Sunday, August 19, 2012

Goodbye My Little Buddies


Goodbye my little buddies.  I will miss you all so much.  When I was in pain with my back or I was feeling stressed I would sit and watch you chasing each other or just nibbling on little food pellets.  You managed to make it through numerous attacks by the mean birds who thought you were a feast.  You each had a personality.  You were interested in what I was doing in or around your home.  I ask myself , if I went out yesterday to see you would you still be here or would I have noticed something was wrong?  I can ask the questions but you are still gone and I will miss you so so much.  I hope your little babies survive all the shock they have been through, 3 little tiny ones. 

Some people will say you were only fish, but those are the ones that have not experienced the true joy of having fish as pets.  Each of you had a name Goldie, Casper, Speckles and Freckles and some I had not named yet.  We had approximately 30 babies in our pond and they all died but 3.  We were taking the babies today to a pond shop as we could not have that many fish in our pond. 

The reason my little buddies died, as we have discovered, is the hose came off the pump at some point in the past 2.5 days.  The algae in the filter began to decompose, the pump hose filled with algae and clogged causing a little trickle of water come out the hose.  PH balance test showed the water was way out of safe zones.  I was not home most of the day yesterday and went to a party in the evening.  It was hot, dying fish and the no oxygen level in the water was an end to a beautiful pond.  As I cleaned the pond today I realized the ecosystem it had become, the birds were wondering where their bath and the drinking area had gone.  The dragon flies were flying about, and the bees were buzzing about, no water, no pond that they would visit daily.


Dragon fly at the pond

We have now put the water back in and we did have to put the 3 remain fish back.  We normally would season the water, but no time for the little remaining fish.  I conditioned the water and filtered it through our UV system.  Now time will tell how things progress.  I need to buy a new filter system as I hated the one I had and now I really hate it.  Need to screen the pond.

So I think I will name the 3 remaining little babies, the Three Amigos - oh and I can't forget about Snaily who is a water snail and I believe he has made it too (find out tomorrow if he moves from the spot I put him at).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

My little friends may have not died from the pump failure. The fish store told me it most likely was a type of poisoning (weed killer, fertilizer). Something in the wind, maybe dropped in the pond. Who knows, we will just keep a eye on our little ones.

Angie said...

So sorry this happened Chris. I know how you feel. I was so sad afer the egret got our fish. It is sort of a shock to go to the pond and know the fish are not there. Fish and ponds are so relaxing.