Fish Safe Plants

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Hi all. I'm a pond newbie. I've been slowly adding plants..but after seeing something online I'm concerned about the plants being unsafe for my fish. Can anyone tell me if the following are dangerous to my koi and goldfish?

These are all marginal plants on pond shelf.
Sweet Flag
Horsetail
Water clover (these look like 4 leaf clover)
Water iris
Water poppy
Taro
Hosta
Cattail

And floating water hiacynth

Thanks in advance for any help. I've been chasing leads on the internet for hours and I am no closer to an answer than when I started.
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
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I have had all of those plants and fish, except the water poppy. Your fish will be fine.

Welcome to our forum!
 
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Thank you! That is such a relief. I've found that I've quickly grow quite attached to our little fish family.

We also have a dwarf Japanese red maple nearby. Other than a lot of cleaning during leaf drop are the leaves poisonous to the fish?
 

addy1

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Not from maples, I have had a lot of leaves drop into my pond from our big maple and maple seeds.
 
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We've had this topic come up from time to time - someone will post a list of all the plants that are supposedly poisonous to fish and basically it's all of them! When in reality we've all had just about every plant you can think of around or near or even in the pond at some time or another with no harm to any fish. I don't know who or how they come up with these lists!
 
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We've had this topic come up from time to time - someone will post a list of all the plants that are supposedly poisonous to fish and basically it's all of them! When in reality we've all had just about every plant you can think of around or near or even in the pond at some time or another with no harm to any fish. I don't know who or how they come up with these lists!
I kept finding those list all over the internet. But I really wanted to hear from folks who have ponds with plants and fish and who care about their fish. All of those list gave me a headache. So grateful that you guys replied!
 
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I ignore the lists anymore, to much stuff out there that is not correct.

Same. I'm guessing that if your fish ate enough of just about anything it would kill them, but most plants are perfectly safe.

Welcome @DesiP - you'll find this a fun place full of experienced pond owners!
 

j.w

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Hi all! Just sharing a few pics. Bottom pond is about 260g lined top is 125g preformed. They do not feed each other and operate separately. We dont have fish in top right now though we plan to move a couple from bottom to top. I am completely new to this so am open to any tips and advice you guys have to offer. Our ph is running on higher end in bottom pond (I plan to test again early in am in case it's due to sunlight and afternoon testing) but fish seem happy.

Plants seem happy except for couple hyacinth in top pond...our water lily in bottom
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is about to bloom.

Never dreamed how much joy a person could get from a trickle of water and an occasional flash of orange or white slicing the water.
 

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What beautiful ponds! I wonder if the stonework surrounding the ponds is having an affect on your pH? Depends on if there is any limestone in there. If so, the bottom pond would get rain runoff from both ponds. Just curious.
 
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Thank you! Hmmm it is field stone so I'd bet there is some limestone there. Anything I can do short of taking out all of that stone :unsure: that's not really an option!
 
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I wouldn't change anything unless it really becomes a problem. You can do a 'fizz test' to see how much (if any) limestone is present. How long have you had the ponds? What is the difference in pH between the ponds? The lower pond's high pH might turn out to have nothing to do with the rockwork. I was just thinking of possibilities and that one just came to mind.
 

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