Last Updated: 6/3/24

1. On 5/5/24, at 3:14 pm, it was 62 degrees F outside and had been raining for two days. It was a bit misty but not actively raining. The 1800 and 153 gallon pond's both were at 60 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter materials, put in additives, and did not need to add water since it finally rained. The filter materials in the big pond were heavy and filthy dirty as the goldfish had a spawn-fest this week.

2. I got outside at 1:53 pm on 5/12/24 to do pond work. I squirted all the filter materials and the bioballs and bags of lava rock. I found two-lined salamander eggs on one of the lava rock bags! The eggs are so big and unlike other salamander eggs but just like the ones for the species on Google images. [I guess I should have taken photos but, ever since the world has gone from regular photos to digital, and I have no time to process said digital photos, I basically don't take photos any more. Since my mother died over 10 years ago, I think fewer than 10 photos have been taken of myself by relatives or anybody.] I put additives in the ponds but it was too late to do much more.

3. I made a small order with Tricker that arrived on 5/17/24 in the morning before I left for work. When I got home, I put 12 Japanese trapdoor snails in the 1800 gallon pond. I also got 3 water hyacinth, 3 water lettuce, and a new pink waterlily called Mayla. I put them in some water to wait until Sunday.

4. On 5/19/24, I did pond work. At 12:40 pm, it was 67 degrees F out. The 1800 gallon pond was at 66 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 64 degrees F. I potted up the Mayla waterlily into a 5 gallon pot. I also grabbed a 2 gallon pot and one of the waterlily tubers that I had dumped in the 20 gallon tub pond a month ago. I potted that and put it into the 20 gallon tub pond. I put the Mayla waterlily in the 1800 gallon pond. I squirted all the filter materials. I put a floating plant ring over the main pump and put the water hyacinth and water lettuce in there. I put in additives and water.

5. I split my pond work on Memorial Day weekend into both Sunday and Monday as relatives visited both days. On Sunday, 5/26/24, at 10:47 am, the air temperature was 78 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 74 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 70 degrees F. I changed the PondMaster filters, squirted off the Matala mats in the Biosteps filter, put water in the smaller ponds, and put in additives. I found and removed a dead goldfish of about four inches long. He or she was orange and white and mostly chewed to bits so I suspect a raccoon.

6. On Monday, 5/27/24, I did the remainder of the Sunday pond chores. At 10:35 am, the air temperature was 74 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 74 degrees, and the 153 gallon pond was at 70 degrees F just like the day before. I got in the big pond to take out all the filter materials around the three pumps and squirted those off. I removed a lot of algae from the waterfall area. Mostly the deer ate basically all the watercress and water celery that normally filters the pond so well. Algae took its place. I moved the floating plant ring back to where it was supposed to be from the other side of the pond, and, presumably, the raccoon chewed on the water lettuce and water hyacinth.

7. On 5/28/24, I found a dead full size male fathead minnow on the side of the 153 gallon pond. I think that a raccoon killed it and left it there instead of eating it.

8. On 5/29/24, I found a large 10 inch female goldfish dead in the 1800 gallon pond. She was orange and white and very egg laden. It looked like she got stranded on top of some marginals during spawning and suffocated.

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