Author Topic: Help Please (with pictures of problem) (Read 2544 times)

Lynn T · « **on:** July 25, 2007, 04:46:20 PM »

Hi Everyone:

I have been gone forever I know. Yell at me later please!

I have a problem I need your help with. For the last three mornings, when I have checked the pond before work, I have found about 8 - 12 floating pads that look cut off just below the pad. They are usually floating upside down (bottom of pad up) and they look cut off, not chewed or torn. They are also healthy, not yellow or sick. Just healthy green pads, snipped off in the prime of life? What would do this? The first picture is of the pads I took out this morning and the second one is a pad I found with these ugly bugs on it. Could they be what is cutting off the pads? What are they and how do I get rid of them? A few more mornings of this and I won't have any lily pads left!

Sean · « **Reply #1 on:** July 25, 2007, 04:49:36 PM »

I don't know what the bugs are but doubt they are the culprit.

I bet you have a snapping turtle or other turtle in your pond.

Cheers,
Sean

Pa Nancy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 25, 2007, 04:51:53 PM »

I don't know about the bugs either being the culprit, but it does sound like you have a turtle.

Kat · « **Reply #3 on:** July 25, 2007, 04:53:49 PM »

I don't think those bugs are big enough to do the damage but like folks are saying, a turtle. Earlier this year I was having the same problem but with my raised ponds I knew I didn't have a turtle. The 5-6" koi were snapping the pads off. Once the koi were removed the problem went away.

Lynn T · « **Reply #4 on:** July 25, 2007, 05:01:39 PM »

I don't have Koi, so that is not it. I will check for a turtle. We live in a lake community and do have turtles around. If I don't figure it out soon, I will not have a pond left. Twelve pads a day is a lot of missing pads over a week or two.

Esther · « **Reply #5 on:** July 25, 2007, 05:25:37 PM »

Now can we yell at you?

Lynn T · « **Reply #6 on:** July 25, 2007, 05:33:35 PM »

Everyone else but you Esther!

You already yelled at me on another forum!

Lynn T · « **Reply #7 on:** July 25, 2007, 07:24:31 PM »

I spent two hours standing by the pond tonight. I probed the entire bottom, and looked in all the lily pots and pulled out another 15 - 20 bit off pads and never saw anything that look unusual. There were no bugs, can't find a turtle and all the fish are fine. I am so upset. At this rate, the pond will be bare by the weekend. I even had bit off blooms. Do they make turtle traps?

Bonnie · « **Reply #8 on:** July 25, 2007, 07:39:20 PM »

Can't help you Lynn but I do know that my Goldies do that at times.

Do you think that your fish could possibly be the culprit?

Wouldn't a turtle eat some of the pads or fish if they were in the pond??

AND... WHERE YA BEEN GIRL!!

Lynn T · « **Reply #9 on:** July 25, 2007, 07:49:07 PM »

Bonnie:

I have been having a terrible time with my job and I have not been good company. Things are still terrible BUT I have had an attitude adjustment. I am going to TRY to do better about checking in, posting and visiting with my friends here.

I spent hours looking for a turtle tonight. I had at least another 15 - 20 pads and a bloom or two cut off when I went out after dinner. The water is clear and the pond is not large, so I looked and looked and poked around with the pole of my fish net. The fish do not act like anything is wrong, like they do when there has been a heron or something and everything in and around the pond looks normal. There were no more of the bugs I found this morning and all the pads that were bit off were green and healthy. Go figure? I am worried because at this rate, the pond will be bare in a few days. Anyone got a turtle trap or another idea?

Indiana Karen · « **Reply #10 on:** July 25, 2007, 08:20:12 PM »

We had a turtle earlier this summer and our lily pads were also cut off, only ours were cut at the bottom of the stem. Ours were never turned over.
If it is a turtle, good luck on finding it. We found ours once, but missed it with the net. Haven't seen it and no more damage.

Sorry about your lily pads, thats a bummer.

Karen

tammie · « **Reply #11 on:** July 25, 2007, 08:32:20 PM »

I agree with almost everybody else - turtle. Also agree, I don't know what the bugs are, but they look like the ones that I always see with aphids on land plants.
And - HELLO!
Tammie

SueSTx · « **Reply #12 on:** July 25, 2007, 08:49:07 PM »

I've also found a few pads broken off sometimes. I always assumed it was when the fish were spawning and getting frisky. I don't think a turtle could get in my tanks.

karen J · « **Reply #13 on:** July 25, 2007, 08:56:24 PM »

Hi, Lynn T! Nice to see/hear from you. I'm sorry about the damage, but agree that it must be either a turtle or a human doing the damage. Unless you have some kind of unusual leaf-cutter worm.

joeyb5980 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 26, 2007, 05:32:07 AM »

Yep I have to ditto everyone else- turtle! I noticed several lily pads per day were perfectly snipped off at the stems- almost like they were cut with scissors. They weren't flipped over or anything, just floating normally with the stem cut. Within a couple of days, I noticed a snapping turtle up swimming around in the early morning. Caught him fairly easily with my net- he was about 6" long, and boy did he have a nasty snap! Made me shudder to think that those jaws had been in there for weeks while my meaty fingers had been prodding around in the pond doing this and that. So it is a bit different that your pads are being flipped over, but I would still put my money on a turtle. And believe me, they are good at evading arrest!! I hope you find and catch him soon before you suffer any more loss to your plants!

El Jefe · « **Reply #15 on:** July 26, 2007, 05:57:12 AM »

Well I am going to parrot what the others here have stated, It looks like turtle damage and it does not have to be a big one to cause it. Depending on the size of your pond they do make turtle traps. As you did not show a picture of the pond itself I am unsure of it's ease of access for a turtle. I have seen them run accross my yard and dive into my pond and after a day or two they leave on their own. I usually have a missing bloom or two and a few pads cut loose.

This site has lots of sizes and styles to choose from

http://www.texastastes.com/p239.htm

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 26, 2007, 07:38:32 AM »

Those bugs look like damselfly nymphs. Not the problem.

Bugs in general wouldn't do this sort of damage.

Julles · « **Reply #17 on:** July 26, 2007, 10:28:38 AM »

The thing is, turtles EAT greenery, so I don't see why one would chop off the stems, and then not eat the pads.

Lynn T · « **Reply #18 on:** July 26, 2007, 10:31:40 AM »

Thanks everyone. I swear I am going crazy over this. I went out again this morning and was even late for work because I did not want to leave the pond until I had found a turtle! No luck. What is so strange is that we see the huge ones in the lake and the mud pond all the time. They stick their heads up out of the water and walk across the back yard now and then. They are HUGE! Nothing of that size could be in my small pond without my being able to see it.

I cleaned the filters and used the vac over the weekend. The water is very clear and the bottom is almost spotless (for a pond!)

I stood on the side with the longhandled fish net and lifted all the pads one section at a time. I could see in every lily pot and see the entire bottom. There was just nothing to see. If somehow a very young small snapper got in there and could hide between the pots on the bottom, then it is possible I missed him. I know for a fact none of the big lake ones are in there! I walked around the entire outside of the pond and looked and poked the plants and vines in case he was out sunning. Again, nothing. My DH said it is a turtle from the lake that has found the watergarden and takes an evening stroll up to the all you can chomp lily bar.

I know I have every chomped pad out of the pond as of this morning. If there are none detatched when I get home, I will sit out on the deck this evening and wait. His A$$ is mine if he shows up! He will find himself in another county before midnight!

joeyb5980 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 26, 2007, 12:40:13 PM »

My pad cutting stopped after I found and removed the small snapper, and my pads were not eaten on either- just cut at the stems. And I was having pads cut in both ponds, so he was apparently going back and forth, so I bet your husband is right. He is probably not in there all the time. I sure hope you catch him!!

Jennie in MT · « **Reply #20 on:** July 27, 2007, 07:55:42 AM »

Lynn! Great to see you but so sorry to hear about your troubles. I have to agree with the consensus. We have had two RES (sadly, Myrtle died last week and then Meg disappeared a few days after. No clue how she escaped the turtle pond.)
I know when one of them got out and into the main pond they did this exact leaf clipping thing. No bites from the leaves, just clipping the stems.
Hope you find the little devil!

Lynn T · « **Reply #21 on:** July 27, 2007, 12:39:21 PM »

Quote from: Jennie in MT on July 27, 2007, 07:55:42 AM

Lynn! Great to see you but so sorry to hear about your troubles.

Thanks Jennie, it's nice to be back. This is a mess but I will have time this weekend to try to solve the problem. I plan to get out the preform pond and an additional kiddy pool and put all of the lilies in those. Then, I will go on a turtle hunt. There will be noplace to run and noplace to hide when I get done.

Anyone have a recipe for turtle soup?

barb · « **Reply #22 on:** July 28, 2007, 08:55:19 AM »

What a shame, I hope you find him!