Are my farm cats ok while I treat my pond water for fish? How should I treat it for fish?

[crsublette]

Well, my pond survived the winter. I just gave up with my previous brainstorming about heating my pond and just bought a pond de-icer that ya'll recommended. It kept my stream and fountain running during the winter quite fine. I had some very interesting, fun ice formations but the 50 foot long stream never even got close to forming an ice dam. Best I can recall, we only had a few really cold days with hi-temps in the teens and the rest of the winter was lo-20s to mid 30s.

I chose the route of cutting flat Styrofoam that floated on the water to help prevent heat escaping with a nice 3 foot circle where my de-icer floated. My area here in Dalhart Texas only got about an inch of snow, dang drought.

Now, onto my next project.


I am in the process of preparing my pond for some goldfish or some other small pond fish. Going to do a .03% salinity salt bath to sit for a couple weeks to kill any bad bacteria and fungal invaders then will do two seperate 50% water changes a few days apart to bring the salinity back down to a proper level. After that, going to do pond treatment of Prazi plus Express IDI to eradicate any potential parasitic invaders that are hiding. Then, will do a KoiZyme to hopefully reduce the harmful Aeromonas and Pseudomonas population hiding in the rock bottom and walls, and then going to seed my filters with all the proper good bacteria stuff again. I do my best to thoroughly spray down my ponds rock bottom and flush it out good, but I know I am not getting it 100% of the debris due to the rock. This year I am going try about 4 or so small pond fish that I hope to keep alive for a while, a few years if possible, if the cats allow them to live. heh Going to take them inside for the winter.

I have some farm cats that use this pond's 50 foot stream as their main drinking water.

Is it safe for the cats to drink the water while I am in the process of treating the pond? If so, will they know not to drink it if I put some big pans of fresh water out for them?

In the process of cleanning, I got a flow meter and now I know my pond is more like 430 gallons.

 

[crsublette]

My pond does have a river rock bottom and river rock sides to it. I also understand the negatives associated with having a rock bottom, but I sure do enjoy how it looks.

So, for better or worst, did some research for a good long while and I just started reading this section here on ya'll's forum.

I am not entirely sure how I should approach treating my pond since it is a rock bottom where the anaerobic nasties and parasites can hide.

I did my best to spray down and clean the rocks as I was emptying the pond.

I have read that the salt water will kill most of the bacteria (good/bad) and fungal invadors and I should do 2 major water changes after a couple of weeks to bring the salinity levels down then I reintroduce my good bacteria. From what I understand, the Aeromonas and Pseudomonas infections come from the anaerobic bacteria that can help be reduced by KoiZyme. Then, a combo of Prazi and Express IDI will kill any existing Flukeworm, Anchorworm, and other parasites that might be lingering.

I am also looking to order some test kits to make sure there are not any stress inducers that will allow my fish to become more suscetible to sickness.

I really want to have a proactive, preventative approach here for the longevity of my fish. I am also concerned if any of this is going to harm my farm cats that use the stream has their main water supply.


Any answers to my questions and other thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[addy1]

Have you ever had fish in it? I have never gone to that level to clean a pond, do not know of those products. Best thing you could do is read the labels and see what they warn about.

 

[DrCase]

You might be reading to much Lol
What makes you think your pond got put on the Toxic waste list ?
It would be best to pump it down and wash it out good with a water hose

 

[crsublette]

Nah, it never had fish in it. Complete newbie here.

hehe, DrCase, I think you are right. I do read too much. Gets me all worked up.

Yeah, from what labels I could find online, the products are "safe for ornamental plants and safe for ornamental fish". I am not gonna risk it and use my makeshit pvc-net structure for the couple of weeks IF I go through with this.

Due to the high concentration of pond products, it will only cost me around $3 a month for a bit of preventative care. As it goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Got this stuck in my head. I also want to be sure the pond water is healthy for any animals that come to it. Hope the fish will do well also if the farm cats allow it.

My buddy has a really nice pond, a big'n, but he is always scooping out dead fish in the Spring and sometimes in the Summer. All he does is a schedule of adding beneficial bacteria, cleaning filters, occasionally cleanning the pond with a little muck vaccuum, and he keeps them in the pond during the Winter. I kind of want to show off to my fella. Honestly, does not bother me if I have to chunk a fish here and there to give to my farm cats.

On the other hand, I am told that all I should do is get the proper test kits to make sure there are no stress inducers introduced that allow the fish to become susceptible to disease and parasites in the first place.

It does get cold here tho. Water temp drops below 55 by November and stays low until middle of April. This is why I am planning on bringing my fish inside, but I have not decided just yet.

I am not committed to anything just yet even though it's already April. I am just reading too much right now, heh.

I think I may wait to add fish till next Spring. There is still some more work I need to do such as fix some plumbing and add a small skimmer to my little "pond" water feature.

Not looking to get Koi or anything like that. I am thinking something like a goldfish or comet or some other small pond fish.

Appreciate the advice, hope to read more!!

 

[addy1]

If your water does not drop a lot below 55 and you have goldfish, your fish will be fine staying out all winter. My water got as cold at 33 or so this winter, didn't lose any. The main thing you need to do, test the water with a good kit, watch the ammonia etc. , second clean out any muck before winter, leaves etc. , third do partial water changes off and on . Your fish will just fine.

 

[crsublette]

That's the next thing I need to do. Find an establishment that sells a good water test kit. Do ya know of any that is more preferred than others for fish pond water test kits?

Yeah, been doing more reading and thinking. I am not gonna do any type of treatments. Just going to continue doing what I am doing except I may remove some of the rocks out of the bottom.

Grr, this is aggravating, I know I read the answer to the somewhere, but I forget. I think I remember we're only suppose to do a 20~30% water change. How often do ya do a water change or do ya only change it when certain signs are shown? Grr, gonna have to look again.

Everytime the high winds blow, it brings in a fair amount of fine dirt and other debris. If I don't vacuum it, then a green carpet algae forms which is not that pleasant to enjoy when looking down on my "pond", extravagent water feature. heh. My vacuum is quite high power so I end up doing a like a ~35% water change; right now is the windy season so I am probably doing this at least once a week.

One last question. I probably should make a new thread to ask it, not for sure.

I am getting a wierd yellow powdery material that is laying on my rock sculputre fountain and on top of my rock in my stream. When I turn off the water, let it dry out, and I rub a little off with my finger and looks/feels like a yellow powder. I have been using a high pressure sprayer to knock it off. Seems to take about a month or so to reappear. Any have an idea on what it is?

 

[j.w]

The liquid test kits are the best not the paper strip ones. You can pick them up at most any pet store. They are pretty cheap. I do a partial water change every month but I think it's different depending on what kind of fish you get and how many you have. I think that yellow powdery stuff is prolly pollen as it is Spring now ya know. Hope that's all it is anyway!

 

[crsublette]

Bingo J.W. Pollen makes the most sense to me. Doh, I didn't even think of that; I thought it was some sort of bad thing'a'happen'n, haha.

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I appreciate the posts here. I am definitely not going to do any thing like how I was talking previously in this thread.

Now another topic for another thread but first I must read!! :twisted: Scouring gardenpondforum and the rest of the net for high oxygenating, nitrate eating, shallow water (10" ~13" depth), plants to help maintain my pond through four seasons. I found the Plants for shallow pond thread and will be looking for more to read. I don't want to recreate a new thread if there is another thread here that can help me. If anyone knows off hand what I should do in this regard, I would appreciate any private message. Meanwhile, I am hitting the "books" :razz:

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Ok. I have calmed down now. :razz:

Bare with me. I am sharing what I have learned and hopeful I will be corrected on anything where correction is warranted on the facts.

I appreciate the posts here.

I am definitely not going to do any thing like how I was talking previously in this thread. However, KoiZyme sounds like is a good natural maintenance preventative. "How Koizyme Works", states "Koizyme is a proprietary mixture made of naturally occurring non pathogenic beneficial bacteria, micro nutrients and enzymes which are perfect competitors for Aeromonas and Pseudomonas and when introduced to Koi ponds completely eliminate or significantly reduce them."

Just going to make sure I have all the proper nitrifying bacteria optimally operating while maintaining high dissolved oxygen levels to keep a strong nitrifying process. It seems that Nitrates are the end result of a successful nitrifying process.

Nitrates, soluable stuff that feed plants and creates/feeds algae, is what I need to control next by planting some shallow water plants and keeping my fish on a diet so they will eat the green carpet algae.

I want to keep the algae to a minimum so I can enjoy the "rock feature" of my lovely rock watergarden feature.

Going to get some common Comet goldfish. I am told if I only feed them with fish food every other day or every 3rd day or once a week then the Comets will eat any carpet algae and the fish will remain shorter than their full potential, which I do not want them to get bigger than 8 inches. Due to the small size of my pond, I want just a small school of 5 or 7 fish that get no bigger than 4~6 inches; otherwise, they're going to be farm cat food.

Ok. Think i got it.

1) Fish make -> Amonia

2) Amonia feed unique bacteria to make -> Nitrites

3) Nitrite feed another unique bacteria to make -> Nitrates

4.a.) Nitrates feed Plants to > oxygenate the water which helps to control string algae and algae blooms and helps nitrification
4.b.) Nitrates feed beneficial carpet algae that makes -> food for fish

5)Fish make -> Amonia and the cycle continues.

Along the way, I must ensure the dissolve oxygen levels are at healthy levels for the fish and to maintain a strong Nitrifying process.

Yeah, string algae is interesting. From what I understand, string algae seems to thrive when Phosphate, Iron, Alkalinty, and Nitrate levels are high and when the water is not oxygenated well enough and rapid string algae growth also indicates a noticeable change in pH levels. Also, from what I understand, string algae is healthy while a young pond matures for the first year to build a very strong, estrablished Nitrifying process and while Plants become established; eventually, the string algae should dissipate as long as it does not get too long. If it gets too long, then the string algae must be scooped up otherwise the long string algae will deprive the pond of oxygen that is dearly required to establish the Nitrifying process.

Oh, also I must keep disciplined to water testing to ensure the water quality does not introduce any suprises that may blind side me. From what I understand, water quality in small ponds like mine are much more volatile compared to ponds with much bigger surface area, and poor water quality is what stresses fish that can eventually promote all types of algae and makes fish susceptible to parasites and disease.

Love learning about this stuff. :goldfish: Glad ya folk are here.

Now, I am on the route to learn about nitrate eating, oxygenating plants for shallow ponds. And it's almost the first of May, grr!! :razz: