What did you do today? (2014)

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Saturday morning spent at Campbelltown Steam Museum

 

Edited By Raymond Sanderson 2 on 20/10/2014 02:01:15

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Yesterday and this morning.

My next door neighbour has been feeding over the road's gold fish, they in an outdoor pond, while they are on holiday. Humans not fish!

He came over to me yesterday morning in something of a tiz as he had found fish floating on the surface of the pond, stone dead.

Helped him rescue all the live ones we could find and capture, 20 odd, from what I can only describe as a dead pond, and put them into containers filled with rain water, and a little water from the pond added, as that was the only thing I could think of doing at the time.

They most certainly would have vrekked if left in that putrid water, as it was a dark green with not a sign of any oxygen in it, and smelly.

Far far too many fish in it to start with, as we counted 20 floating on the surface.

We checked this morning and all in the containers where lively and headed to the bottom when they spied us, but two of the largest and three small ones where past it, the large ones looking so yesterday but we thought they may recover.

The dead ones went back into the pond.

Neighbour saw the head of what must have been the largest of the fish lying on the lawn, no doubt it having been the supper for the cat he spied the day before exiting the property.

He said he wont be volunteering to feed the fish in future.

Geoff – Does make one wonder.

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Just reading Paddy Ashdown's diary in which he tells of a Parliamentary gathering at which he was chatting with Major and Blair. Major announced that he had been treating his goldfish for sunburn by applying ointment – apparently they are prone to burn easily – the goldfish, not politicians (unfortunately!) The treatment was successful but a local heron then gobbled up the lot! Think I shall stick with our cats – more than enough trouble!

Rgds

Bill

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Sounds exactly like overfeeding, has he been feeding them breakfast lunch and dinner!

Once or twice a week should do at a guess, and they shouldn't really be fed at all below 10C (50F)

Time should be taken and food thrown in small handfuls, once they stop eating, stop chucking it in. Othewise uneaten food raises nutrient levels in the water and before you know it you've got all sorts of nasties multiplying creating slimy stinking water.

Sounds like you were lucky to get them out so quickly.

Edited By Russ B on 21/10/2014 10:51:45

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Russ B,

Only feeding a handful in the morning, but no idea what the owner told him.

No idea, either, if owner knows anything about gold fish as he inherited the pond from previous house owners.

All I could think of was to get the live ones out of that horrible water and into some clean aerated stuff ASAP.

Neighbour says all the fish where fine, and gobbling up the food he was throwing in since owners went on holiday two weeks ago, and it was only on Sunday morning that he saw two floaters, with uneaten food on the surface, but didn't think much of it until yesterday morning when he saw all those floating on the surface. He and I have not a clue as far as fish keeping is concerned.

No idea what the water was like beforehand.

Geoff – 25mph wind gusts here.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

If the fish survived summer high temperatures (= low O2) then not overcrowded as such. Probably recent cold temperature + falling leaves –> build up of dead vegetation —> warm weekend, vegetation starts to compost vigorously —> BOD goes through roof, no oxygen and …

Possibly a bit late but two solutions – haul out as much vegetation as possible (at the risk of releasing nasties like H2S and further encouraging decomposistion) and putting in an air pump 24/7

Neil

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Thanks for the info Neil.

BOD? Too lazy to search, but no doubt something obvious!

Neighbour and I have decided that we have done our best, and I for one have no intention of setting a precedent by doing any more. It's something I learned not to do a long time ago, when I said no to looking after neighbours' dog when they wanted to go off on a jolly, me having done so a couple of time previously, and getting an 'Oh but you've always done so!" when I declined.

Neither of us have an air pump, and there is no sign of one near the pond, which is one of those green plastic kidney shaped ones, 8-10ft long.

The water is so murky, you cannot see the bottom, and no oxygenating plants in sight that I can discern.

Geoff – Other half preparing fish for our tea (supper)

[NJHParticipant @njh]

| Geoff – Other half preparing fish for our tea (supper)

Good grief Geoff I wouldn't EAT them!

Norman

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

A not unusual happening this year, I lost all my fish (Koi) and a friend lost 20 of his. Both of us have good filter boxes and not over feeding. But, one thing stood out, it was that week when we experienced the poor quality air coming over from the Continent and a week later I experienced a bad asthma session!

Clive

[Another JohnSParticipant @anotherjohns]

Watched a National Film Board of Canada movie about "end of the line"

**LINK**

(www.nfb.ca/film/end_of_line) – end of steam in Canada, something I was born too late to experience.

JohnS

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

BOD = Biochemical Oxygen Demand; the depletion of dissolved oxygen by decaying organic matter… I think!

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Such a sudden death of that many fish would not just be a manky pond, maybe feeding more than normal pushed it over the edge but would have expected a steady toll. If it were oxygen related then it would more likely have happened last week when there was thunder about as that affects oxygen levels more.

Could be a parasite problem with the upturn in temperatures but agian not likely to wipe out so many in one go. I've had to does mine a few more times than usual this year for Trichodina.

 

Edited By JasonB on 21/10/2014 17:35:11

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> BOD = Biochemical Oxygen Demand; the depletion of dissolved oxygen by decaying organic matter… I think!

Close, a measure of how much oxygen the microorganisms in the water want, a measure not just of the amount of organic matter, but how available it is to decomposers. If it's greater than the oxygen that can diffuse in through the surface of the water, you get oxygen depletion.

Neil

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

When I was a teenager, a friends neighbour kept fish. He had several fish die suddenly and it turned out that somebody a few doors down the road decided to remove lead based paint from their first floor window frames with a blowlamp.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Thanks for the BOD description.

Went over at 0900h with neighbour (Mike) to see how the fish we rescued where doing.

Son of the owner had xferred them all into a much larger container yesterday, and they where a joy to behold, all behaving as I would expect from healthy specimens.

Geoff – Much calmer weather today.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

We apparently had a tornado in Burton on Trent yesterday:

Neil

[Involute CurveParticipant @involutecurve]

Over the post week or so I've laid the concrete base for the new GARDEN ROOM!!, and yesterday started laying the bricks yesterday got 120done today only 80" now rained off! this quantity might sound laughable, my excuses are many and all are valid the weather has been crap today, I have to mix my own mortar by hand, I haven't laid bricks in years, and I want them to look ok so it takes time, once I get past the first five course I should fly its breeze blacks from there up which will eventually get rendered to match the house.

Ohh yeh Garden Room! Ill have to rename one of my motorbikes to Garden.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

So to keep in her good books, I thought I would replace the oven light which blew the other day. Unscrewed the protective glass 'lens' , pushed, twisted and pushed again, but the bulb would not budge. Was it screw in or bayonette ? Nothing in the handbook, so by this time I decided to pull the fuse in case it all went wrong. Frightened of smashing the lamp between finger and thumb, I used the rubber 'bulb' off the battery hydrometer to grip the bulb. Again, push, twist and finally the socket pushed up into the oven casing out of reach. Now it was a matter of stripping the sides and top off and some 21 self tappers later, there was the errant socket nestling in the glass fiber insulation. Eventually I was able to free the screw in bulb, replace the socket, 21 screws and all done. About an hours work all told.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Speedy, I hope it will be appreciated, did you count all the screws back in? They are painful when stood on in socks.

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Crafty these oven manufacturers. The main element blew on ours, so clever me fitted a new one. Ahhh it's did not work. So I dismantled mine. All the circuits worked except the main element, I found out by inspecting very carefully that they fit a fuse link on the main switch between the contacts, clever people. But the tightness of a Yorkshire man beat them. Heavy duty fuse wire soldered back in and off we go again. That got me a free afternoon in the workshop granted by the SWIMBO. 😜

Bri

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

SpeedyBuilder5, the bulb seizing in is most commonly caused by excessive amounts of RAC keys finding there way in to threads…………

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 22/10/2014 13:40:06:

We apparently had a tornado in Burton on Trent yesterday:

Neil

.

So you CAN get quicker than a quick fit fitter ?

Sorry I'll get me coat…………………………………..

[EugeneParticipant @eugene]

John,

That looks to be heading for "The Bridge" at Branston, I hope you checked all was well with the Pedigree!

Eug

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Posted by NJH on 21/10/2014 16:51:47:

| Geoff – Other half preparing fish for our tea (supper)

Good grief Geoff I wouldn't EAT them!

Norman

LOL!

That's how other half and I reacted on reading your comment.

Geoff – The fish we saved are now very lively, and looking extremely healthy. Very gratifying.

[“Bill Hancox”Participant @billhancox]

Time to reorganize storage facilities in the shop. Recent tooling builds as well as purchases need proper placement. So, armed with a few bucks and my travel mug of coffee, off to the local dollar store this morning and picked up quite a variety of covered plastic storage containers. Now to balance this chore with my chipping time which will certainly be a challenge. Last week I bought this 1/2" and 9/16" 316 stainless rod from a local retired tool and die maker who had an advert online.

That night he called me and asked if I would be interested in some more items. I met with him the following day and bought the lot. Cutters, taps and dies are a mix of Clarkson, Osmond, Dormer and Butterfield with a few Polish end mills. Many items are new or in new condition. I walked by my reloading bench while looking for a box for the end mills when the brain gurgled a bit. I retrieved an empty 100 round .223 Rem storage box that handled about 95% of the end mills quite nicely. Total purse drain $90 CAD. Those thread restorers are $25.10 each on Amazon. I will be utilizing those blocks of Peelcoat to protect my more costly cutters and my wood carving tools. The roll of metalworking cloth will come in handy for various jobs.

Cheers

Bill

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