New meeting location for the 2023/2024 Season will be at J.A. Dulude arena.  Meetings start at 7 pm.

14 goldfish missing from pond!

Started by brettpim, June 24, 2011, 10:23:11 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

brettpim

 Our pond is 2500 litres, is 65cm deep and approximately 2 meters wide and 3.5 meters long. Two days ago we had 14 gold fish in it who would all excitedly come to us at feeding time.  This is the second summer we have had them and have had no problems, the ones we could not catch in the fall even survived the winter OK

Yesterday  when we went out to feed then last evening none came for food and we only saw two of them briefly.

Today we do not see any at all.

I know from trying to catch them last fall to bring them in that there are plenty of places they can hide, but it still seems odd to see none at all.  Could it be some kind of reaction to the thunder storm and they still have not come out again?

I looked around the pond for parts of fish to see if it might be a predator but did not find any.  None of the pond plants look disturbed in any way.  We have tested the water for Ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates and everything is normal.

anyone have any ideas of what might have happened?  Any ideas on how I can find out if they are still in there?

thanks
brett

robt18

To find out if they're still around its just a waiting game. My guess would be raccoons  or a heron though...

Thunda

The pond at my parents place had a heron visit it as well a couple years ago.  Cleaned it right our other than 2 fish, one of which was wounded but did survive.  They can clean out a pond in pretty quick order without making a mess. 

drboeing

WOW, hope they reappear, maybe you need to go for a dip?  I can tell you from personal childhood "trauma" (I was pretty upset) that if a raccoon had visited, you would not be able to miss the evidence, the poor fish taken from our pond had left scales all over the stones that bordered the pond.

I dont know the result of a heron or fishing bird visit.

Fishnut

I would suspect a heron as well.  Your pond is pretty shallow so it would have been a perfect place for a heron to feast.  It may be hard for you to catch fish but it's easy for a skilled fish hunter like a heron in a pond of that depth. 

limmer

Try going out at night with a flashlight.  They usually stay pretty still in the dark.
Thats the best way to catch them.  Maybe if they are hiding they will come out.
You never know.

brettpim

We left for vacation at the end of June and a couple of days after we left our house sitter reported all the fish back!  We are now back from vacation and I have seen most of the fish myself and hope to see all soon.  We also have babies.

thanks for all your support and ideas.