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  1. #1
    Member Rank = Nisai Gnmm's Avatar
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    Oct 2020
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    Birds bathing in waterfall

    Hi everyone. I have a natural sunken pond that has been established for many years that has a few goldfish and small koi. I decided to build a waterfall earlier this year which has run for several weeks. I noticed that pigeons came down to drink and also black birds liked to have a bath which we really enjoyed watching. I then noticed that a few fish were flashing in spite of water parameters being spot on (I use NT labs test kit). I then shut the waterfall off until I investigate further and managed to finally buy a microscope and scraped a few of my fish but could not find any parasites. The koi are now in a heated grow on tank in the garage and are doing well, flashing has stopped. I left the goldfish in the pond and have not seen any flashing either. To make matters more confusing, I had a heron attack earlier in the year as well who managed to grab one of my small koi through the net but dropped it back. It lost scales on both sides of the body and then died a few days later.

    My questions are:
    Is it true that pigeons and black birds can transmit parasites to ponds? I have seen an article that says this is mainly a problem with herons rather than other birds.
    If so, does anyone have experience of how to stop birds drinking and bathing without having to cover the waterfall with a net? I tried this and it looks hideous.

    The heron has not come back and the pond is already netted but I would quite like to keep the waterfall running in the warm months without having to add a net to it. The waterfall is obviously now shut down until the spring.

    Your experience in this matter is appreciated as always.



  2. Thanks Ajm, Ianb Thanked / Liked this Post
  3. #2
    I think it’s possible, I know a dealer that has his tanks inside, but one of them filtered by a Nexus 200 which was outside but under a covered roof, the pigeons would roost under the roof, if he had any issues with parasites, it was always the one with the Nexus outside.

 

 

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