SWCAMBORNE

Rebecca found our special needs fish dead this afternoon in the pond filter basket.  She is not a suspect.

An investigation by FCSI (Fish Crime Scene Investigators) ruled the cause of death to be “extremely large growth on the head.”

Big Head lying in state by the side of the pond.

One of the Koi in my pond has a very large growth on its head.

It started small a few years ago and I thought it must be a disease.  But none of the other fish got it so I let “Big Head” stay.  Now he is so ugly and noticeable that Jason S who takes care of the house when we are gone was concerned enough to ask me about him.  I explained that we accommodate him because he’s a “Special Needs Fish.”  He seems to be able to feed himself and never gets lost in the pond.  We are mainstreaming him and allowing him to stay in the school.  No he doesn’t have an IEP yet.  But perhaps one of the teachers in my audience could write him one.

PC notes (apologies):

• I call “Big Face” him for convenience only.  No slight of women is intended.  I know females can also have large growths on their faces.
• The term “Special Needs Fish” is a joke.
• Teasing about IEP’s (Individual Education Plans) is intended to cross the line and bash the federal education establishment.

Lots of algae and beautiful Water Lillies.  I’m focused on the positive:

I went to the Pet Expo with Lillian last weekend to see the pond equipment.  I have decided that I have to many large fish for the size and type of filtration system I have.  It is time to find new homes for some of these guys.  I don’t want to add more filtration.

This Fish is Available for Adoption

Regular readers of swcamborne.com might be wondering why there has been no pond news since January.  The reason is that lots of bad things have been happening to the pond and I’ve been embarrassed to report.  For instance

• I replanted the Lilies and the fish dug them up and dumped the dirt out of the pots
• I tried to clean the gravel in the stream and hurt my back.
• The UV filter stopped working and I had to buy a new one.
• The fish kept eating the water hyacinths so I put an ugly plastic fence around them.
• Howard and I put some new large pots in the pond that immediately started to fester with swampy water and insect larvae.
• One of the large koi has a huge wart like growth on his/her head

Here is a picture:

But I’m working on all of the issues and I noticed that I had the same algae bloom issue last August.   So this may be a condition to manage not a problem to solve.

Stay Tuned

The pond always looks good when the water is cold in January:

To bad it is really too cold to spend much time out there enjoying it.

Back in mid August I reported on the Algae Bloom in the pond.  I’m now very pleased to report that the bloom is over and the pond is clear again.

clear water

It appears that the new UV light has done the trick.

happy and visible fish

This incident did give me an idea for a new product.  Since a UV bulb can continue to give off  visible light after it stops emitting UV rays, we need a simple inexpensive UV detector. It could be strips like ph paper or a meter like an amp meter.  The market is fish and pond supply stores but could also be worried moms and people at the beach.  Maybe super sensitive skin is the answer.

We got home from Arizona yesterday and while cleaning out the pond filter basket I saw something wriggling.  It turned out to be a tadpole.  There are tadpoles in the pond! In fact there were three tadpoles in the basket.  Tadpoles means Frogs.  With Rebecca’s help I took a picture:

This is great news there hasn’t been a frog sighting since last September.  A Frog in the Pond. This proves it I am an environmentalist.   Do I have to buy a Prius?

Is there a difference between a Tadpole and a Polliwog?

After two years the algae are back in the pond.

The green colors are beautiful but the overall look is definitely worse and you can’t see the fish.  I checked the UV filter bulb and it was still working.  However Steve at PTF told me that the bulb can be glowing but not “UVing” (the verb form of UV).  I ordered a new bulb and we shall see.

For now we will enjoy the luminescent greens.

I have built a new bridge in the stream above the pond using Bamboo Pipes.

Hopefully it will be more stable than the old one that you can see here.

This isn’t my final bridge which I hope will be a stone arch that can take a wheelbarrow.  It does indicate a bit about my personality.  I take great pleasure and pride in making small improvements while still planning to make things perfect in the future.   My old bridge was not a failure it was a learning experience.