I just dont understand

[Fishylove]

Good luck PD. yes always have a testing kit! After it rains a lot be sure to check Ph at least until you are acclimated to what your waters Ph is and what a down pour will do to it. A Ph swing is not good for your little guys.
In my small pond my submersible pump has a bubbler on it, and I've never had a problem with low oxygen in there.
The large pond I noticed at night they were working harder and hanging around the outlet and waterfall. I added a hose from the pump and have it so it is pointed up and hits the water with a big splash. After I did that they are doing fine at night. There is a picture of the tube coming out of a fish pot and plant posted in ' what does your pond look like today'

 

[dieselplower]

Hey diesel.I used to think that too but changed my after learning more about it. It's been a while since I have looked at the issue and was going by memory so i could be wrong. I'll try to look this up but I remember at one time someone telling me that water added to a pond is never as oxygenated as the water you are removing.

Please do see if you can find that info. I am 99.99999999999999% sure I am right that new water will contain more oxygen. I would be very interested to be proven wrong though.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Did you ever check the ammonia level when the fish were gasping? Also have you checked your kH? Doing a large water change in a pond with no kH can cause a huge swing in pH (if the water you are putting in is very different from the current pond conditions), which in turn can kill off your beneficial bacteria leading to an ammonia spike.

What's this nonsense about doing frequent large water changes in a pond? I did about a 10% chance once last year because the water was smelling stagnant, but otherwise the closest thing I ever get get to a water change is when I flush about 20 gallons out the bottom side of my filters. I just don't see the point as long as you have good water flow and lots of filtration to clean the water?

 

[JohnHuff]

I just don't see the point as long as you have good water flow and lots of filtration to clean the water?

DOC's.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Don't the plants break those down? I remember seeing the brown foam the first couple years I had the pond running, but I haven't seen any for awhile now.

 

[JohnHuff]

Don't the plants break those down? I remember seeing the brown foam the first couple years I had the pond running, but I haven't seen any for awhile now.

Not sure but plants create waste themselves.

 

[dieselplower]

John has been on a "plants create waste" kick lately. Sure, if a leaf falls off, that adds to the material that needs to be broken down. However, in a properly designed filter, the leaf would be filtered out.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

My filter for that kind of stuff involves seeing that the pumps are getting clogged up, and netting out the excess leaves. I think I've been really bad about that in previous years, but over the past Winter and Spring I managed to net out buckets of decaying leaves and pinecones. The water is still brown from tannins (I'm working on sinking several large branches to give the fish some shelter in the Winter), but otherwise my water quality has been great. So i guess I'll keep ignoring large water changes unless I see actual problems.

 

[CBP]

You should really make it routine to do water changes Prissysdad we do a 40% water change once a week every week the water perameters are tested weekly
You are indeed correct in that assumption my friend it is higher in oxygen this is why a sound bit of advice in the K.O.I waterproof guide book says this " fishes health usually improved with increased water changes, for an unknown problem do a large water change " , thats sound advice indeed .

Dave

New Water added does NOT contain more oxygen. Water has to come into contact with "air" to absorb oxygen and water inside city pipes or inside a well does not come into contact with "air" . It is a sealed system. That is why it is always better to add water to a bucket first and pour in, or let the hose spray over the top of the pond when adding .The worst thing you can do is do a large water change with a running hose submerged under the surface of a pond . Especially a small pond.

 

[Big Lou]

Welcome CBP.

 

[Dave 54]

Welcome CBP we mix ours as soon as it comes through the declorination unit it would be interesting to check the DOC of tap water just to see if indeed your right or rong on that assumption

Dave