A turnover

I’ve mentioned the problem with water lilies and grass in our pond in previous entries. Several years ago we brought some large grass carp (supposedly sterile since they can also take over a pond) from our farm in the delta to “work” on the problem. In addition, we purchased some smaller carp a year or two later.

They just haven’t done much to alleviate the problem. So… my husband has begun the process of spraying the unwanted vegetation with an herbicide. I say “begun the process” because it’s not something that can be done all at once, even in a pond the size of ours. Once the vegetation begins to die, it sucks all the oxygen out of the water around it. Obviously, that isn’t good for the fish!! He’s gone out on several occasions, including a few of the times we’ve fished, and sprayed various areas of the pond. So far it seems to be working.

This past weekend we saw an example of what happens when the process is NOT done correctly. Our neighbor has a small pond in front of her house. She wanted to kill all the grass around the edge of her pond and, against the advice of others, sprayed the entire circumference at one time. It was a disaster!! Within a short time her pond started “turning over” and there were dead fish floating everywhere! They quickly borrowed a pump and began aerating the pond, thus stopping the process.

There were TONS of buzzards standing on the bank of her pond when we drove past yesterday morning.

At least someone benefited from the mistake.