article: Poisoning the Fish

Poisoning the Fish

In your water garden or in your aquarium, poison is going to be something that you might not often think about but it can happen so easily. There are a few different types of poison that you might not even realize can hurt your fish such as: too much dye in the water, herbicides and fertilizers used in your lawn and garden and even pest control insecticides can poison your fish.

Using dye in the water to control the color of your water, making it a crystal green or blue is a common practice among water gardeners but when you over due the color without balancing the sun and the fresh water in the water garden you are going to slowly kill off the fish living in the pond. The fish will ingest the dye as they go about their daily routine where overdoses of dye cannot be filtered out of their bodies.

All gardeners use some type of herbicide to keep weeds from growing and reappearing in their garden, and when there is a strong wind the herbicide can be blown directly into the pond where the fish have no choice but to be affected by this weed treatment chemical. Another way that herbicides are directed into the pond is when they are used near the pond and a heavy rain-washes the chemical into the water garden, again affecting the water garden and the fish that live there. These herbicides can kill off your water garden plants as well as the fish in the water.

Fertilizing your landscape you are going to be adding chemicals to the soil that need water to work in to the soil. Rainwater can move chemicals from fertilizers to the water in the water garden and can poison your fish. Often, fertilizer is a bit heavier than some sprays and may not blow into the water garden if you are more than ten feet from the water garden but being careful near the pond should always be first on your mind.

You may never notice what the effects of fertilizer or herbicides do to your plants and fish for a few days after the rain has washed the chemicals into the pond but you will see a difference in both the fish and the plants.

If your water garden is near a property line you are going to have to be careful about when your neighbors are mowing or they are treating their lawn so you can cover the pond or you can ask them to possibly wait until a day when the wind is not blowing so that your water garden is not affected by the chemicals.

One method of protecting your pond when you are fertilizing and caring for your landscape is to cover the pond with a large sheet of plastic or a tarp that will prevent the herbicides, chemicals or other poison from being carried into the pond through the air.