for the fish currently in there and any future fish.

Good luck... I don't envy you for having to do this, although i also would have no qualms about plunging through the silt to save any fish's lives.

 

[BettaMomma]

No need - I actually just got off the phone with the fire department. They're coming over.
I'm kinda stunned that they're coming. He said that they do things like this all the time, actually and that part of their responsibility is in taking care of the environment so this is classified as that.

Here are some pics really quick.

you can see footprints in this photo. Earlier this afternoon, our footprints went over to the edge of the water. That's how fast it's drying up:

*sigh* and just a few of the already dead ones...

I'll be back later to update on what the fire dept ends up doing.
They're so awesome.

 

[William]

Regardless of the fish in there currently lets hope the fire department can save them- if anything they will appreciate having an exercise to do. That pond is as you say desperately shallow. I really would recommend digging it out as much as you can and the fact it is virtually drained of water at the moment gives you a perfect opportunity.

 

[BettaMomma]

By the way - thanks everyone for listening and for the suggestions.
William - I was in it today up to my knees. Right next to a fish that was being devoured by some sort of nasty white little bugs. I am the same way you are - not until later did I realize quite how insanely disgusting what I was doing really was, but it didn't bother me in the least while I was in there.

 

[BettaMomma]

Wm - I am going to call over to the office and suggest to them that they think about digging it out some more. The possibility of keeping fish out of it forever is kind of pointless because we get good rainstorms and all sorts of little goldies go over the iron dam and right down into that pond again.

Thanks again - i'll be updating!

 

[bribones]

id get the fire dept to top up the top pond from the mains to the point where it overflows and fills the bottom pond ,any water left in the top pond will dilute any chlorine ,its a quick fix and will keep the fish ticking over until a solution can be found or fingers crossed you get some rain

 

[BettaMomma]

So you think that route would be best over trying to move the fish?