9:10am Wednesday 1st September 2010
By Paul Offord
MYSTERY surrounds the deaths of more than 40 fish in a Canvey man’s garden pond in the past two weeks.
Stuart House, 56, of Cleveland Road, Canvey, is heartbroken after the carp and goldfish washed up dead on the surface of his back garden pond.
They had all developed the same skin condition, where their scales had gone dry and started peeling off.
Mr House said: “The deaths followed the heavy rainstorms we’ve had recently, which makes me suspect some sort of air pollution got into the clouds then fell on Canvey.
“Someone should look into it. There never used to be a problem, but I’ve certainly noticed more of a chemical smell in the air over the past year or so, and I wonder if that’s the cause of it.
“I’ve only got about eight fish left now, but some of them have the bad skin too, so I don’t know if they’ll survive.
“It could cost anything up to £500 to replace all the dead fish, plus I’ve had to drain and replace the water and buy chemicals to sterilise the pond.”
Mr House decided to raise his concerns after reading in the Echo last month about fish dying and a terrible stench coming from Canvey Lake, off Denham Road.
He said: “I know we’ve got a lot of industry around Canvey and hope one of the businesses isn’t pumping out dangerous chemicals.
“It’s certainly a worry as I had never lost any fish previously, yet had 22 die last summer and more than 40 in the past two weeks.
“I would certainly like to know if anyone else’s fish have died on the island.”
Any other residents whose fish have died in a similar manner can call the Echo on 01268 469337.
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