We have a 150gal prefab pond. We live in Houston, TX; the pond is in an area between two buildings that we cover in the winter and use as a greenhouse shelter. It is shaded somewhat by the buildings and it has heavy filtration/aeration to keep the temps managable in the summer. It sits level with the sill on my bathroom window so that I can maintain easily and feed from inside the house. My fish are trained to come running when the window opens 
We are feeding a primary diet of Hikaru Lionhead sinking pellets. The pond is planted with potted plants - two dwarf waterlilies and black princess tarot. It is a new pond - a few weeks old. We have stocked slowly - a couple of fish a week, done a couple of partial water changes, and monitored carefully. All parameters are in line, no measurable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, PH is stable. We are using dechlorinated tap water, which in our area is hard and alkaline (think "rift lake").
We have stocked lightly with small fish, hoping to grow them up into large fish to stock a planned series of small ponds totaling 500gal or so in this greenhouse patio area. We have a 1" crown pearlscale, a 1.5" lionhead, 1.5" calico veiltail ryunkin, 1.5" calico telescope, 2.5" orange telescope with a gorgeous butterfly tail, and a 3" pompom.
Wanda, the pompom, is chocolate/bronze with small orange pompoms (which we hoped would grow over time). Or perhaps now I should say "pompom". At first we thought that the missing pompom was a color change; now that she is in the sun Wanda is getting orange spangles and a distinctly orange band around her caudal peduncle. We think she is turning orange (oh well...). On closer inspection, her port-side pompom apears to be missing
We are deeply suspicious of Clique the pearlscale, who has been seen nipping her once or twice, but honestly, it could be anybody. Or it could be some weird bacterial or fungal thing that caused its disappearance, perhaps developed after an abrasion in the bag when she was carried home. We didn't notice any obvious fungus or abraded tissue, but she's a bronze fish in a black pond, so getting a visual can be difficult.
Has anyone encountered this before? Any chance that she will regrow her pompom? Or are we destined to have a little uni-pommer?
Regards,
Rita
We are feeding a primary diet of Hikaru Lionhead sinking pellets. The pond is planted with potted plants - two dwarf waterlilies and black princess tarot. It is a new pond - a few weeks old. We have stocked slowly - a couple of fish a week, done a couple of partial water changes, and monitored carefully. All parameters are in line, no measurable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, PH is stable. We are using dechlorinated tap water, which in our area is hard and alkaline (think "rift lake").We have stocked lightly with small fish, hoping to grow them up into large fish to stock a planned series of small ponds totaling 500gal or so in this greenhouse patio area. We have a 1" crown pearlscale, a 1.5" lionhead, 1.5" calico veiltail ryunkin, 1.5" calico telescope, 2.5" orange telescope with a gorgeous butterfly tail, and a 3" pompom.
Wanda, the pompom, is chocolate/bronze with small orange pompoms (which we hoped would grow over time). Or perhaps now I should say "pompom". At first we thought that the missing pompom was a color change; now that she is in the sun Wanda is getting orange spangles and a distinctly orange band around her caudal peduncle. We think she is turning orange (oh well...). On closer inspection, her port-side pompom apears to be missing
We are deeply suspicious of Clique the pearlscale, who has been seen nipping her once or twice, but honestly, it could be anybody. Or it could be some weird bacterial or fungal thing that caused its disappearance, perhaps developed after an abrasion in the bag when she was carried home. We didn't notice any obvious fungus or abraded tissue, but she's a bronze fish in a black pond, so getting a visual can be difficult.
Has anyone encountered this before? Any chance that she will regrow her pompom? Or are we destined to have a little uni-pommer?
Regards,
Rita
