7 year old pond

[leroy]

Have had much success maintaining a beautiful 7 year old 1400 gal. pond just off the back of our house, all but 2 of the 60+ fish have been hatched. The pond had not been given a good cleaning in 2-3 yrs.. Recently noticed ammonia levels rising, so I cleaned filters, changed ammo rocks, and cleaned the pond bootom. It seemed lots of organic material removed raised the level to 2.0 ppm at time of cleaning I used Pond Care Ammo-Loc and the fish seem to be alright. One of the large fish had developed red lesions which seemed to improve. Now 2wks later the ammo level still 2.0 ppm. The pond has a slow leak so 15-20% fresh water is added every 1-1/12 week. The lesions have stopped improving. The Ammo-Loc bottle states water tests will show ammonia present until the filters can clear it out. Any thoughts on my testing positive for ammonia?

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the Forum

i would speed up the water changes

keep cleaning the old muck out until its all gone

how did you clean your filter ?

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome!

 

[mtpond]

Welcome Leroy.

 

[dieselplower]

That is a concerningly high level of ammonia. I would also do more water changes. 60 fish is sure a lot. Are they all still in the pond. As you get more and more fish and they grow bigger the amount of ammonia produced will continue to increase.

 

[JohnHuff]

There is no magic in this. The ammonia comes from somewhere and isn't getting removed by the beneficial bacteria. I second DrCase's concern, how did you clean you filter? Did you remove the beneficial bacteria?

Also, are you feeding a lot?

And thirdly, I don't like using additives to remove ammonia. One way of inducing beneficial bacteria to grow in new ponds/tanks is to add ammonia. If you had removed beneficial bacteria and now are removing ammonia, then there is no way for the bacteria to grow. (Though this doesn't seem to be the case since your testing shows ammonia.)

 

[leroy]

Thank you for your responses. I cleaned the biological filter by rinsing with water. A lot of muck, dead algae, had collected around the bio-balls and ammo-rocks, so I rinsed it all out and replaced just the ammo-rocks. We are now 3 weeks after cleaning pond and the level is still high 2 ppm. I am feeding less than normal. I also don't like using additives but after stirring up the pond at cleaning was concerned about removing ammonia immediately. Will continue water changes, and regular mechanical filter cleanings. The fish do seem to be doing alright. Thinking of adding beneficial bacteria, Pond-zyme? Pehaps its time to start removing fish, although I am loath to do this. My puzzlement is that this pond was balanced for so long with same amount of fish.

 

[slakker]

I think speeding up the nitrification of ammonia is a key (something I learned in keeping reef tanks). Adding bacteria would be what I'd do right away. I'm new to ponds though, so don't know about what brand or which type is best to purchase. If it's like a reef systems, not all products are made equal.

 

[gardengimp]

I cleaned the biological filter by rinsing with water.

A lot of muck, dead algae, had collected around the bio-balls and ammo-rocks, so I rinsed it all out and replaced just the ammo-rocks.

Water from the tap? Chlorinated? If so, that killed your bio filter.

Also, I would put the bio-balls back in. Those balls are a lot of surface are that contributes a lot to your biological filter.

Sounds like your pond is cycling again.