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Disturbing Fish
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Posted by mgeca 5PA (My Page) on Tue, Nov 10, 09 at 14:09
| My pond is nearly ready for winter except for pulling the pumps. The water temperature is high 40s to low 50s, I am not feeding my two mature and hardy fish--comet and shubunkin, and they are slow going, hanging out as I expected.
Will disturbing the fish by going in the pond to clean leaves on the bottom, or even scooping with a net, be harmful to them, upset their balance in these conditions?
The leaf load isn't great and I don't imagine leaving it until spring would be a problem.
Any guidance will be appreciated.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Disturbing Fish
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| I felt the same way but with decaying debris I think the bad water quality through out the winter months would be way worse than the stress of the moment so I chose to take mine out. |
RE: Disturbing Fish
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Hi Mike!
My fish love when I bring out my pond vac! They are such curious creatures!
They swim around it checking out all the stirred up stuff.
Your pond is large enough so that it should not be a problem. |
RE: Disturbing Fish
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| I have never had a problem with that, Mike. Of course, huge quantities of leaves wind up in my pond so I have to get them out. Sandy |
RE: Disturbing Fish
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| For me a little pond debris is no big deal going in to winter. I will not bother the fish too much as long as it is a small amount of leaves and you have a hole in the ice for gas exchange as I am sure you have planned to do. I really do not like to disturb the fish or the from more then necessary this time of year or early in the spring. Seems risky. I hope we all have a mild winter. Regards,
lisa |
RE: Disturbing Fish
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| Thanks to each for a helpful point of view. I've decided to make a brief foray into the pond to remove some leaves. I've been watching my fish and they are side by side almost velcroed together but then one will peel off and race around the pond and return. I just dipped a net in the water and they came over to investigate. I decided that a little disturbance won't hurt--but this is no more than an inexperienced guess. My leaf load is light this year since me neighbor took down some trees, including a nuisance locust. What I have left are two small pockets where the leaves accumulate. I can't reach them the way my pond is constructed, and while I could leave them I'm going to remove. Hi Lauren! Hope all is well and thriving, nice to hear from you. Thanks all, wishes for a mild winter.
Mike |
RE: Disturbing Fish
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- Posted by kalevi 4 Ottawa, ON (My Page) on
Tue, Nov 17, 09 at 17:11
| Clean the leaves now. The fish don't mind. They are kind of sluggish anyway now and don't panic like they would in the summer. |
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