[gardeners] Total pond disaster

Myra Amler (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 24 Oct 1998 12:36:10 -0400 

Last weekend my husband and I put netting over our to try to keep the 
leaves out.  I wanted to just stretch the netting over the pond, but hubby 
thought we might want to put the netting over the waterfall as well.  He 
suspended the net off our fence to the ground, kind of a tarp for the pond. 
 Every day after work this week I had been dutifully shaking the leaves off 
the net.

Yesterday afternoon when I arrived home, I walked out in my backyard and 
was horrified to see that the netting was absolutely full of leaves.  As a 
result, the net had sagged into the waterfall creating a dam.  My 600 
gallon pond was down to about 25 gallons of water, the rest of the water 
had run down the back of the waterfall.  My goldfish and shebunkins were 
resting at the bottom (it has been cold so they have slowed down 
considerably), unaware that their life's blood was gushing out the back of 
the waterfall.  I only had about an hour's worth of daylight left so I made 
the decision to move the fish (and snails) to a sixteen gallon tub that was 
full of rain water and drain the rest of the pond.  Now I've snapped the 
poor little things out of their semi-dormant state.  I threw what was left 
of the water plants into the tub with them and hoped that they would 
survive the night without dying from the shock of sudden relocation.  I 
drained the rest of the water from the pond and cleaned out all the debris 
(I mean, why not...).  I refilled the pond (city water) and wondered if the 
pond people on the list  could help me think through my next move.  Should 
I

1.  Add some dechlorinator to the water?  I have a bottle but have never 
had to use it.  Will letting the wate sit for 24 hours do the trick or 
should I give it a small dose

2.  Should I return the fish to the pond or just buy a tank and let them 
overwinter inside?  They are used to being outdoors, but I don't want to 
shock their systems yet again.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Myra Amler
amler@mindspring.com
"Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?" Unknown