That's really a shame, Randy. Would the neighbor consider sharing the expense of replacing the dead fish and any plants that were damaged? And offering an apology, especially to the girl?

Things like that just make me fighting mad! Several years ago, I lost daylilies, perennials, everything in a large bed on the east side of my house when the next door neighbor had his lawn sprayed with some sort of chemical on a windy day. He didn't EVEN mention it to me until several days later and the damage was already done. It has taken forever to get that bed back in shape and I've stuck with just annuals and the two surviving daylilies. I doubt I'll ever plant perennials there again.

Have a super day and stay cool...

Rosie

Rosie

The yard maintenance company is replacing everything and paying me well for this little job. Standard procedure is to turn off the pump and cover the pond completely with a tarp if you spray anywhere in the vicinity of a pond on a still day. You don't spray tall trees period when the wind is blowing as hard as it was.

The neighbors that started the mess happen to be friends also. They made a poor choice to hire someone to even do the job. They've been gone on vacation and we've not told them about it. We decided not to ruin their family time away on this.

randy

Sounds like a good resolution to the problem, Randy. It's difficult to deal with situations like that with neighbors and friends sometimes. I hope your pond is up and running like new now. :)

Rosie

Rosie

The yard maintenance company probably saw an opportunity for more income and made the pitch. Knowing the friend like I do, he didn't think twice about it and told them to make it happen. He's a goal oriented professional and I'm sure he expected them to get the job done in a professional manner.

He may have started the process, but really can't be held responsible for lack of professionalism on the application end.

It's up and running, but it will take a few weeks for the biofilter to work like it should. The bacteria count has some catch up to do. Another week and hopefully it will be normal.

randy

Randy, have you thought about putting up some signs around those areas to indicate you have a "Backyard Habitat" along with "no chemical sprays, please, the wildlife live here, too"? Sometimes people just don't realize what they are doing to the safe environment we are trying to create for these animals and fish. I am afraid I would be fighting mad, too.

You can get registered as a Backyard Habitat by going to www.animalplanet.com, and finding the Backyard Habitat information. Those chemicals are not only bad for your fish and other wildlife, butterflies, moths, etc., but for you and your family, too.

Posting warning signs would be a good idea in order to prevent this happening again.

Susan