Last Updated: 6/5/17

1. On 4/30/17, I did pond chores. Both thermometers in the 1800 and 153 gallon ponds read a warm 72 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials, topped of ponds, and put in additives. I put three water hyacinth and three water lettuce that I received from AquaMart on 4/27/17 in the floating plant ring. I didn't have time to pot up the three marginals I got at the same time so they're in a bucket of water on the porch waiting. I put the waterlily protector back on the Albata like every week as the fish rip it off! I looked at Alex, my sanke koi, and she has popeye in her left eye only! She is isolating herself. Oh, no, this can't be good. The others seem okay.

2. On 5/7/17, it was only about 55 degrees F with a cold wind. The 1800 gallon was at 60 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 59 degrees F. I changed the PondMaster filters. I squirted off the Biosteps Matala. I did not remember to pump out the water and gunk in the filter but will do that next time. I cannot just open the drain as the gunk would just flow in to the filter which is very poorly designed. I has the intake farthest from the pond so if the line pops off, the pond will pump down to the level of the pump. My old Cyprio filter had the intake on the pond side, and that thing popped off a lot! Even so, it did squirt quite a bit out of the pond when the line came off. I potted up the three marginals I had gotten way back on 4/27/17! I did not do it on my last day off on 5/1/17 because they pulled my well pump to replace it and heavily chlorinated the water. Luckily, it was under 1 ppm chlorine by the following weekend which is similar to city water. I didn't need to add water to the ponds due to lots of rain the day before (another good thing). I potted up the new black Gamecock iris, dwarf cattails, and spike rush in to two gallon pots for each and put them in the main marginal are of the big pond. I removed a one gallon pot. Whatever had been in there had died like 90% of the marginals I buy! Yet, I never learn! ~70% of my marginals are now iris as they do the best!

3. I did pond work on 5/14/17. The 1800 gallon pond was at 62 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 60 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter materials. I put the one large and two small tropical lily tuber nuts in to the 5 gallon pot that was already in the pond so I got away without potting it in the traditional sense.

4. You're never going to guess what I did on 5/21/17! Pond work! Yay. The 1800 gallon pond was at 66 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 64 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter materials and the bioballs. I checked on the big tropical waterlily tuber I put in the week before and saw no growth. I fertilized the lilies in the big pond and the one lotus which is still barely alive. I have one waterlily flower, an Albata white flower in the 153 gallon pond. The gray tree frogs or maybe the spring peepers even put eggs in the tiny lotus pond which holds about a gallon of water. I tried to move some of the eggs to the 50 gallon tub pond but they are hard to move as they are so tiny.

In early May of 2017, my koi, Alex, suddenly got a bad case of popeye in her right eye. After a week, it went away. She seemed better and rejoined the others. But, then, a lump developed under the eye which eventually partially ruptured and again pushed her eye out. It is some kind of tumor, most likely bacterial as they are most common. It really sucks because she was my third Sanke, and each time they die. I'm afraid she won't live much longer. She is lethargic and starting to show signs of dropsy from a major infection. There's nothing I can do. There are no koi vets in this state, and she's too far gone for any topical antibiotics to do anything. She was eating a few days back but now she's sulking again. The other koi seem normal.

5. I uploaded a video to You Tube of the spring peepers and gray tree frogs calling here.

6. I did pond chores on 5/28/17. The 1800 gallon pond was at 68 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 66 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials. The lizard tail had grown so tall and so heavy that it keeps falling over so while I was in there, I turned it around. I can't really repot it until it finishes flowering as the whole process is violent and will kill most of the plant. I used to have lots of lizard tail and now just this one pot is left.

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