cane toads poisoning gold fish?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by sabine, Jan 9, 2006.

  1. sabine

    sabine Junior Member

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    hi all,

    i'm a bit off topic here but i need the help of you smart people here! when we bought our place last year in june it came with goldfish in an outdoor pond. in the last week i have found 4 dead goldfish.

    its definitely cane toad season at the moment and thats all i can think of as i haven't changed anything. i feed them less than the previous owners - which may have resulted in them eating poisonous tadpoles? and i let the duck weed cover 1/2 the pond, which is more than the previous owners, so that may have depleted the oxygen?

    any ideas?

    peace,
    sabine
     
  2. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day sabine,

    could have been either of your suggestions it has been pretty hot in qld over the past period and there has been fish kills related to depleted oxygen in the water. never heard of goldies dying from cane toad toadpoles but anythings possible the toad eggs and toadpoles are all toxic. you don't think they may have been drowned by some a male toad amplexing with them that has been known to happen? do you have toads mating in their pond? maybe try to toad proof the pond.

    len :?
     
  3. sabine

    sabine Junior Member

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    hi Len,

    thanks for your thoughts, there are cane toads all over our place. its a natural kinda pond so its near impossible to toad proof, but i'm cleaning it up today - syphoning out some water, adding new tank water, getting rid of some more weeds...

    i was hoping the weeds would keep evaporation and temperature down but i think they may be bad in other ways adding organic matter etc.

    i read in a pond forum that some types of frogs can eat fish, but these are dying whole, so its something that is acting on them while alive like poison, temp, oxygen etc

    thanks,
    sabine
     
  4. britishwhitesrock

    britishwhitesrock Junior Member

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    duckweed has been known to kill ponds it didn't qute kill mine but it killed quite a few of my fish keep it in check as I found it irratent ad I'm not usally one to get allergic reactions so I think on mass it may release some kind of toxin.

    I'm diligent now and have all but removed it from my pond I'm thinking of finding some native auqitic plants to go in there once I satisfied that the whole nasty weed is gone.

    Tats just what happened to me though so I'm going on gut instinct rather that actual knowledge
     
  5. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    I'm so glad we don't have cane toads here.

    966!
     
  6. sabine

    sabine Junior Member

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    yeah, now i've calmed down and stopped blaming the toads, i think it was the duckweed. it took over (stoping oxygen exchange, increasing acidity), so i've removed most, and now have a little native duckweed (Spirodela) and a native water lily as well as some exotic lilies. i think the lesson is to have balance in the ecosystem. ...nothing much i can do about the marauding cane toads unbalancing the system though...

    peace,
    sabine
     

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