Pond Pump "Eating" goldfish??

[rainbowcharmer]

So I've come across a couple of dead goldies in my filter recently and I'm wondering if it's possible that my pond pump is too powerful and is sucking them up if they swim too close to it?? It is a powerful pump. And it's meant to suck up good-sized solids. Is it possible it could suck up a living fish? Or is it more likely that these died first and then got sucked up??

Is there something I can put around the pump that might prevent fish from being pulled into it, but still allow the pump to suck up fish waste?

Just wondering. None of the minnows seem to be bothered by the pump, but they are also more mid to top-level swimmers. The goldies I tend to see down deeper in the pond and they're the only ones I've found in the filter.

Any input appreciated.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Ok well we used a big planter pot (the thin ones that you get when you buy a tree at Lowes) and drilled a bunch of holes in it and put that around the pump. It had a few bigger holes at the bottom that fish could fit through, but if they're that stupid then they probably deserve what they get... And it is WARM in that pond. 90 degrees. Yikes!!!

 

[pbeemer]

90 degrees when it's only half past June? ! ? ! great for swimming, but the goldies are not going to be happy when real summer hits. altho looking at accuweather you seem to be getting 90 degree days already, so maybe you're already there.

have you considered adding a little more splash to the waterfall (no, i'm not sure how) to make sure the O2 level stays high (and maybe it would cool the pond a little if the humidity stays down)?

 

[rainbowcharmer]

We've been at 95+ every day for a few weeks now. It's disgusting. The waterfall has a decent splash to it already and I've got the fountain in the middle doing a really high splash too to try to help. Humidity has been 75% or more. Good news is this weekend we got rain a couple days in a row. not a significant amount, but some is better than nothing. The pond has been evaporating relatively quickly in this disgustingly hot weather, so I was going to have to start topping it off from the hose if we didn't get any rain.

The fish seem to be perfectly happy - eating and active - but I agree it's awfully warm.

 

[XanAvaloni]

outdoor/pond goldies are amazingly resilient. Mine have been going year round from frozen-over-solid in winter to the summer situation you describe or worse--this is Tennessee after all, and the flat western part not the eastern mountains, that we are talking about. They're on their...I was about to say "11th generation" but it occurs to me they probably breed more than once a year, so I dunno. But 11th year at any rate.

What sort of pump do you have? I have been through quite a few but stick pretty much with the Via Aqua now, 1800 if I can get it or 2400 as now. It has to be cleared out of mud every few days but I have never seen a fish alive or dead stuck to it.

and for having started out as common feeders they are durn good looking if I do say so myself.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

I'll have to hunt the box down at home. It pushes around 3500 gph, and is actually a sump type pump. The filter that I'm finding the fish in is a DIY "Skippy" filter using a 100 gallon rubbermaid trough. It works pretty well so far. Hopefully the bucket around the pump in the pond will help prevent fish from being filtered from the pond...