Disaster in DC

[callMeFishmeal]

My pond is now running although i am recovering from a disaster last week. One sick fish and was told to change 3/4 of the water because nitrites were on the high side. I did that ...next day no change in nitrites... advice was to do another 3/4 change (consecutive days) ... then i started losing fish by the hour. Despite adding Varnish and rock salt.

Lesson learnt: never change over 50% and always treat pond water BEFORE adding it to pond. This is problematic because I can only store 50 gallons in a large plastic trash can. Thus i assume the changes will need to be more often.

Does this make sense?

DC is doing alot of work on the water mains in my hood...i suspect the tap water may have been stronger with clorine and other things.

 

[mrsclem]

Sorry to hear you are losing fish. I also use the Vanish dechlor for water changes. Here in St. Marys county the water smells like pure bleach .I always use at least 3 times the recommended amount in case something goes wrong. How did you calculate the amount of salt to add?

 

[callMeFishmeal]

my pond store expert suggest 1.5 cups rock salt per 100 gallons

 

[mrsclem]

Do you have any way to test the salt level? Bringing the level up too fast can do more harm than good.

 

[Lisak1]

You can also buy a declorinator for your hose. I've never used one so I'm not sure if they are effective if the water has been super-clorinated due to water main work. Maybe someone else can chime in with that info.

 

[sissy]

I would not add rock salt or the water softner salt ever again after reading what they add to the salt .I use pond salt more expensive but you never use much .I never realized what they can add to salt .I guess it is designed to do a certain job and that is it .