Thankyou Ary, I will keep your post so I can do as the man says! As to the identity of what type of koi they are, I really wuldn't have a clue. Everyone that has seen them has said they are koi, I thought they were goldfish with white patches! Just glad they weren't pirannha, my sis would have killed me!

With regard to the power supply, yes, there is an extension lead that has been plugged into a socket inside and then poked through a hole in the wall, and has been laying out in the rain all winter. Call me brave, but I plugged it in! I found a pump in the pond, it didn't work. The fish are always on the surface, trying to breathe I think. One of them did a kamikazi and leapt out of the pond!

I went and bought a new pump, and have used it regularly, the fish love the water splashing and gravitate under the pump. I also bought some fish food, which they don't seem to touch.

I am suprised not to have found any instructions nor any food for the fishes. I found food for the bird table!

My wife wants me to get rid of the pond. Thing is, I don't know if anyone would want the fish, I have no idea what condition they are in.

Hi Stateofplay,
when i moved into my last rented place i wanted to do something to help the fish in the deteriorating pond. The Landlord didnt care about them, but i did. The local garden centre was a great help, they offered to lend me the equipment to remove the fish and to rehome them. Maybe you could try the same.

I too inherited a pond when we moved in Jan... luckily my parents took the 7 goldfish & have given them a beautiful new home in their pond, we have since filled it in & laid a lawn in it's place.

Anyway, as they were taking the fishes out into the transporting containers, they noticed they all had rather thin faces, in proportion to their bodies, & their gills all looked red & sore. When we got rid of all the water from the pond, we found all the mud/ slime etc at the bottom was moving... & fished out approx 100 toads, that we released into the local river. Anyway... it was only when my Dad contacted a fish expert friend of his, that he discovered that apparently if toads get a bit sexually frustrated, they latch on to fish's faces & rub themselves up & down... & toads have claws inside their ankles (if toads have ankles?!) that they hook inside the fish's gills to get a firm grip. So the toads had been sexually abusing our poor fishes all along.

Needless to say they're happy & healthy fish now, their gills are fine & their faces have fattened out a bit!!

I am so pleased to hear that you have bought a pond pump and that the fish are responding so well to having it.

That they were all at the top of the water and one even jumped out tells me that the water was severely lacking in oxygen.

Fortunately, they will have been in hibernation mode during the colder months so would not have needed as much air and food as they will now need.

Don't worry too much if they are not eating much as yet. They will be just a bit groggy coming out of hibernation and may not be ready to eat much as yet. They will eat more as they wake up and the sun shines more.

A sick goldfish will flick itself against rocks &c to scratch irritated skin. They would generally look thin, move sluggishly, could be swimming upside down, and may have scratches or red marks on their body, or possibly cotton-wool like fungus.

There are potions to treat all these conditions that all good fish stores will stock.

I would recommend buying a good General Tonic treatment and adding it to the water. This will generally soothe a wide range of minor ills, much as we might take Echinacea to stave off a cold.


With regards to what to do with the fish, even if they are ill / weak. Koi keepers are notoriously soft. Put a notice up in your shop window stating that you have Koi for re-homing that need a little tlc... someone I am sure will offer to take them on for you.

I could also (if you wish) ask my friend Merlin to post an Ad on the Koiphen website (website for Koi fanciers), asking if there is anyone in your area willing to take on some fish, or possibly take a look and help?


Standard goldfish are much tougher than Koi and require a lot less fuss, so if you would like to keep fish in your pond seeing as you have one, but would rather not have fussy ones, then you could always replace the Koi once rehomed with some good old hardy Common Goldfish?

Good Luck

Ary.

ps. As the water is so depleted of oxygen, I am afraid the pump will need to be left on constantly for at least a week, preferably for a month. It is that that gives the fish air to breathe. I know that's going to wrack up your electricity bill, and you probably don't want to leave it on and unattended, but... well.... without changing the water for fresh it's the best way to get oxygen in.

I am really impressed to see that you care enough about animals to care for these fish, even though they are an unexpected (and unwanted) expense / responsibility. I think that shows that you are a really caring person. We could do with more people like you in the world.

Ary.

Viewed my house twice before we moved in August last year. One of the things we loved about it was the lounge - really big and with a lovely laminate floor. Day after moving we noticed that there were 2 types of laminate on the floor - they look the same but now I know they're different they really stand out. The room is l-shaped and we noticed a hole in the wall from where one of the kids pushed the door open and the handle went through the wall. The door was always open when we viewed which covered it up!

It was a nearly new house and as it was all magnolia, all our stuff would go with it. Didn't think about all the markings from their furniture being moved out and ours moved in.

Neighbours are slobs. Their garden is a mixture of weeds and mud. Kids used to be friends with the kids who lived here before and so that makes our front garden an extension of their's.

Garden overlooks a supermarket car park. It's not 24 hours or a popular one so we thought it would be ok as it means we're not overlooked. Shame about the boy racers parking next to our fence and swearing at 11pm.

Our bedroom is in the attic. Loved the velux windows because of light and privacy. Neither of us can sleep when it rains because of the noise it makes hitting the windows.

One sode of the back garden was a huge ivy bush. We cut it down and found 2 footballs, a garden chair and a couple of paint pots.

Apart from all that, I love my house. It's nice a big and airy. There's lots of windows making it light and we're on a corner plot giving us a bit more privacy and more room.

quote:

Originally posted by bridgette:

quote:

Originally posted by Rob K:
Oh I also forgot to mention that there's a bus stop just past my house, and when the bus is stopped at it, the arse end of the bus is level with my side hedge. With my motor parked outside my house, the bus sticks out into the road slightly when at the stop and since I've moved in a big yellow sign has appeared on the lamp post outside my house saying "NO STOPPING AT ANY TIME". Needless to say that didn't stay there long! Early hours of the following morning when everyone was in bed and there was no-one about, out came the socket set and it was off in 10 seconds and carefully deposed off deep in the undergrowth behind my house. Bloody cheek of it!

For all I care I could have stayed there, as long as they pay for and put me in a nice drive way or hard standing!
R

Unless you've bought the street as well as the house you have no right to expect to park anywhere. I would have thought a bus stop was fairly easy to notice when viewing anyway.....

Yes, it is and I was well aware of its presence before I bought. Your point is?

R

And as such Rob is perfectly entitled to park outside his home as there are no markings saying otherwise. Not sure of the legality of that particular sign, I would only take notice of yellow lines painted on the road personally.

It's interesting that when you buy a car you take it out for a test drive, check that every button, switch, gadget etc works, scour over paperwork, service receipts, MOTs etc and they cost a couple of grand.

However, when you buy a house, you look around it, maybe a couple of times, you pay a stranger to check it is structurally sound and then you pay several hundred thousand pounds in alot of cases. You'd think that people would check central heating, wiring, lighting, parking, come back at night to have a look, speak to neighbours etc.

Weird!

quote:

Originally posted by slapmatt:
It's interesting that when you buy a car you take it out for a test drive, check that every button, switch, gadget etc works, scour over paperwork, service receipts, MOTs etc and they cost a couple of grand.

However, when you buy a house, you look around it, maybe a couple of times, you pay a stranger to check it is structurally sound and then you pay several hundred thousand pounds in alot of cases. You'd think that people would check central heating, wiring, lighting, parking, come back at night to have a look, speak to neighbours etc.

Weird!

When you think about it properly, what you should do is 'test drive' the house by living in it for a week (or more) but who's going to let you do that? Apart from the legal / searches aspect its surprising how little you know about the biggest purchase of your life. And how dependent you are on the vendor to tell you stuff. When we viewed end of August, our vendor said he had cut the grass short before going away on holiday so when they came back he wouldn't have to do it again straight away. Yesterday the neighbour said it looks as if we are going to have bother getting grass to grow in that bald spot where the previous owner had put down NEAT weedkiller to get rid of the dandilions in the lawn! Well it didn't get rid of the dandelions but it has killed the grass!

quote:

Our bedroom is in the attic. Loved the velux windows because of light and privacy. Neither of us can sleep when it rains because of the noise it makes hitting the windows.

Exactly the same with our place!!!

The other thing with ours is that we inherited a range-style cooker...really looking forward to using it, until we discovered that the two supposedly large ovens were too small to even fit a roasting tray.

Sorry - posted before finishing.

Anyway the vendor told us the grass got 'sunburnt' while they were away because there was a heat wave. Obviously something like that would not show up anywhere before you bought the house unless the vendor told you.

The vendor and ea are good news merchants. They only tell you what you want to hear. If he had told us the truth about the grass it would not have put us off buying the house but it might have reduced some of the naughty words OH has taken to calling the lawn.

quote:

Originally posted by Josie7176:

The other thing with ours is that we inherited a range-style cooker...really looking forward to using it, until we discovered that the two supposedly large ovens were too small to even fit a roasting tray.

Our oven trays fit in the oven but they took the oven shelves and grill tray!

quote:

Originally posted by Karen1:

Our oven trays fit in the oven but they took the oven shelves and grill tray!

There is not a lot we can do to check the wiring and heating systems before moving in... the most we can do is ask for the owner to confirm in writing that these are sound.

Test driving a house by living in it would mean relocating the existing family, and possibly familes taking over / trashing / squatting in houses instead of trialling them... a legal quagmire...

... we do our best, and pay out a lot of money for surveys, plus we fill out a lot of paperwork. Most people do visit houses several times before buying... but with the market hot in most places, you just can't afford the time to thoroughly inspect every aspect before putting in an offer.

Ary.

btw. I lifted the lid of the loo in my house to check what state it was in... if filthy and cracked, then obviously that would have affected my offer... very embarassing to do though... I felt so nosy... did it whilst the EA was out of the room...

I took photographs of each room on my second viewing so that I could have a think about it away from the property (though by that time I had already put in an offer, because I was in love with the place)... I stood and listened as the buses went past to see how the place was for noise... opened and closed the windows to check they worked... did a visual inspection of the place myself so that I could list any particular areas I wanted the Surveyor to check out for me... I knocked on the door of the upstairs flat and spoke to the woman there...

... at another property that I viewed, I went on a treck to find out what the rear gate backed onto... as it happened it was a neglected back access that was littered with large dumped items... and this was one of the main things that put me off the place... I could picture the problems such close proximity to an unofficial trip / yob hangout could bring...

... I also checked out the state of the properties / gardens in the surrounding area... already knew about the parking issues...

Most people really do do as much checking as they can.

Ary.

bet your cat was pleased with the move with all that Koi carp ready and waiting!

Me again. This is the link to the English Koi website.

[URL=www.koitalk.co.nr ]Koi website[/URL]

My friend Merlin has confirmed that his fishie friends are generally happy to help.

If you don't want to join the Site & Post there, just post what you want to ask here and I will ask Merlin to post your request on the website.

Ary.

quote:

Originally posted by Aryldi:
Me again. This is the link to the English Koi website.

Koi website

My friend Merlin has confirmed that his fishie friends are generally happy to help.

If you don't want to join the Site & Post there, just post what you want to ask here and I will ask Merlin to post your request on the website.

Ary.

Thanks for that Ary, I will have a look at it and may take some piccys of the fish to get some opinions.

Thanks again.

No worries. Glad to be of some help. Both to you and to the Fish

Ary.

Agree wholeheartedly with Aryldi about how good it is to hear of someone making the effort to take care of 'unexpected 'garden residents. Nice one.

1) Upstairs floor about to collapse owing to removal of wall beneath and installation of World's Heaviest Bathroom above

2) Weirdo neighbours who are allergic to walls and have turned downstairs into a garage for the Airbus A380

3) An open drain in the conservatory (yes, it WAS in the survey and I missed it). Lovely!

4) The lights that didn't work also didn't work when the bulbs were replaced

5) Reynard the mangy and precocious fox as permanent lodger in garden

6) The picturesque blossom trees actually leave a super-glue like sap on me new Golf GTI - and vicious kerbs which have already eaten 3 of my lovely alloys

7) That the road that was supernaturally-free-of-traffic-yet-2-mins-from-High-St turns into a rat run during rush hour*

*Some neighbours sporting "No To Through Traffic" posters (should have been a clue?), though I'll take the kamikaze nutters at full speed rather than speed humps - which is what the council will do if harrassed.

8) Out of 4 pairs of double glazed double (patio) doors only 1 locked, and 2 wouldn't even close

9) Exquisite hall floor hand tiles (invoice found for £3100) yet lethal wiring.

10) Garden containing: 1 hugely expensive top quality toolkit, 1 halogen torch, 1 hi-tech aluminium mesh sun-lounger, 1 box of assorted CDs - all rain drenched and ruined

11) American style huge ice-dispensing fridge/freezer (not a cheap Samsung either!) and stainless steel range cooker left as arranged, but filthy (as were loos).

12) 2 carrier bags full of post for "them" in 3 weeks - "her" with 3 different surnames

13) Further unexpected presents: - bedroom cupboard containing 40 assorted CDs, expensive bathroom scales, 20" FST monitor & keyboard (roofspace), double bed, 2 bedside tables complete with touch-sensitive lamps, very nice (new) clothes dryer and 12mm of bacon fat in the grillpan.

14) Hall radiator doesn't work at all, and other rooms are either sauna or shiver (no thermostats). Lounge is freezing. 4 plumbers been round now and not ONE even bothered to phone back. What does one do?

There I was - so smug at firing bullseyes on all my previous moves, yet made serious mistakes this time. Definitely learned from this one.

Area, though, is absolutely fantastic, and by far the best in which I have ever lived. And the Tube is still 2 mins away.