History of the Pond
Part I (Summer '96)
In the beginning
When we bought our house in Portland, Oregon, we were delighted by the natural setting with a creek, decks, and a POND! In the first few weeks we spent many evenings out by the pond enjoying the sound of running water and trying to see fish in the pea soup that filled the hole. Since I wanted to know as much as possible about caring for a pond, I soon became a regular lurker on rec.ponds. Before long I was hooked, and I had dreams of water that was clear, fish that I could see, and plants that would bloom.
Dirt and leaves and slime. Oh, my!
The first step was to drain the pond and try to catch all the fish in the process. As the water got low, the fish were easier to find and catch, but every time we went after one, we stirred up so much yuck from the bottom, that we couldn't see any more. Eventually, we had all the fish in a small aquarium and the water out of the hole. What was left was 5-6 inches of the grossest black slime you can imagine. I filled several large buckets with it and dumped it in the blackberries down by the creek.
By this time, I knew from the folks in rec.ponds that a rubber liner was the way to go, but the plastic one that was there seemed OK, and it would have been a major job to replace it since it went under the patio and waterfall. I figured for now that a good cleaning would be fine. I started planning a filter to help keep the water clean, and we decided to get a new pump that could provide a little more flow.
Jonestown revisited
I had read that most cities treat their water with various forms of Chlorine and that you must use dechlorinator to remove it or it will harm your fish. Well, I miscalculated how much I needed for the small aquarium that held our fish, and the next morning they were all floaters. ;-( Pea soup was one thing, but chemical Kool-ade was another. I felt awful!
Rebirth
With the new water, pump, and filter, we were ready to add plants and fish. We enjoyed picking out new green and orange things for our pond. We started with 6 medium goldfish (4") and a bunch of feeder size (1") ones. We also added parrot's feather, water hyacinth, water letuce, water poppy, chocolate fringe, umbrella palm, sagitarius, and dwarf papyrus. Here is a picture of the glory days.
Under Attack!
Withing a couple of weeks, we had our first raccoon strike. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the pond. Fish were missing, plants were destroyed, and small rocks from the waterfall were on the bottom of the pond. Each time it happened, we would clean up and replace what we could, but it was clear that we were losing the battle.
Some more time spent on rec.ponds, and I was convinced that one of our big problems was the depth of the pond. It was very shallow (15" at the deepest) and had stepped sides that made it very easy for the coons to get in. I decided that I needed to tear it out and re-dig it with straight sides that went deep enough that the coons could not touch bottom from the edge. This was going to be a major project since it involved removing part of the patio and the waterfall. The rainy season was fast approaching, so we decided to give up on the pond for the winter, and tackle the project in the spring. Thus we ended 1996 in defeat...
