Help! Fish Emergency...

[Nyboy]

Its kind of like people who freerange their chickens. Much safer locked up all the time vs being happy freeranging,hoping a predator doesn't find them.

 

[Smart Red]

I can't speak for crummy hoodlums, but my pet store owner said he would take my goldfish back each fall if I wanted. (not pay, take) The bigger goldfish sell for more and he doesn't have a problem getting rid of them.

Mine are for mosquito removal. They are not pets, but workers on this property. I've never brought them to the store since I can overwinter them inside. Also, I have well water so no problems with chemicals. By the way, I believe chlorine/floride and such in city water dissipates within about 24 hours when left exposed. Then it is okay for watering house plants or adding to fish tanks.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

They are surprisingly strong. Biddy jumped outa his tank 3 times onto shag carpet and when I found him an hour later each time, he was alive. I only upgraded his tank once - from a plastic rectangle to a maybe 4 or 5 gal glass one. They grow to the size of their environment and then stay there.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Good analogy, Nyboy. I used to let my chickens free-range, but I had too many problems, and every time I heard a dog bark, I panicked. I think we are all much better off with the chickens safely confined. Thank you!

 

[GardenGeisha]

I've heard that chlorine dissipates in 24 hours, but I didn't think that was the case with fluoride? They sell special fluoride removers, but what a pain!

 

[Nyboy]

How big is your pond? Many people put hardware cloth over smaller ponds to keep fish safe.

 

[GardenGeisha]

After all my efforts to keep my prized pond fish alive last winter inside, taking them from the pond in October and putting them in my aquarium, I decided to put them back in the pond this summer, thinking they'd enjoy the freedom and extra space. They were alive and healthy and happy indoors, but I thought they'd like the air and sun outside. Wouldn't you know we had a bad hailstorm in late September that resulted in a "pond turnover." Last year when we had a turnover, the fish survived fine, but I didn't realize it was a turnover. I thought sediment from the roof had fallen into the pond and turned the water gray-- I thought it was auto exhaust and pollutants and worried about the health of the fish with this gunk in the water. But no, this year, my beautiful "Tigger" washed over the side. I was reading that the cold hail can hit and kill a fish near the surface during a turnover, or that, more likely, the sudden cold shocks the larger fish in the pond to death, or that they suffocate from the gunk in the turnover displacing the oxygen in the water. I had never heard of such a thing. I won't ever be putting my fish out in the pond again. I'll keep them inside forever. I had no idea this sort of storm danger lurked. Has anyone else lost beloved fish to pond turnovers? You live and learn. And, of course, Tigger had to have been my prettiest fish.

 

[Nyboy]

Sorry about your fish, my biggest problems are predators.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Thanks, Nyboy. I had never dreamed of this happening. The night the fish died, I also lost a baby chick someone was raising for me across town. A weasel got in her coop and ate both the week old chick and its stepmother. My friend had never seen a weasel in the area before. Freaky! And I had said to my hubby, Maybe I should get up and go make sure none of the fish washed over in the storm. But it was cold and awful out, and the fish are strong and always swim to the bottom. But I didn't know about the turnover danger. I now wonder whether I could have saved the fish, had I gone out there. But it was dark, and I might not have looked under the leaves, where I found him the next morning. But he might have still been flailing around, and I could have put him back in the water. But I read that fish often don't die of turnover until early the next morning after the turnover, so who knows?

 

[GardenGeisha]

And more recently, another friend was raising a chick for me and had raised it to 8 weeks old. Big and healthy. We think her Jersey Giant chicken, 15 pounds, got atop the chick one night in a nesting box and crushed it to death, suffocating it. Talk about the year of the freak pet deaths!