can anyone help me with this problem

[cheeseyfella]

Hi,

I recently de-winterised my pond, I basically drained 2/3 of the water and cleaned some of the liner. I used a soft bristle brush to get some of the dirt of the liner and it got pumped out of the pond, Then I re-filled the pond back up to normal height. The water was cloudy but after 4/5 days settled then this whitish foam appeared in the skimmer and water went cloudy.

I cleaned out the skimmer, and then the foam came back. i repeated this 2 more times now it seems to just come back every 2-3 days and the water will not clear, it is a white/grey cloud. Can anyone help, I can't even see my fish anymore.


This was taken today, i cleaned out the skimmer on Saturday to give an idea of how quickly it builds back up

thanks
jp

 

[Waterbug]

Hard to say. Normally that kind of foam would be from DOC (really small bits of decayed organic matter) which can be a kind of soap. However, it looks a little yellow, so maybe pollen if that is currently happening in your area.

The cloudiness could be lots of things. Knowing what color would help with a better guess.

 

[cheeseyfella]

its like a grey ish color, when I took a sample the water seems to be a lot clearer in the container, its like the cloud is reflecting light back if that makes sense. I will take another sample and put some photos up.

 

[cheeseyfella]

here is a picture of the water fall

it looks clear as it is falling, the waterfall house looks pretty clear too and there isn't much sediment build up on the plastic waterfall tray.

the water itself looks kind of green in the pictures, and as you can see, you can't anything at all.\

this is a sample of water in a plastic container

I have 2 UV lights working one in the skimmer and one in the pipe feeding the waterfall, but is this an algea issue?

 

[sissy]

cleaning your liner of the so called dirt is the good stuff .I noticed when your water fall is hitting the pond it looks like it could be really oxygenating the pond and could that be the foam .You could get most of it out with quilt batting it picks up most of the fine stuff .It does look like pollen though as water bug said.I know the trees are exploding with it around here and have been for weeks now .

 

[cheeseyfella]

I thought i was getting rid of fish waste, it was like mud. I do have lots of trees around the garden and one above the pond (which i really want to get rid of) so pollen is a strong contender. Will it clear itself up, or is there anything i can do?

 

[sissy]

Quilt batting in a basket would help get rid of it and keep your water from maybe turning green .I have it know in a basket on my water fall i am building. I put course filter on top to pick up the heavy stuff and quilt batting under it .Just a reusable filter from lowes and quit batting from walmart .I have my hose running into it until I get the water fall rebuilt.The bag is activated charcoal
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[Waterbug]

If the trees are currently dropping pollen then that would be a factor.

Could be a combination of several things. Because this is a new start up, the pic of the water container (thanks), and the foam, I would guess it is an algae bloom which your UV is handling. You're seeing dead algae which can be a gray. The dead algae will continue to decompose. Some will settle and some will decompose into smaller and smaller bits to the point they would be called DOCs (just means very small bits of decomposed organic matter).

When algae cells die the cell wall breaks open and releases the inside matter which is a surfactant (soap like substance). This is better documented in sea water, but happens in freshwater too.

Because the all the fresh dead organic matter there would also be a large spike in bacteria suspended in the water which adds color too.

Other possibilities, but much more remote, would be mineral precipitation which is just a reaction of minerals in water with a big change in O2, CO2 and other elements. Can be clay that got stirred up, but that sounds very unlikely.

In all of these cases the water should clear pretty fast, like tomorrow or within a week or two at the outside. So if you're going to add quilt batting, barley straw, barley pellets, barley liquid, any store bought solution in a bottle, any filter, magnets, voodoo dolls, animal sacrifice, etc, you'll want to hurry so whatever you add can get the credit. I actually read one post where the owner gave credit to one of these things even though it was added after the water cleared. Now that's faith.

 

[cheeseyfella]

cool thank you both, I was beginning to worry about my fish as I can't see them. I will give it another week, but have got some additional filter media and quilt batting, just in case. i will update you on my progress.

thanks
jp

 

[Waterbug]

In general the fish probably prefer the cover of cloudy water. Less UV and safer against predators.

 

[cheeseyfella]

I know this is going to sound selfish and I should care more about what is best for the fish, but i want see them

 

[sissy]

yep we pay for them we want to see them . :razz: