Lawn Service Killed My Fish

[Uncle Rico]

I have had a pond for 4 months now. I have gone through the learning process of being a new pond owner. I have 7 Shubunkins and 6 tadpoles.  Everything has been great until today.  Scotts Lawn Service came and treated my lawn with their fertilizer, Grub killer and sprayed for weeds and when I came home from work everything was floating, bloated and the fish appeared to have small abrasions or burns on their bodies.
I called Scotts and they are getting back to me but I'm wondering if what they put down got into the water because it seems weird that this morning the pond was healthy and now this. Has anyone had a problem similar to this?  What is my recourse?  What should I do? I'm at wits end!!!

[Jerry]

You will get replies.  Sounds like overspray.  They are, in my view, resposible!

[tlc]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. How heartbreaking it must be and not a good way for a new pond owner to start out. Sounds like drift from the spray or if you had lots of rain/water that could have run off into your pond that could had done it forsure. Not good anyway you look at it.
How many gallons is your pond? Do you have plants in there?
If it were mine, I would pump ALL the water out and flush the pond really good and then refill. I am lucky enough to have a well so it wouldn't be a problem for me at all. There may be something that you could buy that may soak up the pesticide or weed killer. If you decide to pump the pond and then refill, I would only add one fish just to make sure that you got all the nasties out.

Good luck and don't give up! 

Oh, and keep a sample (clean and sterilized jar of course) of the pond water for testing incase you end up in a lawsuit over this.

[Uncle Rico]

The pond is around 1200 gallons and there are no plants.  I saved the fish and put them in a freezer bag in the freezer and also collected a sample of the water. I also took pictures of the granular fertilizer that I found around the pond. Of course the service is trying to make excuses and they are "looking into it". 

[Reedman]

Like the others posted, sure sounds like overspray.  Even if they make restitution, it still sucks . . . 

Hard to deal with this type of feeling of violation.  Others have posted this similar thing over the years.

If you lived in southcentral PA, I'd give a few of my fish to you to replace the ones you lost.

(Welcome to the forum though!)

[Kittyzee]

That's just awful!  Like everyone else has said, most assuredly it's the lawn service.  Just because they 'act' like they know what they're doing--usually the person putting the stuff down doesn't.  The guy driving around the truck and throwing down that stuff is getting paid to just do his job--he doesn't necessarily know WHAT he's putting down or where he shouldn't put it.  You did good by saving the fish and taking a water sample.  Document everything--dates, etc.  They more than likely will say it wasn't their fault. 

I am so sorry for the loss of your pets...

[Esther]

Well PEW!! Stinks.. But this is not the first time I've heard of this. A while back my husband contracted with a company to come and do our yard with weed and feed. I had a conniption and called the company back and told them to cancel the order.

My aunt lives in California and had huge Koi. They had a pergola over the pond and one day when my aunt was gone, my uncle sprayed up in the rafters of the pergola for spiders. All her Koi died.

[Julles]

Welcome to the forum, Uncle Rico!  So sorry this has happened.

You asked if other people have experienced the same... Just a short while back, someone lost most / all of her fish due to the city spraying for mosquitoes.  So, yes, it does happen.

Be sure your pond is situated so that water cannot run from the lawn and flow into the pond.  If so, build a berm or barricade of some sort to keep contaminated water out of your pond.

If you continue to use this lawn service, make sure they do not use chemcials again around your pond. 

Write to the manager, and the main franchise office (a nice, polite letter), to let them know what happened, ask them to take steps to prevent his in the future to you or other clients, and ask them to replace the fish and tadpoles.

Then, as advised, empty and clean your pond, refill it, stock it with cheap "feeder" goldfish, and - most important of all - KEEP ON PONDING!  We'd love to see some photos, too! 

[tlc]

Don't forget to flush out all your water lines, filter and pump before filling your pond if that is the route you go.

[vibraphonusrex]

I'm sorry to hear of this; so sorry for your fish.  We, too, have a lawn service come in and do their thing every month.  I've warned them not to spray anything near the pond, or they'll be paying for it.  One guy came trudging into the pond area and wanted to spray for some kind of bug, and I scared him so badly he left without even spraying the front yard.  I told Joanne that if they get close to the pond, I'll tell them to stay out of the back yard completely, and I'll take over putting stuff down to kill this and that.  It's one of my biggest fears.  Once again, my condolences; some people just don't remember that the stuff they're spraying around can kill more than just bugs and weeds.

Bob Blomberg

[Esther]

If I were to walk in the lawn barefoot, after they spray fertilizer, week killer or whatever, I get hives.

[karen J]

That has happened to me several times when my neighbor had her trees sprayed. There are some things you can do depending on where you live. In my state, I can call up the company doing the spraying and request that they inform me 24 hours in advance of the spraying. That gives me the opportunity to cover the pond. I've covered the pond many times, but I found that just going outside and giving a reminder to the spray guy is enough to keep him careful. I also told the lawn guy about it, and he said he's required to stay at least ten feet away from the edge of the pond.

I think it was Roarke who originally told me that, if you suspect overspray, to start doing water changes and use activated carbon filtration. I have one activated carbon filter pad that was made for my size filter, that I keep in case of an emergency.

Sorry you lost your fish, I hope Scott's does the right thing. Let us know what happens.

[Uncle Rico]

After going back and forth with Scotts, that have agreed to pay for the fish that they killed.  It is a bitter sweet ending because we will greatly miss the personalities of the fish that they killed but look forward to the new fish.  Thanks everyone for your kind remarks and advice.

[Kittyzee]

Well, that's SOME consolation.  Now you will have to become extra vigilant if you still have your lawn sprayed:  make sure no chemicals can run off into it or air drift spray towards it....

[Mikey]

Your diligence in preserving some dead fish and a water sample plus taking photos of the fertilizer granules near your pond put the lawn service people on notice and your perseverance held their feet to the fire.  Congratulations in your bitter/sweet victory.

[skarol98]

OMG I'm new to the pond things also and today my neigboors lawn got done and the persone doing it since there is no fence cut the grass all the way to my pong and my pond was full of grass I was about to go crazy!! I havent seen anyone die or I think so (Icant see the bottom of my pond I'm having pea soup problems) so will see what happen! sorry about you lost!