Crisis with the pond

[Dave 54]

Went out to do my usual readings on the pond today after buying a new test kit, I took one look at the water and thought OMG whays happening to our pond.
It was murcky and throthy so I did my tests the nitrite was fine ammonia at .5 but our Ph had dropped to 6.0 shock horror .
Weve been having some major sewerage works going on and they have been creating alott of noise which covered our problem and with no sun you wouldnt believe it evaporation had got to a level where the vortex was only delivering minimal water this had knocked through and the bio filter was all but on empty .
Normally I wouold have been ahead of the game and heard this but the sewerage works drowned out the sound I would have heard it when I go out to feed the koi .
Anyway ditched 40% of the ponds water and am npow doing a slow water change hopefully we can get things back on track within a few days however we may have to cycle the pond which is what I didn't need right about now but these things are sent to try us .

Dave

 

[j.w]

When it's least expected you're elected............that's the way it seems doesn't it?
Never fails when on vacation or away for a nice meal out you come home to something awful to deal with. Glad you finally found it and are now mending it. All will be well and your fish are fine I presume.

 

[Dave 54]

When it's least expected you're elected............that's the way it seems doesn't it?
Never fails when on vacation or away for a nice meal out you come home to something awful to deal with. Glad you finally found it and are now mending it. All will be well and your fish are fine I presume.

It all sends a message even prople with years experiance will at times make mistakes especially because if I admit it to myself like Larkin I was rushing to finish and its then mistakes do happen coupled with the noise of the works going on and the evaporation and my miss positioning the pipe that drains the vortex we got a perfect storm that came together today,
j.w. its called murphy's law vut yes your saying is very apt there I can still smile

Dave

 

[bettasngoldfish]

At least you caught it before anything really bad happened.

Were the fish acting okay?

 

[Dave 54]

Yes they were Maria but it shouldnt have happened in the first place , in future I'm taking my own sweet time on water changes and wont rush things , lesson learned however I'm working through the night tonight as the water going back into the pond is on trickle and it will take hours , when we got back this evening it'd only come up three inches so its going in that slow .

Dave

 

[Willo]

Oh dear dave hope all your fish will be ok. Just got my new API testing kit today will try testing my water tomorrow, no doubt I will have a few questions to do with water testing very soon
Hope you get everything sorted

 

[Dave 54]

At least you caught it before anything really bad happened.

Were the fish acting okay?

I'm also going back to lithaqua calcified seaweed and getting rid of the crushed oystershell as a Ph buffer this doesnt seem to be doing its job so back to what you kno best seems the best way to go here.
That'll teach me to try to save money as lithaqua is quite expensive but you get your money back on the fact the amount you have will take you through two seasons maybe more dependant on its absorbsion rate .



Dave

 

[Tula]

Glad you caught the problem before it was a true catastrophe . You are an excellent fish keeper and I've no doubt your fish knew they could count on you!

 

[Dave 54]

At moments like this though Tula you could say I'm kicking myself for a bulunder that shouldnt have happened but sadly to err is human and quite humbling both at the same time but these things are sent to try us and it makes us a better fishkeeper in the end because of lessons learned

Dave

 

[haver79]

Well thanks for sharing your near catastrophe. We all can learn something from those unfortunate happenings. Glad you discovered the problem before it it was much worse.

 

[fishin4cars]

Glad to hear that you didn't do as bad as me. I know all about the kicking yourself for the blunder but look on the bright side. It could have been worse.

 

[Dave 54]

Glad to hear that you didn't do as bad as me. I know all about the kicking yourself for the blunder but look on the bright side. It could have been worse.

Looking at the pond this morning after an all night trickle filling its back to normal again, the lithaqua arrived this morning so thats going in this afternoon and I'll ad a little filter pad innoculant for double measures .
I think icidents llike this tend to refocus uus in the hobby by trying to make douly sure we dont make that mistake ever again dont you agree with me there eh Larkin ?
There is nothing worse that can happen but we'll aviod it like the plauge for ever more because of it .

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Well the pond is back to normally I gave each filter an extra shot of Mircrobe_lift PL filterpad innoculent to bulster the filters and removed the crushed oyster shell and replaced it with Lithaqua which will stablize both our Ph and take care of the Kh , the bag should last between 12-18 months which is a major plus as we acctually have enough for the next three and a half seasons
Added to this this lithaqua is dotted with little microscopic holes which should home even more health bacteria when the Lithaqu gets colonized by the bacteria as we mature the filters again we can even feed the koi again thank god

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

When we turned the pump on again all the koi one at a time went over to inspect the flow of water to the pond then as if satisfied broke up and swam off to shoal around the pond.
We gave them a little to eat then came back down again .
We also discovered a design flaw in the pond and it explains why the bio filter emptied it seems if the flow of water is disrupted leaving the vortex , then the pump will pump the water in the pond out of the rudimentary skimmer/overflow which accounts for all the missing water from the bio filter , thankfully once this is drained it cant pump any more out .
So weve decided to buy some plastic rounded nuts and bolts to block the eight holes that makes up the rudimentary skimmer then when we want to skim we take tree or four out when we donnt they screw back in , well thats the plan anyway

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Well the pond is back to normal and all the koi are happy again there is sun awaiting and we dont aim to waste it so if anyone wants us you'll know just where we are .
Eating my cheese drinking some wine catching a few rays yup you got it out by the pond chilling to some music tomes from our favorite rock station Planet Rock, whilst at set times during the afternoon watching the koi eat some food
You cant beat an English summer afternoon out by the pond .

Dave