Doing something wrong; about to fill in the pond.

[Duane]

When we moved into our home in 2007 we inherited a 1,800 gal pond with some cool fish! Over the past years my pond has suffered. I've tried just about anything to keep this new found hobby going. Killing over 40 fish over the past 7 years is getting old. I need help!!!!! The plants don't grow worth anything like they use to when we first moved here. I am willing to learn from you all.

 

[sissy]

welcome and do you test your water

 

[sissy]

what kind of filter and how deep is the pond .Do you have an air pump and how many gph is your pond pump .Plants give off oxygen during the day but use lots of it up at night

 

[talal101]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Im sorry that your having so much trouble. We need more details, like what equipment your using, how is it set up, what is your maintenance routine. To be honest your being way too vague for us to offer any help.

 

[Duane]

I have two water falls, one is doing 1200 gal per hour and the other is doing about 800 gal per hour. Its about 4 feet deep. The filters I have is the green, blue, and black plastic media. I tested the water today and the ammonia was a little high, Nitrate was super high, Salt was high, PH was high. I will take pictures of the pond in the morning and send them to you.

 

[talal101]

I have two water falls, one is doing 1200 gal per hour and the other is doing about 800 gal per hour. Its about 4 feet deep. The filters I have is the green, blue, and black plastic media. I tested the water today and the ammonia was a little high, Nitrate was super high, Salt was high, PH was high. I will take pictures of the pond in the morning and send them to you.

Thank you for the better detail, how long has the pond been running and why might there be any salt in there? Have you tried doing major water changes? Your readings indicate that your pond is still fresh/new or that you have been cleaning out the filter media with chlorine water......you are treating the water for chlorine right? (im sorry, im not trying to call you inexperienced, im only trying to cross out the variables).

There is no such thing as a little high for ammonia.....its either high, or not there.

 

[adavisus]

High salt levels might explain the plants struggling. Ponds do not need salt to thrive.

Regards, andy
http://swglist.wordpress.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[talal101]

High salt levels might explain the plants struggling. Ponds do not need salt to thrive.

Regards, andy
http://swglist.wordpress.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

He also said the salt was high....maybe too high for even the fish to survive? obviously something is very wrong here.

 

[adavisus]

Dilute the salt levels to less than 0.1% and the plants will thrive

The fish don't need it, at all. If fish have a problem with nitrates, fix the nitrate source.

Regards, andy
http://swglist.wordpress.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[Dave 54]

When we moved into our home in 2007 we inherited a 1,800 gal pond with some cool fish! Over the past years my pond has suffered. I've tried just about anything to keep this new found hobby going. Killing over 40 fish over the past 7 years is getting old. I need help!!!!! The plants don't grow worth anything like they use to when we first moved here. I am willing to learn from you all.





View attachment 68939

It looks like your doing just about everything wrong at the moment
What you need to to is to take control of the water
You do this by not over feeding regular filter maintenance and regular water changes plus by buying the following test kits Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Ph Kh Gh, you then test on a regular basis
You can buy zeolite stones to take up the ammonia and crushed oyster shellto help with the Ph of your water , the rest is down to you and in self educating yourself on our hobby by reading .
The book I suggest is the Interpet Manual of Koi Health ..ISBN 1842860992 by Authors Keith Holmes and Tony Pitham, be aware there is now a revised version of this book out which we have yet to buy ourselves .
The quickest and easiest way of getting a coply would be on Amazon US cost as little as $4.00 used or $21.00 new :-

http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Koi-He...kmr0_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I promise you if you read this book cover to cover and learn well from it you'll be able to enjoy your fish for the first time .
By the way do you leave your waterfalls on in the winter ? Dont it can super chill your water and kill your koi.
Did you clean all the dead leaves and detritus out of your pond prior to winter ? Do it it all helps your koi to survive.
Did you clean and prime your filter prior to winter? Do it all helps in your fight against the winter period .
Do you do water changes throughout the winter ? We do using the trickle method which allows the ambient temperature of the water warm the trickle coming in at thats about30-40% of the total water (as a novice I wouldnt recomend you do this until you have learnt how.
Do you remove chlorine from the water prior to it going into the pond ? Do this is a must if you value your koi you can get dechlorinator liquid from your local fish outlet or on line .
Do you over feed your fish ? Quite simply dont , it is always better to under feed than to over feed roughly the rule of thumb is as much as they can eat in 5 mins feed up to three times a day , say once in the morning once midday and once about 18:00 pm
If your going to buy in fish to add to your pond? Dont not until you have built a smaller Quarentine Pond dedicated to QTing your fish for up to 2 months whist you check for signes of Parasites and infections etc and treat if necessary
Sound confusing dont worry the book covers everything you need to know , this year is our 27th year of koi keeping it mostly started out with two books for us and the koi manual was the second one

Dave

Dave

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group! great advice above. Also post the numbers you get, it is a test strip test or the liquid test you are using?

 

[talal101]

It looks like your doing just about everything wrong at the moment
What you need to to is to take control of the water
You do this by not over feeding regular filter maintenance and regular water changes plus by buying the following test kits Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Ph Kh Gh, you then test on a regular basis
You can buy zeolite stones to take up the ammonia and crushed oyster shellto help with the Ph of your water , the rest is down to you and in self educating yourself on our hobby by reading .
The book I suggest is the Interpet Manual of Koi Health ..ISBN 1842860992 by Authors Keith Holmes and Tony Pitham, be aware there is now a revised version of this book out which we have yet to buy ourselves .
The quickest and easiest way of getting a coply would be on Amazon US cost as little as $4.00 used or $21.00 new :-

http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Koi-He...kmr0_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I promise you if you read this book cover to cover and learn well from it you'll be able to enjoy your fish for the first time .
By the way do you leave your waterfalls on in the winter ? Dont it can super chill your water and kill your koi.
Did you clean all the dead leaves and detritus out of your pond prior to winter ? Do it it all helps your koi to survive.
Did you clean and prime your filter prior to winter? Do it all helps in your fight against the winter period .
Do you do water changes throughout the winter ? We do using the trickle method which allows the ambient temperature of the water warm the trickle coming in at thats about30-40% of the total water (as a novice I wouldnt recomend you do this until you have learnt how.
Do you remove chlorine from the water prior to it going into the pond ? Do this is a must if you value your koi you can get dechlorinator liquid from your local fish outlet or on line .
Do you over feed your fish ? Quite simply dont , it is always better to under feed than to over feed roughly the rule of thumb is as much as they can eat in 5 mins feed up to three times a day , say once in the morning once midday and once about 18:00 pm
If your going to buy in fish to add to your pond? Dont not until you have built a smaller Quarentine Pond dedicated to QTing your fish for up to 2 months whist you check for signes of Parasites and infections etc and treat if necessary
Sound confusing dont worry the book covers everything you need to know , this year is our 27th year of koi keeping it mostly started out with two books for us and the koi manual was the second one

Dave

Dave

Sound advice dave, although a separate quarantine pond is really unnecessary, he could setup a Rubbermaid tub as a quarantine tank or even a 10 gallon temporary tank (of course only 1 or 2 fish at a time and only small ones). I do believe he is doing a few things wrong and buying that book or even reading online would do him a world of good.

Ask me how many times I read about the nitrogen cycle......ask me if I left any sites unchecked...I literally scoured the whole net....im like an information sponge! I did it to become better at the hobby....looking back, I was lucky to have anything live at all.

 

[sissy]

How many fish are in the pond at this time to cause high levels and you say ph was high .If it is around 8 that is not high .First the salt level has to go down .I only add a little salt when my fish slime coat does not look right to me .Usually for my pond I only add a handful and with 3000 gallons that is not much .Is your water city water or well and have you tested the water before you put it in the pond .Do you get a lot of rain or water run off from your yard .I had a neighbor that salted her side walk in the winter and she had a small preformed next to the sidewalk and could not understand why the fish never survived the winters.She kept saying but I don't add salt to my pond water and she did unknowingly .Just like my neighbor Marty big pond and could not understand high nutrient levels in the pond last year .Well he decided last year to move the cows to the upper field and cow poo was getting washed into the pond .He never used the field before that for his cows .Good gosh you have 300 acres

 

[Dave 54]

Though there are those that swear by salt and those who dont I fall into the dont bracket if they liked salt tey would be living in the seas not in fresh water , salt can also mess your pond up when you need to treat your koi with Formalin and Malachite .
It's best used as a short term dip for our fish ...

Dave

 

[Tula]

Welcome ! Please don't get overwhelmed and discouraged. There are some simple steps you can take to turn things around. it was a very harsh winter in your neck of the woods. I noticed a pond de-icer in your pond....did you also use any air stones? I've had success with just a de icer in years past, but this year added air stone because of the harsh winter.

Getting control of your water is excellent advice. A water change is a good first step.