HI Juggy. I suspect that the water conditions are bad in the pond and that's why the fish are getting sick with sores and dying. The first thing I would do would be to make a one third water change from the bottom of the pond and stop all feeding of the fish. It could be that your filter isn't sufficient for the size of the pond or the fish in it and/or you might have to clean it often which means that it's probably mechanical with no good bacteria to remove the toxins from the water. I've got a great diagram of a downflow bio-filter along with step by step pictures if you are interested. Your's Koily, Lorraine

Thanks, everyone; that's exactly the kind of response I was looking for! I've been trying for a couple of weeks with the net; early morning, late evening (have not gone out w/ flashlight yet, ccoombs1, but I have lots of rocks and would probably end up in the pond with the fish -LOL!). I would try, then let them settle down, and try again. If I had caught just one, I would just continue trying & be patient, but I've not even come CLOSE to catching one (I'm jealous, Anne, that you were able to catch one every 3 days!). I need a different method, obviously. Horton, if I had known that I had that many babies when they were tiny, I would have scooped them out when we first spotted them. DH & I were catching them in a quart freezer container so we could look at them closer, and it was easy then! I thought there were maybe eight; I never had a problem with overpopulation in my old pond, as only a few survived every year. After I kicked everyone out of the skimmer, one of my comets spawned, and I've only seen a few babies; so I'm hoping this is just a one-time problem, with the eggs & fry being overly protected in the skimmer. I've GOT to get them out before winter, though, as I shut everything down except an air bubbler, & there's just not going to be enough oxygen for everyone if I leave them in there. Joan, I remember doing a similar thing with my 4-H sheep when I was a kid. I think fish are smarter than sheep, though *grin*. I was thinking of using a net to close off part of the pond, but I don't know how that would work with rocks/gravel and the very irregular shape of my pond. It would have to be a very pliable net with a weighted bottom so that it would "hug" the shape of the pond without gaps. I think it might be easier to lay a net on the bottom like Pam suggested (I would have never thought of that - thanks!) since I can get all of the fish in one place when I feed them. Using the "coral" idea, I think I would just need a net big enough for the end of the pond where they are used to going for food - then I would just need to lift and move one side of the net, and the rest could be anchored on the shore. And I just pulled all of my hornwort out, so the bottom's clear except for the pots of waterlilies. What kind of net should I use, and where do I get it? I have the one to keep leaves out of the pond in the fall, but the holes are way too big for the little babies. Any suggestions? Maybe I'll stop at the fishing store on my lunch hour today to see what's available. Jill

Since you have the pump turned down you could just 'y' off and have part of the water go to a pot filter as described below. For a quick fix filter I have an extra pump and I wrap quilt batting around the end of the hose from the pump, put it in a flower pot that has no holes in the bottom, put some rocks on top of the batting/hose to hold everything in place and set the flower pot elevated in the pond so that the water that overflows out of the pot has been filtered. This has worked better than using the intake of the pump because it doesn't slow the pump. I also have a filter made from a big plastic? pot that has a hole cut in the bottom/side where the hose from the pump attaches. The pot has batting in it and big rocks on the batting. I have the pot tipped so water pours out and this filters the pond. The batting soon becomes a brown/green color and blends in with the rocks. I have also planted plants in the pot (they get big and flower a lot) but it is more work to change out the batting.

Look like tilapia. They are non-native and have been introduced to many waterways in the deep South of the US, and are bred for food extensively on fish farms here.