Need Advise, Large Worms in Pond.

[terri]

Hi to all,

I have a problem and it may have stemmed from last year.  I have a large pond and had Koi ranging in age 15 yrs to 3 yrs old, and one bull head catfish.
 Last year, a mallard came to my pond, nested in my hostas at the border and for a month, was living there without my knowledge. I realized she was there at the end of July and just days later there were 8 ducklings and mama swimming in the pond. Of course, for all this time, i had no idea why my water was continously green.
So, they left just after a few days of being born, and i proceeded to remove all water, and fish, wipe down the walls of pond and do a refill.
All went VERY well....
Now, this winter was a rough one... cold, but very very windy. Here we usually get a january thaw, which did not happen till feb and at that time, the fish came up from below. 2 days later, the winds came, temps dropped and the fish were all frozen to death... 31 of them ... not one fish left in the pond.
Just 4 weeks ago i saw a couple of mallards visit the pond for about 2 weeks. Its now been 2 weeks that they havent been here, and i think i will do another complete water change.

Now the problem.... we found HUGE worms, they look sorta like earthworms, maybe even night crawlers at the bottom of the pond... thats the only life in there now.
Where did they come from? do I leave them there? (i seriously want to get rid of them.)  How did they get there to begin with?

Can someone tell me about these worms??

I will change the water and now will get goldfish for the pond this yr.

[Joyce]

There is no problem.
They are just plain old garden earthworms that crawl into or drop into the pond from the gardens.
This happens especially after a hard rain.
Get a net and scoop them out.
If you had fish, they'd eat them.
 

[Bullfrog]

Nature has an ingenius way of spreading fish. The eggs are sticky and stick to Heron's legs. As they fly from pond to pond, they distribute the eggs around. Another reason to keep  cranes out of your pond so you won't have largemouth Bass eating your koy. I agree, this was a natural migration.

[Pa Nancy]

Something doesn't sound right to me. You lost ALL your fish? In a couple days? I think you have more problems than earth worms. I have never heard of koi "freezing" to death.

 I'm in Pa. (don't know where you are, I'm in western part near Pgh.)  and yes we did have a  very harsh and very windy winter, but to lose ALL your fish that fast? It happens every year, the ice melts, and then it gets cold again enough to freeze it again. Sometimes even twice or 3 times.That's a typical Pa. winter.  Even if the whole top froze without a hole in the ice, fish aren't going to die in a day or two. Before I knew better I went 5 years without a hole in the ice and never lost a fish. Shhhhhhhh!

First off I wouldn't have emptied the pond and "scrubbed" the walls. You lose a lot  your biofiltration and good stuff.

Are you sure that maybe someone wasn't spraying or something near the pond? It just doesn't sound right to lose that many fish and such old ones so quickly. I mean if some were 15 years old surely they have been thru some of the same weather if not worse.

So sorry for your loss, I'm sure you must of been heart broken. I lost a simple comet last fall that I had for 13 years, and I still miss her.

[tracey_shafer]

I have mallards in my ponds every spring. I even had babies. They have never harmed the pond or fish and they don't stay in the koi pond too long, the koi nibbling on their feet runs them out of the koi pond fast. And as for them turning the water green, it happens to everyone coming out of winter and for various reasons I really don't think the ducks did it, but as Nancy said starting over by scrubbing out the pond was the wrong thing to do. 

[CT]

My sister in Ohio lost over 200 fish in a huge mud bottom pond this winter. Others in the areas did too. She had a bubbler to keep a hole in the ice but the weather was very snowy and cold. She lost all sizes and all types of native fish. What a job to clean up the dead fish but if nothing else good fertilizer.
Kay

[DougHurth]

As stated above, I'm guessing the large worm are nothing more than earth worms.  Unless they are leeches.  I know that here in Wisconsin I come across leaches in our ponds from time to time.  As far as the fish kill goes, it seems strange to lose so many so fast.  But, I'm not sure what to blame it on.  Disease? Cold?  Who knows.  We always want to know why things happen, but sometimes we don't know.  If your pond was at least two feet deep, they shouldn't have frozen.   I have several ponds on my property and sometimes I am baffled at how one pond can make it through winter with no sick or dead fish and another pond, a stones' throw away will have dozens of dead fish in spring.  Sometimes it defies reason.  This year and last year, my bigger, deeper pond had many dead fish and my smaller, more shallow pond had few to none.  Why?  I pretty much stop worrying about it and chalk it up to "Sometimes fish die".  But  I sympathize with you for your loss.  Those must have been some great fish after that many years.

Happy Pondering,
Doug Hurth

[LeeAnne151]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I have to "fish" earthworms out of my ponds and even my birdbath rock all the time. Earthworms in the pond has nothing to do with ducks and likely neither does your die off. Cleaning the pond so thoroughly was NOT a good thing. Likely it contributed to the die off.

In ponds with fish, they eat any worms that fall in and you don't realize how many actually do fall in.

[bunny56lbc]

I agree with Pa. Nancy , somethings not right . Loseing all you're fish at once ..

I lost 3 koi this winter , all 3 came from A local hatchery ....weird.

Sorry for you're loss .

bonnie

[Julles]

A lot of people on AP lost fish this winter.  Esther lost all of her fish, in a situation similar to yours.  There was a lot of discussion at that time.  Maybe you can find the post, and read others' replies about their own experiences.