Catfish being used to clean pools of foreclosed homes

[Are_grits_groceries]

Debra Mitchell is a lead code compliance officer for the Village of Wellington. During the collapse of the housing market, the community was left with a large number of foreclosed homes.

Pointing out one example Mitchell said, "It has an unsanitary, abandoned swimming pool, stagnant swimming pool. There's no electricity running at this location."

The code compliance department was paying nearly 7,000 dollars a year to dump chemicals into the pools to treat the scummy buildup.

That's when Mitchell and some of her colleagues came up with an environmentally-friendly idea to get rid of the green. An idea with a much lower price tag of just 700 dollars. "Some of us got clever and decided to try the algae eating fish," she said.

At a typical home that needed help Mitchell revealed, "We have dumped 15 pleco algae-eating fish in here to take care of the algae situation." Mitchell believes that cleaner more sanitary pools will make the houses more attractive to buyers, as will the lower fees for upkeep.

Once the houses are sold, the new owner can either recycle the fish, or take them back to the lake where they came from.


Catfish stew....Yum.

[malaise]

1. How does the chlorine affect the catfish? n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. Knowing catfish it

probably doesn't faze them. They are one of those creature who thrive anywhere.

[Karenina]

4. My first question, too!

:shrug:

[HamdenRice]

8. Chlorine evaporates from pools

That's why pool owners have to keep adding it periodically. When it's all evaporated, that's when the algae and critters move in.

[Gman]

16. The chlorine is gone from these pools

and they look like any other rural pond/fishing hole. They have water that's a shade of dark green and completely opaque, you can't see the bottom. This is a great solution.

[malaise]

23. Thanks n/t

[Gman]

17. The chlorine is gone from these pools

and they look like any other rural pond/fishing hole. They have water that's a shade of dark green and completely opaque, you can't see the bottom. This is a great solution.

[Statistical]

32. Catfish are like the roaches of fish.

There isn't much that kills them.
Even something that only kills some of them will make the others stronger.
Catfish probably could evolve to swim in acid given long enough timeframe.

Still the chlorine levels are substantially diluted.

[SpiralHawk]

2. "I reckon that's alright." - Huck

"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." - MT

[ixion]

5. Let's all go fishing down in the Cement Pond!

:rofl:

[Vidar]

20. More critters for Ellie May.

[Uben]

6. If there was enough chlorine......

...there would be no algae

[MrsBrady]

7. And it's a pool… not a pond

I don't see where there will be enough oxygen in the water,
the catfish poo will have nowhere to go.

Why don't they just drain them and have the pools cleaned.

[hobbit709]

9. When it rains they'll fill again

Plus an empty pool may get structural damage to the walls without the weight of the water in it to support it.

a few years back here in Austin, they were dumping bait minnows in pools at foreclosed houses to eat the mosquito larvae. Much cheaper than spraying.

[madrchsod]

10. that was also done in new orleans.....

[surrealAmerican]

12. For 15 fish in a swimming pool ...

... there should be enough oxygen from the surface. The waste will need the proper bacteria to break down, just like a big fishtank.

[foo_bar]

15. I think the algae takes care of it

"Very simple," I said. "Algae allows us and almost every other organism you can think of, living or dead, to be here."

Suddenly, she got that look. You know, the one you get when that light bulb in your head clicks on….bing, there it is! "Ah, oxygen, right?"

http://ecology.com/features/mostimportantorganism/

I don't know the precise relationship between pleco poo, the nitrogen cycle, and yet more algae, but plecos seem to be in a unique position to thrive in this exchange. There's a few other species deemed "algae eater" in the catfish family, but plecos have a voracious suction cup for a mouth, so they inhale all the decomposing crud in an aquarium with a Bernoulli effect comparable to a swimming pool vacuum:

http://www.petshop-zoomania.com/Plecos,Catfish,Gobius,%20Algae%20eaters,Eels.../Ancistrus%20mouth.jpg

[Craftsman]

11. Recycle the fish, with what corn meal and grease?

Yummy.

[jmowreader]

39. More like "haul them to another foreclosed house and throw them in"

But yes, plecos are edible. According to the article, someone tried eating one and said it tastes like pork.

As for throwing them back in the lake, that's illegal. It is not legal to release non-native species into Florida waters even though they got said non-native species OUT of Florida waters; they must be either used in another pool or eaten. The plecos in question are South American natives who were originally released into Florida waterways by aquarium owners who didn't realize the fucking things get two feet long.

[Mystayya]

13. what a great idea

[RB TexLa]

14. PETA files lawsuit demanding back wages for catfish

has to be comming.

[AlecBGreen]

18. link?

id like to use this for my high school biology class!

[Festivito]

21. Just google the OP subject:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/weird/Fla-Town-Uses-Catfish-to-Clean-Swimming-Pools-56917817.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. Hey, Ellie, check out the Cement Pond for some vittles.

[Autumn]

22. We use goldfish in the watering trough

for the horses. It works well.

[csziggy]

31. Same here - but I need to restock the fish

The water got low in some of the troughs and a heron was fishing out our goldfish. Some had gotten nearly pan-sized, but then we have some large troughs.

[Richard D]

24. Why do 15 fish . . .,

. . . cost $700?

[abumbyanyothername]

25. 15 fish

delivered.

And installed.

[Subdivisions]

27. I have no idea why but your post made me burst out laughing. Maybe

because I've been an "installer", though not of catfish into swimming pools.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. That includes tax, title and license - and doc prep.

[Richard D]

29. And undoubtedly . . .

. . . trained to eat the algae.

[Statistical]

34. Yup we are a 80% service based economy..

Substantial margins in the cat fish training service industry.

Of course when the big players get involved they are going to drive down those margins.

[hobbit709]

26. No bid government contract of course.

[4_TN_TITANS]

37. Halliburton does fish too?

[Tesha]

35. Perhaps it's 15 fish per pool X x-number of pools, all totalling $800? (NT)

[Horse with no Name]

36. 15 fish per pool

Sounds like they have quite a few pools with problems to me.

[Rocketjones]

30. All natural what a great idea

Instead of dumping chemicals let nature work for us.

[Are_grits_groceries]

33. I could get some catfish for a lot less.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjA8Puh1BM

Catfish noodling

[texastoast]

38. .

:9