Mmathis
TurtleMommy
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Messages
- 13,918
- Reaction score
- 8,099
- Location
- NW Louisiana -- zone 8b
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Now it's time for further explanation...... This is Louisiana...... Yep! Temps. nearing triple-digits. And no relief from the humidity.
My almost 3000 gal pond gets almost full sun -- there are a few times during the day where one end or the other has shade for a few hours. There used to be 2 trees that helped with shade, but they were dying, so had them removed last fall.
Been watching my water temp. Normally it will stay around 84-ish during the heat of summer. I have a 3600 gal pump going to the turtle bog and the skippy. There are 2 DIY spitters, each with its own pump. Three air stones, plus extra aeration via the Oase floating skimmer. Tested water recently and NH3, NO2, NO3 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate -- I'm gonna start using the chemical names as it's easier to type those....) were all "0" ppm. pH 8.2; KH 108 which is normal for my pond.
Sooooooo, water temp starts going up a little at a time. Couple of days ago, it was 89F. Then I found a dead fish. No obvious signs of illness, but I was suspecting the water temp..... Did a few things to make sure there was good water & air movement and waited. Then, last night, found a floater, but he was struggling so I brought him in, administered extra air [no, not fish-CPR]. Since he was still alive, I took a couple of scrapings and looked at them with the microscope. Found absolutely nothing on the slides, and again, fish looked fine [well, except from being 1/2 dead].
Ran out and got a water sample and checked the water temp. At 7pm, the water was sitting at 90.8F! OMG! The rest of the fish were top-sitting and lethargic. It was too late to do anything but pray. Well, the little floater didn't make it
-- and he's one of my original fish, too. The water tested exactly the same as a few days before.
Oh, and BTW -- a while back I'd posted about using the round party platters to float on the water as a way to keep the water cool. I found that they only helped by a degree or 2, and it occurred to me that having those on the water surface MIGHT actually be impairing the oxygen and heat exchange, so I took all but a couple of them out. My water lilies have filled out a little more, so guessing I've got the maximum coverage I'm going to get from them.
This morning I cranked up the flow rate to the turtle bog and to the skippy as temporary measures until I could add another pump to do nothing but circulate the water -- got that today -- and added another air stone.
Also got 2 triangular sun shade sails that Son and I are going to put up in a little while. I'll do a slow water exchange, as well, and add the extra pump. Don't know if I'll just have the pump move water around or if I'll set it up as a "fountain." I got some stuff to do the fountain thing. I can see where either would be helpful.....
I know there was more I wanted to say, but my mind's drawn a blank. So, time for Son & I to start to work! Oh, and it's OK for us to get hot & sweaty out there -- we can run back into the AC'd house and drink some lemonade. Not so for those poor fishies! Now gonna have to watch them closely for signs of illness brought on by this heat-stress! Oh, and Larkin [fishin4cars] said his water temps are running in the mid-90's right now. He lives about 4 hours south of me. Can you believe that! These are cold-water fish!
My almost 3000 gal pond gets almost full sun -- there are a few times during the day where one end or the other has shade for a few hours. There used to be 2 trees that helped with shade, but they were dying, so had them removed last fall.
Been watching my water temp. Normally it will stay around 84-ish during the heat of summer. I have a 3600 gal pump going to the turtle bog and the skippy. There are 2 DIY spitters, each with its own pump. Three air stones, plus extra aeration via the Oase floating skimmer. Tested water recently and NH3, NO2, NO3 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate -- I'm gonna start using the chemical names as it's easier to type those....) were all "0" ppm. pH 8.2; KH 108 which is normal for my pond.
Sooooooo, water temp starts going up a little at a time. Couple of days ago, it was 89F. Then I found a dead fish. No obvious signs of illness, but I was suspecting the water temp..... Did a few things to make sure there was good water & air movement and waited. Then, last night, found a floater, but he was struggling so I brought him in, administered extra air [no, not fish-CPR]. Since he was still alive, I took a couple of scrapings and looked at them with the microscope. Found absolutely nothing on the slides, and again, fish looked fine [well, except from being 1/2 dead].
Ran out and got a water sample and checked the water temp. At 7pm, the water was sitting at 90.8F! OMG! The rest of the fish were top-sitting and lethargic. It was too late to do anything but pray. Well, the little floater didn't make it
-- and he's one of my original fish, too. The water tested exactly the same as a few days before.Oh, and BTW -- a while back I'd posted about using the round party platters to float on the water as a way to keep the water cool. I found that they only helped by a degree or 2, and it occurred to me that having those on the water surface MIGHT actually be impairing the oxygen and heat exchange, so I took all but a couple of them out. My water lilies have filled out a little more, so guessing I've got the maximum coverage I'm going to get from them.
This morning I cranked up the flow rate to the turtle bog and to the skippy as temporary measures until I could add another pump to do nothing but circulate the water -- got that today -- and added another air stone.
Also got 2 triangular sun shade sails that Son and I are going to put up in a little while. I'll do a slow water exchange, as well, and add the extra pump. Don't know if I'll just have the pump move water around or if I'll set it up as a "fountain." I got some stuff to do the fountain thing. I can see where either would be helpful.....
I know there was more I wanted to say, but my mind's drawn a blank. So, time for Son & I to start to work! Oh, and it's OK for us to get hot & sweaty out there -- we can run back into the AC'd house and drink some lemonade. Not so for those poor fishies! Now gonna have to watch them closely for signs of illness brought on by this heat-stress! Oh, and Larkin [fishin4cars] said his water temps are running in the mid-90's right now. He lives about 4 hours south of me. Can you believe that! These are cold-water fish!
