The peacocks at Mayfield Park
Alex, Jeannie and myself participated in yet another fish rescue yesterday. This one had been in the works for a couple of weeks when I received the original phone contact from the owners. The problem we had was finding a home for the fourteen or so Koi that lived in the pond. I had pretty much as many as I could house in my ponds and we needed to find homes for the others.
Jeannie Ferrier is President of the Pond Society and she and her husband Steven Monfrini, have worked several rescues this year. She has a rescue tank set up in her backyard next to her 10,000 gallon Koi pond and has a very interesting arrangement for changing out the rescue tank water as she replenishes it with water from her pond. Depending on the number of Koi in the rescue tank at any given time, dictates how often the rescue tank water has to be changed.
We had to hold off on the rescue until the new rescue tank was completed and ready to take more fish and yesterday, everything was a go.
I arrived early at the rescue pond and set up my pump to lower the water. Turns out that the electrical outlets by the pond were not working which accounted for the water being so dirty. I had brought a 100 foot cable with me so in next to no time, my pump working on the water level. While that was happening, I filled the three transport containers that I have with pond water ready to put in the fish. The existing pond water was very dirty and we had had to wait until the water was low enough to even see the fish. I caught the Koi, a couple of which were of a good size and handed them to Alex who transferred them to tanks in his truck and my trailer. We were lucky that we were able to drive up right next to the pond making it really easy to transfer the fish. We chatted to the owners, Dave Phelps and his Mother, who had lost their Husband and Father which was the reason for closing down the pond. They also made a small donation to the Pond Society for our efforts in rescuing the fish. We also rescued several pots of water lilies and they went into my trailer as we planned to drop them off at Mayfield Park to donate them and in the meantime, store them in their ponds to overwinter.
We left the rescue site although I planned to be back to pick up the rocks that surround the pond and made our way to Mayfield Park. I had only been there once before and although I had an idea of its location, had to use my GPS system to get directions. Jeannie and Alex beat me to it and were waiting for my arrival. We loaded the lilies onto my dolly and dragged them to the first pond where Alex dropped them into the water.
Next stop was at Jeannie’s house and the rescue tank. Even though originally, I had decided that I didn’t need any more Koi, the color and beauty of some of these helped me to change my mind and I ended up taking four of them home. Alex took a couple and Nancy Reinert, alerted by a call from Jeannie, met us and took a couple more. The rest were transferred into the rescue tank awaiting their turn to find new homes at any of our members ponds.
I drove back to my house and carefully placed my four Koi into the 6000 gallon pond where they quickly assimilated in with the others. I unloaded my trailer and backed it into my garage ready for any other task that may come up. I noticed that the lights on the trailer need some work so that will be my next project, when it warms up.
The pictures are by Jeannie taken with her cell phone.
“when it warms up.” I can relate to that statement, my feet stay cold here lately. I admire your efforts with the fish and small ponds but I must admit that most of my activities around ponds and the fishes therein involve a culinary intent….:)
Koi have too many bones to make good eating and anyway, how can you eat a pet? I too seem to feel the cold much more than I used to. Thanks for the comment.
You’re welcome. I would have a problem eating a pet as well…but Crappie, Bass and Bluegills tend to make me drool…:)
Another fish rescue. Looks like work, but well worth it. 🙂
Not really work but can be a little tricky sometimes. Thanks for the comment.
There’s superman, spiderman, and batman… and there’s fishrescueman! 🙂
You are right but instead of a cape and mask its waders and rubber gloves…
It was sad that they had to close the pond down, but great that there are wonderful people like you & others to help save their lovely fish 🙂
As with everything in our lifetimes, there comes a time when everyone has to make decisions especially as we grow older. In this case, the Husband died and it was too much work for the wife. We do it because we are the Austin Pond Society and Koi, Goldfish and others are a part of what we care about. Thanks for your comments.
Yes so very true and its wonderful that you and others do care 🙂 We are just waiting for spring, so we can start our new pond, really looking forward to it.
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