Ponds have thawed out and all my fish have disappeared

[louis]

Lou, I feel your pain. So sorry.

As it has warmed up here I just realized that almost all of my fish are gone too. They usually hide under the floating island planter during winter though we don't have ice cover. It is normal to not see them during winter much. A kingfisher must have cleaned me out as when I moved the planter I could only find five fish. My ten year old comets and all of my shubunkins are gone. My pond does have an electric fence so no raccoons possible, would have noticed the damage to plants anyway. No mink or otters here in the big city. No trace of them. I once saw a kingfisher swoop down and make off with a six inch shubunkin but have not seen one in years. I would have netted the pond....

BTW beavers are herbivores and hibernate during winter, same as muskrats as Joyce pointed out.

Hi Leeann,

nature is cruel. so sorry for your loss. i feel your pain.

lou

[perplexed ponder]

I am so sorry to hear about your fish. Your spot on the preserve sounds beautiful.
My pond just thawed on saturday and I found all my koi dead.

[louis]

I am so sorry to hear about your fish. Your spot on the preserve sounds beautiful.
My pond just thawed on saturday and I found all my koi dead.

hi kathy, i am so sorry, do you have any idea what happened to them.

louis

[Double S]

I'm very sorry for you Louis. Very devistating!  I love natural wildlife, but not when it takes "pets".

Seems like there has been a ton of fish loss for various reasons on the boards this year.  And most in large, very well maintained and established ponds.  And large fish too. What a sad year.

[happyoutsidegirl]

Oh Kathy, I'm really sorry to hear that. What is going on this year? I'v heard os a lot of fish losses now? :'(

[Indiana Karen]

Lou, LeeAnne, Kathy,

I am so sorry.  I can't imagine how sad it would be to find them all dead.  I have only had to deal with one or two dieing at a time, and that was bad enough. :'(

Karen

[louis]

I worked in the yard yesterday and drained down and cleaned the two large ponds where the fish were. last fall there were lots of babies, about 2-3 inches in length, probably about 100 of them. not one of them are there. all of them went missing also. its hard to believe that some animal or animals could have been that efficient to have cleaned out them all.

I may give up on fish.

Louis

[Joyce]

Lou,
Don't give up! 

I was wondering if you could, every winter,
temporarily put landscape mesh over the pond. (metal)
I remember yours is raised, and doesn't it have a level, even edge where this would work?
You could make a wood frame for the wire mesh to be easily lowered over the pond, custom fit.
(I know you are handy when it comes to these projects!)
Just thinking  ....   there HAS to be a solution to this problem! 

[Kat]

That is really terrible!  What Joyce is suggesting sounds like a great idea.

[louis]

Lou,
Don't give up! 

I was wondering if you could, every winter,
temporarily put landscape mesh over the pond. (metal)
I remember yours is raised, and doesn't it have a level, even edge where this would work?
You could make a wood frame for the wire mesh to be easily lowered over the pond, custom fit.
(I know you are handy when it comes to these projects!)
Just thinking  ....   there HAS to be a solution to this problem! 

thanks joyce, this is a good suggestion

lou

[Joyce]

I hope it works!

Can you do me a favor?
Can you post a few pix of your pond and the surrounding landscape?
I don't think many people realize how beautiful an environment you have created.
I was at your website and there are no pix of your pond.     

[louis]

I hope it works!

Can you do me a favor?
Can you post a few pix of your pond and the surrounding landscape?
I don't think many people realize how beautiful an environment you have created.
I was at your website and there are no pix of your pond.     

hi  joyce,
i will do, i had them on one of my web sites but when i checked, i found out the link does not work.

gotta pay more attention to details

lou

[happyoutsidegirl]

I'm waiting to see your pond pix!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lori]

Louis,
I have a customer and good friend that lost koi to mink for several winters straight before a very knowledgable speaker at our pond club said it was mink (first asking if they live near a natural body of water and secondly asking if there were no traces of fish left behind).  She just told me yesterday that her husband rigged up some kind of trap this winter and they didn't lose a fish!  Unfortunately they were leaving on vacation and will not be back until about May 1.  Joyce will probably be able to help you, but when they get back and I find out what they devised that worked for them I'll pass it on.  I've heard that having dye on hand so you can use it immediately when a predator hits, buys you some time.  Darn critters! They can put a little hole in your heart.
Lori

[marla]

Oh that is just awful.....I have a forum friend in Canada that caught a mink redhanded in their pond a couple winters ago.  They are in and out without leaving a trail, all they need is the opening that we need to keep there for our fish to hopefuly survive the winter.