Boy Am I Tired

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Got home from Vegas late last night and the wife and daughter were in a lather. Seems the tree rats moved into the Birch tree over my Koi pond and dropped about 50lbs of nuts and chewed chunks in the water. It clogged the filter, fouled the water and one of our oldest Koi (over 10 years old) was floating on his side and minutes from death. I netted him (I think it's a him) out and told my daughter to fill the bathtub with cold water. All this at 10 oclock at night. Normally he is a calico color but by the time I got him out he was pale yellow. I've seen enough dead fish to know he wasn't long for this world. I really doubted he would make it. Got the tub filled, put some chlorine remover in it and put him in. He just kept floating belly up, arched sideways and not even trying to swim. She sat in there and held him upright moving him through the water for 2 hours. He finally got some color back and after about another 30 min. was holding his own staying upright and after about another hour was swimming a little. I went out and got my bubbler for my minnow bucket and put it in the water. This morning he was jetting around the bathtub like a rocket. Last night I unhooked the filter from the pump and just started pumping water. Today everybody is doing good (about 20 fish in the pond). There was another old timer who was pretty stressed, but after pumping water all night he is moving around pretty well. I spent the day blowing another 75lbs of nuts off the roof and decks, I'm gonna go clean the pond and then I am gonna open a HUGE can of whoop A$$ on some squirrls. My wife used to feel sorry for them but not anymore!! I like to live in harmony with nature....heck, I don't even kill copperheads when I catch them around the house, I just take them back out in the forest and let them go but the tree rats number around 30 and the season just opened (my season anyway). I read where Mepps will pay you for squirrel tails...Hmmmmmm might just make some $$ off the bastages!! Gotta saddle up and head out again next week so I have to make quick work of them. They are also eating the asphalt shingles off my roof!! I've never seen that before!!



One shot one kill time!!



TOXIC

 

[fatrap]

My birddog has kept us busy wanting to outside and stair up into a tree. Finally found out that the tree rats found my red oaks and use my sugar maples to come in from the older addition down the street. I just happen to have a Gammo 1000 fps with a GAMO 3X9 air rifle scoped all doped in. I can use my walker for a rest.

fatrap

 

[Jim in VA]

I hear you Tox! Darn tree rats been chewing up my roof at the lake. Going to get a pellet gun and start target practice. Anyone got recommendations on what to look for in a proper squirrel killing piece of equipment?

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Jim, I use a 22, 17 shot semi auto rifle. I use the short shells to eliminate any ricochet. With shorts, I have to use the single action mode because there is not enough powder to operate the auto eject. It has buckhorn sights and is very quiet.



TOXIC

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Do them in Hammer!



If you want some shootign lessons, let me know

 

[Jim in VA]

Thanks Tox. Was at Dick's looking at pellet/bb pistol guns and don't think they'll have the accuracy/lethality I need. I've shot 22's in the past and am comfortable with the single bolt action types. I'll look into the semi-auto's. Appreciate the advice on short shells for ricochet issues.



CIII - hope the lessons offer goes for others as well!!

 

[Tim Koepp]

tox. A old trick I used when shipping tropical fish. A "capful" to 5 gallon of Hydrogen peroxide will give the water a temperory oxygen boost. Hyd perox is H2 02, has an extra oxygen molecule that will temporarily help. It doesnt take much, and dont overdo it. I've save a few valuables and special pets over the years. Also, literally holding the fish over a bubbler will give some "artificial respiration".



Not a problem at this current residence but I have suspended netting a bit over the water in fall before to keep everything like leaves and such from gunking up my ponds in the past.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Thanks, we are looking at getting some netting before the fall leaves start. I get a ton of them. I don't mind the leaves as much, it's a daily routine to clean them out of the pond but the nuts sink to the bottom and foul the water as well as the filter. The whole nuts aren't bad but the tree rats sit up there and chew them dropping little bits in the water which are worse. I have Hickory, beech and oak trees that all drop nuts. The beech are the worst. First you get twirlers like a maple, then you get seed pods that are spiked, then the nuts which the tree rats love. I have gutter guards but they don't work with any of the Beech stages. I also have a Japanese Magnolia that gets big seed pods which are fine until the tree rats get to them and chunk them up. Ah the joys of living in the forest!!:lol: I'll keep the Hydrogen peroxide tip handy. This is the first time since I put the pond in that we have had a problem. I was out of town and my wife is not strong enough to open the filter (external). It's a bear and has a snap ring around the top. I've since showed her how to just unscrew the feeder hose from the pump and let it circulate water. I'll be glad when all of the nuts are done or all of the tree rats are DOA, whichever comes first. Headcount 4 dispatched today.



Carlos, no instruction necessary. Put the tips of the buckhorn sights on their shoulder blade and squeeeeeze the trigger!! :lol:



TOXIC

 

[Jody Woodruff]

Tree rats chewed into my attic and were chewing up the trim on my house so I had to thin them out. I picked up a Beeman .177 single pump 1000 fps air rifle have got them under control now. Wildlife specialties also makes a tube trap you can mount on a fence that works well too. They never bothered me until they started to damage my house.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I built my pond, not very big about but about 700 gals. right into my rear deck and it's three feet deep. Right over it is a Maple and it's one that drops what I call 'helicopters'. They have a seed in one end and when they drop from the tree they spin real fast just like a copter rotor and they sink too.

The year after I put the pond in I went to a local lumber yard and asked if they had any broken or cracked skylights that are no good to them any more. He took me down this darkened corner and there must have been 15 skylights stacked up there in varying degrees of 'brokeness'. I was told to pick out whatever I needed so I did and

took it home, and covered the pond with it. It missed covering the whole thing by 12" or so while I was there I got some wood and screening material and built a frame for the area the skylight didn't cover and it really works great. That took care of any squirrel problem. Now, I have seen a couple of Great Blue Herons, and a Hawk or two and I have my pellet gun all set up and ready. I use the better pellets, Raptor, and that does the job. All of the fish in my pond are twelve years old. I only have one Koi and he was about as big as my thumb when I got him.. He's now about 5 lbs. and is named "Bubba". I also had one Shubunkin <sp> I bought at the same time and I also bought ten 'feeder fish at the same time. I figured a bunch of the feeder Gold Fish would die buy only one did The Shubunkin died this past spring, most of the Goldfish have turned white, true, and I guard them as well as I can but I think my three dogs probably do a better job than I.



Uncle Billy

 

[Tim Koepp]

I have to give a bit of biography first: I;ve been keeping and breeding "tropical" fish for some 40+ years now, have bred over 300 species (not pairs: unique species) over those years that I've recorded and had "witnessed", and many many more just haphazard or not worth the recording. While hardly "tropical", I did spend a number of years specializing in "goldfish". I only offer this as background: if anyone has a pond or aquarium question come up, chances are I've been there, done that and learned the hard way, so I might be able to shed some light.



from your profiles, it would not appear extreme cold and three-four months of ice on your ponds is a typical issue. Unfortunately, I do have to deal with that, so I have opted out of keeping large(r) koi and exotic goldfish outside, and keep it simple with Comets and Shubunkins. biggest problem I have encountered in recent years is keeping them FROM breeding in the spring and overcrowding.



I gotta show restraint.. this is a topic I could write volumes on (uh, I think I have). Anyway. if more are interested on pond stuff we can keep it going!

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Hang in there Hammer! Hold em and squuze em!



Jim, you are always welcome, I may be able to teach you a tip or trick or two

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I too used to be into some exotics. I actually had some African Cichlids imported directly from Africa (Lake Tanganyika). Cyphotilapia frontosa . I was succussful in getting them to breed and made a lot of $$ off of the youngins!! My old roommate was into the show golfish thing. I was into the Africans. I had 12 tanks from 80 gallons down to 20's for breeding and small fry etc. I had to move too many times and just got tired of setting up the tanks and hiring a company to move them. This is my first outdoor pond. It's been pretty easy for the last 10 years, the Koi overwinter in the pond even iced over and have survived fine. Had a Heron get a few but put some habitat in the water and they now can avoid the birds. I cleaned out a rental house that had a pond and now have waaaay too many. If anybody wants any common goldfish let me know!! I do have some Koi babies but those I am keeping.



TOXIC

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Ok Pondscum, here ya go and thanks for offering to help. I have one Goldfish out in my pond that's about 7 inches long but he/she has also gotten to be about 7 inches around also.

Starting fall a year ago I just thought she was pregnant and was going to drop about a million baby's but that wasn't the case. She/he not only stayed fat but got fatter. He/she is starting to look like a balloon that's going to blow up. This condition doesn't seem to bother the fish in any way though. It still eats well and swims well so I've been at a kind of loss.

I've done a little research and have only come up with a disease called Swim Bladder Disease. But the "expert" that talked to me about that said it was primarily for Tank Goldfish and not Pond Goldfish. Plus, supposedly swim bladder disease makes it very hard for the fish to swim upright and/or to the bottom of the tank. Mine has no problem at all. Maybe I should just leave it alone as it's been this way for almost two years but I know that fish is not supposed to be that way.

Any help? And how's that for a first time question???



Uncle Billy

 

[Dan J.]

Tox - If you'd like to reach out a little bit further and cycle your semi, I have a solution that works well and doesn't creep out the neighbors. You need an empty, clear two-liter bottle and a little duct tape. On an unloaded .22 rifle, slide the neck of the bottle over the barrel about two inches. Make a couple wraps at the neck/barrel connection with the duct tape. Take a pocket knife and cut a hole (3-4" diam.) at the bottom end of the bottle. Lock and load. (I prefer Rem. Yellow Jackets.) You will be amazed at the sound of the report. (Or lack there of!!) It's muffled to an air gun volume and distance is doubled using the higher grain rounds allowing cycling of the semi. Try it and let me know how you like it!

 

[Tim Koepp]

Uncle Billy. Sounds more like something called "Bloat" rather than swim bladder but that is actually unlikely to have lasted this long without killing her. (and now, we cant assume "her").



I wont "dis" the expert you talked to but I know of no particular reason any "disease" be it parasitic or otherwise would be always or never tank or pond.. they both work the same way: water goes in, fish go in, water runs through typically some kind of mechanical and bioligical filtration. colors can often be significantly enhanced outdoors due to the diet and sunlight, and some parasites are also more prevalent.



If you could send a pic, it might help.. I am thinking you may have gotten your hands on something that has some "fancy goldfish" genes in it, where a wide, tennis ball body is not uncommon. See http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8175/goldfish11.jpg or just google Pearlscale Goldfish for an extreme example. If this particular fish almost "waddles" when it swims, it may be the way it developed



finally a little goldfish history: Goldfish have been kept as you are likely aware in the orient for like 5000 years or so, but yet, the genetics and characteristics are very unstable. If you breed two of the most championship caliber fancy goldfish, you MIGHT get a couple % that even remotely are of the same quality as the parents.. unlike dog or cat strains that breed true. Many many of the spawn will typically revert back to common goldfish or maybe just like simple fantails.



a little know fact about female goldfish: they often only load up one ovary at a time, and viewed from above when they are getting "ripe" will look lopsided. This is one way I typically will try to sex them. Males are easy.. they get little white "pimples" on their gill plates.. you can both see and feel them, and its foolproof sexing method.. a male might not show it, but a female never will to my experience.



Back you your tennis ball with fins: I bet there's nothing wrong after two years. Probably time for a knickname!

 

[Tim Koepp]

Tox: "Fronts" are pretty cool. Kinda South American cichlid size in an African. Had em, bred em. made the money...



not to "one up" you, I had about 110 tanks running at one point.. got to be just too much work after I ran into back disc problems and had surgery. Still got everything set up, but mostly "dry" now.



went a long time on hardwater fish like the africans, and had a lot of luck with the Big Boys from South America (Trimac's, Managuense, Dovii) but they about broke me feeding them meat like beefheart. when I moved into the house we are in now, there was a huge R.O. unit installed so I went back to trying softwater cichlids like Uaru and discus. That was fun too, and good $$$, but then Great salt Lake Brine Shrimp eggs went ballistic in price.



I think I have run pretty much the gamut.. spent some time in Killifish, then got hooked on exotic rare and wierd mouthbrooding Gouramis! now that was cool.



good luck with the rodent erradication.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Thanks Pondscum! That's some interesting material. I now have to think of a nickname:lol:

and I'm going to try and get a picture of HER so you can see what's what.

I don't believe it's one of those "fancy goldfish" though or this would have showed up before now. This fish is 10 to 12 years old.



A quick story that you probably already know about. I saw on television a couple of years back, one of those fancy goldfish you were mentioning. It was almost round and very short, little teeny fins and great big eyes. His body was such and his fins so little that it couldn't swim to the surface of the tank to get food to eat. I wanted to mention that just to let you know of at least one ridiculous extreme I've seen but neater still is this. There was one other fish in the tank, I think a normal size and shape goldfish. This other goldfish would swim to the bottom, wedge himself under the big fat fish, and carry him to the surface so it could eat. It was a struggle and the fat fish didn't get much until he would be dropped but the regular goldfish would do the same thing, over and over, until he decided he wanted to eat something.:huh: One of the darnedest things I have ever seen and people say fish can't think...



Uncle Billy

 

[Tim Koepp]

UB: it all boils down to genetics.. Goldfish are absolutely positively the most screwed up (genetically) fish on this planet. they can be delicate as heck, and downright almost impossible to kill. I have retreived pond fish from cats' mouth, had my pond freeze (I swear!) solid, and inside had the jump and lay on the floor, so dry the fins stuck to the floor when i picked them up, and they survive. but one thing is guaranteed: There is always a direct inverse relationship between the hardiness of the goldfish and the price you paid for it!

 

[Tim Koepp]

Uncle Billy: Just took me a minute and checked your photo library.. Nice Chevy! is that yours? had me a '66 Chevelle SS with the (wink, wink insurance man)375HP back in the day.. oh the driver's license points that one cost me. I;ll see if I can find a pic

 

[Tornado]

The hydrogen peroxcide also works in bass boat live wells on hot summer days.

 

[Mark Hofman]

TOX, if the tree huggers jump on you for killing innocent little tree rats...er, animals, you can always try this:



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[Chris F.]

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:lol::lol::lol::lol: That's what you need Toxic!



Pondscum, that was mine a long time ago in a galaxy far away. It started out just like it looks in the picture with a four-speed 327 - 275.. Then we started messing with everything. 30over,ported&polished, balanced, Crane Cam (forgot the specs),

Hooker Headers, Miller Bros. Hi-Lift Traction Bars, 456 gears, 10" Casper Wrinkle Wall Slicks, Chevy Hi-Performance Pop-Up Pistons, Crower Valve Kits, Mickey Thompson Double Ram Intake with Two Holley Dual Feed 850 cfm Carburators. I had a Hurst 4-Speed in it but the throw between gears was too long so I changed it out for a Hurst 3-Speed but I still had four gears. I hooked up the four pieces of linkage to the Hurst 3-Speed but then didn't have a reverse so I had a buddy of mine just weld a piece of metal to the 3-Speed inside the car. I would have to put the car in Neutral and then shift the piece of metal into reverse. It worked great and made the throw between gears less than 1/2" long. It also had a Shaeffer Clutch and Flywheel in it so you got your RPM's very fast.

I don't remember a lot more except it was Sunoco 260 gas eater that was street legal yet ran an honest low to mid 10's.

I shouldn't tell you this but the only car I EVER lost to was a 1967 SS Chevelle that started as a 427 L-88 motor and then built from there. It even had an Econoline straight front axel under his front end so it sat way up in the air. He was a friend so I didn't scream about the small block versus big block thing. I went off the line at some ridiculously high RPM with those slicks mounted and he went off making a lot of smoke and at 1/8 mile I was smiling and giggling because I thought I had him. BUZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz WRONG! As I watched my rear view mirror all I saw was this HUGE white car getting closer and closer while I was just about standing on the gas pedal. Right at the end of the quarter that monster blasted by me at what seemed like light speed. The funny thing was is that he thought he had lost. My stomach churned until I told him the truth but to this day he still talks about that darn small block that beat him. About two weeks after that I got my draft letter.. When I got home a lot of the car was missing. That's what a brother will do when he wants money and you're overseas. So I got it back some, with a Quadrajet, etc. and it was still pretty darn fast but not like before so I decided to sell it. I told the guy I would sell the motor or the whole shebang and he wanted it all. A 20 year old who's father came and checked it out as he was a mechanic and had his own garage. It wasn't two weeks until the boy called me wanting his money back because "my junk car" wasn't any good and the motor blew..Thank God for honesty because his Dad came to my house, with me thinking uh-oh, but he just told me to ignore his son because it was his fault it blew. It's a different era now.

WoW, I've written a book here.:lol: Sorry to all who didn't give a hoot.



Uncle Billy

 

[Mark Hofman]

Holy smokes, Uncle Billy!!! How many gas tanks did it take to FEED that monster?

 

[Tim Koepp]

Uncle billy can testify to this.. we could burn through a whole tank of that super rich Sonoco in mmmm.. maybe 8 1/4-Mile passes? I got around 5 mpg in the city on the street with the 4.88 rear gear.



I put a few dollars into the '66 too.. mostly bolt on stuff, as the stock cam and lifters needed a little more breathing.. so we went with the intake manifold, larger Holley dualfeed/dualpump, and (I forget the code designation today, but I think it was ZL1) 427 large port aluminum heads, then slapped some headers into the fender wells. I ate corvettes stoplight to stoplight with that rear gear and M-series mickey thompsons.