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We had some contractors here today that treated the deck by the turtle pond with thompsons water seal and TOTALY coated the pond and surrounding area with overspray. I need to know what can be done to clean the pond and surrounding area, I currently have a pump running at surface level to "skim" off the film from the water, have removed the turltes to a safe location but am concerend about the having been in the stuff, and all our plants... not to mention how to effectivly clean the pond walls, stones and logs
can reply by direct email to strent@wowway.com and or here I will check back often.


Deb

That was very irresponsible of them, did they at least appologize about the damage to the turtle's home??

I believe your best bet is to notify your local EPA. The main ingredient in Thompson's Sealer is wax and they would be the people that would have the knowledge on how best to effect a clean-up. I hope your turtles didn't ingest some before they were rescued. I also believe that the company that did your deck should be held responsible for clean-up and damage costs. Most companies, now days, have limited liability insurance for just this kind of mishap. I hope that is the case here. Please keep us informed. I, myself, have no clue as to what clean-up method you could use. Good luck! George

I agree the company that did the damage should be held responsible for this clean up please contact them A.S.A.P. my thoughts are that not only have they made a mess of your pond but you may be ruining your equipment who knows if that wax is going to coat and recontamanate that pump you are running right now plus you cant be sure it will get the residue out of cracks and crevices I truely would demand they do a professional cleaning and hold them responsible for any lose of life or equipment Wow what a hassel totally irresponsible on their part

[quote="STRAYKINGFISHER"]That was very irresponsible of them, did they at least appologize about the damage to the turtle's home??[/quote]

HaH! Apoligize?! They didn't even tell us about it! my husband noticed it when he went out back 2hours after they left!

Deb

please keep us informed as how this all turns out for you and especially how it all gets safe again for your turtles fish plants etc. all the info you can share here may help us know what to do if something like this were to ever happen to us or someone else after all thats mainly what this site is all about learning from knowledge and experience how to make a captive turtle as happy and healthy as possible so your expirences can hold much valuable info. for your self and others......once a company was hire to paint a bank building and the cars in the parking lot recieved a light coat of over spray they had to pay for quiet a few paint jobs because of their neglect Im hoping yo will get these guys to take responsiblity here as well a plastic covering of the area would have saved alot of heart and head ache how are the turtles?

debbra1169, so, I guess you liked my avatar

I was able to get a copy of the MSDS from Thompson, the "dry" compenent left is "non-toxic" so we pulled all the logs and rocks set them in the sun to dry the washed them off thourly once dry. Dug a shallow trench from the edge of the pond to the alley and slowly flooded the pond to flush out the remainder of the film from the water (after having skimmed it with a pump, also dumping to the alley, for about 4 hours). Thompson stated the the plants should be fine with just washing them down with LOTS of water. Once we had all the area clean of all visible traces of the water sealant we totaly drained the pond pulled all remaining items from the pond including stone and washed them off seperatly, wiped down the pond walls with a clean dry lint free cloth and let dry. Re-filled the pond and started putting everything back together (including re-filling my emergency trench) treated the water with "pond safe" and let sit over nite. Returned all 4 turttles to their home (could tell they were happy to back in it too). got to give thanks to my hubby for his fast thinking and LOTS of hard work... and (grudgingly) his gift of gab that got him contacts with several people who were able to help with how to clean up this mess.
Still no contact back from the contractors... perhaps on monday (yeah right... in my dreams)

And yes I liked the avitar... hope you don't mind I sniped it...

Deb & Steve

And yes I liked the avitar... hope you don't mind I sniped it...

Deb & Steve

That's ok, I made another one