I like the idea about the rumble strips - I have some green polywood (plastic woods used in deck chair) - never rots and the 2x4 size laying flat might be just the trick since I can easily drill a hole in them and spike them down at each end so they stay put - foot on edge of road should be enough, maybe 18 inches apart. Good thing is I can cut the grass right them without having to get off the tractor, remove, cut, put them back. I use the same material now but about 8 inches vertical - I striped them white and epoxied in a spike at the bottom - they look great but people just plaster them into the dirt by driving over them! Our street is private and narrow even though I am on straightaway - people get run off the road by larger delivery trucks. I don't want to damage their cars. One guy in the neighborhood as anal as me just pounds in snow spikes year round. I am afraid if I plant a small hedge (yew or boxwood) it will get run over, snow plowed away or killed with road salt.

Thanks for the advice. Will try it and see what happens. Howard, all growers here in Singapore use only charcoal as potting media. Even the commercial growers. Maybe its our weather? We're sunshine all year around and the temperature never falls below 23C (73.4F). Med to high humidity all year round too. We're a typical tropical country on the equator. I've asked one of our local growers this question and his reply was that, the charcoal is only to stabilize the plant in the pot and nothing else. With regular watering and fertilizing, orchids, especially Dens bloom every few months in our climate. It almost never goes dormant. As for shading, if they have anymore sun than they do now, they'll burn for sure. In the mornings, direct sun is about one and a half feet away from my orchids and in the afternoons, about half a foot. When its cloudy, I put a high wattage reading lamp over them. It also gets very breezy where they are so I should think they're getting adequate circulation. But I've never nursed a sick orchid before so am concerned about whether what I'm doing with my healthy orchids is advisable for the sick ones? As for societies, I just joined one. But THE society seems to be dormant... lack of members?

I hope someone else has some info on 'stress coat'. I have a well and don't have to worry about water chlorine-chloramine. A pH of 8.5 and even 9 is OK although you are getting on the high side. Any issues are most likely elsewhere. I have no experience with red algae. Are we talking about stuff that would begin to make you think of beet rather than pea soup or is it only stuck to solid surfaces. If it is suspended in the water, then your UV light should kill it. Again, no personal experience, but I hear that the UV lamps only work for a year or so. Perhaps you need a replacement lamp. That is still a lot of fish, but I suspect that for the time being (before they grow much bigger), that they should be OK. The major thing that jumps out at me is the lack of any plants IN the pond. The general rule is that around 2/3 of the pond should be covered with plants although that may not be necessary with a deep pond like yours. Obviously, water lily comes to mind. It is very nice to have such a large substitute container. My uneducated guess is that your pond will probably be or already now is fine. My guess is that the fish that died came from either fish transfer, or stress in pockets of chlorine loaded water that didn't get treated as much as the average water treatment.

Yeah soft mushy stems is rot! :( You would need to see the roots to see the extent of the damage, hopefully you can save it since the plant still looks healthy for the most part. It may be more than one plant once you remove the soil and only the rotting plant would need to be removed, if it’s all one plant you need to remove the black stems with sharp, sterilised snippers or scissors as well as any black/brown mushy roots. If theres still healthy solid white roots left after pruning then it should recover. You can then repot in a well draining mix or leave to dry a little. I’d sterilise the pot to be on the safe side and definitely change up the potting mixture so it doesn’t hold as much water. If you leave it in the current soil it may just progress and get worse depending how wet it is and how bad the roots are. Keep us updated! Hopefully it bounces back :) Chloé