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 Extreme goldfish carnage!

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saint_felony
The Turtle Whisperer
saint_felony


Posts : 1930


Extreme goldfish carnage! Empty
PostSubject: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyMon Jul 13, 2009 8:16 pm

A friend's mom had a small little pond with goldies in it. Nothing fancy just 6 fancies (Oranda I think) in a 100g pond kit. She picked 'em up last year and had them outside last summer then inside then back outside at the end of may.

Over the weekend, she said she went outside on saturday night and everyone was fine and she fed them and all was well. She came out again on sunday morning, to find carnage. 5 of the 6 were dead, with nasty round circular chew wounds. One of the dead ones looked like it got drilled through. The one left alive, I have here now, had it's one eye completely destroyed. (It's just a big empty socket.)

So while I'm treating him, I've been doing some research trying to figure out what the hell did that. I'm assuming some sort of insect, but at the moment I'm stumped. Beetles perhaps? I don't think it would be leeches?

Very interesting.
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Wyomingite
Fish Wrangler
Wyomingite


Male Posts : 1781

Age : 56
Location : Wonderful Windy Wyoming
Humor : "I drank what?" - Socrates
Favorite Fish : I won't choose and ya can't make me!

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PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyMon Jul 13, 2009 10:32 pm

Dragonfly nymph? How big were the goldies? I know some dragonfly nymphs can get two inches long and will tackle prey as big as themselves, including fish. I don't know if there are any dragonfly nymphs that get larger than that, but the wounds sound fairly typical.

WYite
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1nevrkwitz
Extraordinary Member
1nevrkwitz


Male Posts : 660

Age : 55
Location : Missouri
Humor : I find humor, amusing.
Favorite Fish : Jack Dempsey

Extreme goldfish carnage! Empty
PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyTue Jul 14, 2009 12:45 am

Mabey a small bird, like a magpie or a small crow even.
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saint_felony
The Turtle Whisperer
saint_felony


Posts : 1930


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PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyTue Jul 14, 2009 1:21 am

Sorry, I forgot to mention the top of the pond was netted. So I wasn't thinking birds. Don't most birds normally try to pull fish out completely though? I've only ever seen a heron invade my mom's pond so I'm not sure what small birds can do.

The eyeless wonder is 2.5 inches. That one was the runt of the batch from what she said. It just surprised since it's the first I've seen something like that around here. Usually it's big birds, raccoons, snapping turtles and the occasional bobcat or feral cat.

I wonder if a few comets or some other type of speedier goldies would have fared better.
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Jackson
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Jackson


Male Posts : 116

Age : 41
Location : Toronto Canada
Humor : DIRTY
Favorite Fish : Pleco's and turtles

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PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyWed Jul 15, 2009 2:41 am

I am with Wyite on this one. Those nymphs can detsroy fish and tadpols. I used to bring them home and they can get huge. I have seen ones at least 3''. We have dragon fly's up here that can be like 4''-5'' and sound like a helicopter when they go by. I love when you see them mating and flying stuck together in the air. It is so cool.
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saint_felony
The Turtle Whisperer
saint_felony


Posts : 1930


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PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyWed Jul 15, 2009 5:00 pm

Man. I am very glad for all the frogs that live near my house then. Between the dragonfly nymphs we have a beetle locally that's just as bad. That was pretty rough.
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c_scherer123
Member
c_scherer123


Female Posts : 90

Age : 36
Location : Athabasca, AB, Canada

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PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptyFri Apr 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Bit old of a thread, but I figure information is never wasted.
Where I am, we have giant diving beetles (2 kinds - both hit about 3-4+" long) which cause damage like that. Assuming they don't kill the fish outright. The fly pretty well too, usually coming out of the sky (up here at least) around April - June, and Aug-Sept. Very tough to spot in a pond. Don't grab them barehanded, they bite - HARD (and their jaws slice right through your flesh and leave a deep gash).
I have never seen dragonfly nymphs take out more than a fish or two at time, they tend to chase after it if it escapes.
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saint_felony
The Turtle Whisperer
saint_felony


Posts : 1930


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PostSubject: Re: Extreme goldfish carnage!   Extreme goldfish carnage! EmptySat Apr 03, 2010 7:23 pm

For as cold as it gets up there you Canadians have some nasty sounding bugs. Wink I am very glad I haven't seen anything like that down here.

I'm not saying we don't have them, I'm just glad I haven't seen any. Maybe that bird feeder by the pond does some good after all.
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