Well...to update: I have 2 sick ones still that I can see. The third sick one is missing. I think it must have died...and got eaten by a bird or turtle. I have not seen it since Sunday evening, after I dipped it in medicine. The other two are still acting very sickly...I do not think they will make it. The rest of my 12 fish are fine...hopefully it stays that way. I have done all I know how to do. coombs you are right....I have had ponds and aquariums for 7 years now...and it is one thing to lose a fish to a predator, or natural causes...but when you know you are directly responsible...it is heart wrenching. Part of me wants to put these two out of their misery, but I want to give them a fighting chance. I know they are just fish, but knowing that they are sick because of me is the worst feeling. When I first got into ponding, sad to say, I must have killed like 10 fish...same story with the aquarium. Then I did my research and learned my lessons. This is the first time this has happened to me in a while. It will be very hard for me to get new fish again in the future. I get nervous every time...because of stuff like this. Amanda

Mike: I do not have an ion generator. It's reassuring to know that draining and refilling the pond should be enough to dilute any poisons. It appears I was rather extreme to scrub all the algae off, but I do feel better about safely adding new fish. sleepless: I can't recall the last time there was a power outage. An electrician ran the wires to the pond and they are properly grounded. The outlets are all GFCI. My pond is on its own circuit breaker separate from other lines in the yard (swimming pool, decorative lighting, etc.). As for the in-pond fixtures, the bulbs have always lasted for years. I probably only replace them every 2 years or so. When this one fixture burnt out about 6 weeks ago, I replaced the bulb. It went out again about 3 weeks later. When I opened the fixture up to replace the bulb again, it was dry with no water leaking in. There was no sign of any damage to the wires, so I chalked it up to a bad bulb. I will certainly toss it and get a new one. There are some great prices online for new fixtures, so it isn't worth the risk to keep it, IMO. bulldinkie: That's terrible what happened to your pond! Not only did you suffer the massive loss of your fish, but it happened so close to a special day for your family. I hope your pond has recovered and is doing well now.

Mosquito dunks are available in the plant section of places like Lowes or Home Depot and at pond stores. They work really well and don't hurt the insects and animals that might drink from the pond.

I would have reacted the same way! This is beginning to sound like "The Pet Cemetery"! We have a few skeletons in our yard as well. One green heron: Just after I'd installed our pond, 11 years ago, we had a visit from a green heron. The day he appeared, we were installing the icemaker in our frig. I shoo'ed the bird away, as DH beckoned me for assistance. So, I asked my son (then 14 yrs. old) to keep an eye out for the fish monger and shoo him away should he return. The next thing I know, my son says he got a fish and I got him. The green heron had returned scooped up a fish and retreated for lunch on the fence. My son shot him with a pellet gun. I was shocked, and asked why he shot the bird; it was a protected species and I'd asked him to shoo the bird away. His answer was he'd misunderstood me to say shoot the bird. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm an animal lover who would never kill anything, unless it threatened human life. I was flabbergasted to say the least, but also concerned. The bird had fallen into my neighbor's yard; I didn't know if he'd wounded it or killed it, but knew we had to discretely check its status. Not wanting to draw attention to my son's mistake, he barreled over the fence w/the use of our ladder and recovered the evidence. The bird was dead, but the fish was alive (and continued to survive). "Jimmy Heron" is buried in our backyard..........along with about 10 rats (probably more), a couple of fish and one oppossum. The oppossum was dog kill. That about killed me! Our Samyoid has a thing for oppossums; I've taken 2 to the vet's for repair. Thank goodness the Samyoid has gone blind...........probably an oppossum curse put upon her rather than the diabetes. The rats.......one thing the Chamber of Commerce will never tell you about, is the rats in Tampa! When we moved here I was totally disgusted! The house had been empty for 6 months, the yard totally overgrown with vegetation. Our first night in the house, we heard a noise which sounded like a herd of buffalo crossing the roof. It was 4 days before we identified the culprits, and then I was ready to move! DH decided to put out rat traps. He was not discouraged by their numbers. I swore off any responsibilities w/traps. The first night of traps, we were sitting at the table having dinner. First, you could hear the snap of one trap, followed by many more. Sounded like the percussion section of an orchestra. I thought I'd lose my dinner. Believe me, it took only that one experience for DH to decide there had to be a better way to rid the homestead of rats. The better way, of course was to clear the property of hiding places, and at the time, it didn't seem we could move fast enough. We cleared out 4 trees (I still have 17 on the property) and all the undergrowth; then the house was tented. When I mentioned this to one of our neighbors, the neighbor's reation was, "Oh, yes, grove rats" like they were domestic pets! (Our neighborhood used to be an orange grove. Rats eat the fruit off of the trees. When they developed it, not all the rats ran away; they remained to prosper.) A few days after we'd cleared the landscaping, another neighbor was alarmed when she said she had NO idea why she suddenly had rats under her decking, but would have to deal with it. I stiffled a laugh. Another neighbor told me he and the previous owner of our home used to sit in the back yard with pellet guns and shoot rats as they ran along the fencetop. Since he lived directly behind us, they always made sure they hunted together to avoid injury or damaging the other's home. They buried a few rats in the yard as well. So, that's the buried treasures in our back yard....so far.