Floating brown muck.. after adding bacteria?

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Help, my pond is beginning to look like a septic tank!

Sorry, cant post pictures, my camera is on a different continent right now.

One or two days ago, I added a dose of microbe lift, IIRC, this product:
http://www.nikoi.nl/catalog/microbe-lift-clean-clear-p-49.html
mainly to help kickstart my biofilter (and boy, does that stuff smell bad!).

Now the water and particularly the bottom seem to be clearing out rather nicely, but its all floating to the top. Its like a brown/green foamy yucky muck. Is that to be expected after adding bacteria, or is this unrelated? Do I have to scoop it up, or will it break down?
 
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What likely happened: you over-applied the Microbe-Lift.

What happens is the bacteria start to break down the bottom sludge, creating gases, which causes the material to become less dense and float to the top. It will likely sink back to the bottom in a few days, but that doesn't necessarily keep you out of the red.

I would recommend you keep circulation going and keep a good eye on the koi for stress. Stop applying the Microbe-Lift until you've talked to their technical support. Over-application of biological products can cause stress on species, so you have to be careful and know your pond parameters before you apply. If you followed the instructions to the letter, you need to take it up with their technical support.

If you want to try another product, with free tech support and custom maintenance protocols, drop me a line. And best of luck to you and your fishies.
 
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If anything, I was under applying according to their tables. I put the stuff in (and to benefit) my filter mostly, the quantity I used was low for my 50.000L pond.

You're right though, it was bottom muck that started floating, and its pretty much gone now.

Actually Im kinda happy with it. I tried a few drops in a glass filled with pond water and muck, and I had the same result: within hours a foam formed on top, next day the water was remarkably clear.

Fish tell me they are all fine :). All water parameters I can measure (Ph, KH, GH, No2, No3 and ammonia) are perfect, except maybe for lowish GH. I added the microbe lift because I cleaned and refilled my pond, and the DIY biofilters are also new and where slow to form a bacteria film on the media. Actually, in the first barrel, the brushes are mucky, second barrel (filled with cut PVC pipes) is rather clean, but definitely with a film on it , the third one, a mix of bioballs, bio-rings, K1 and some other plastic stuff, the media looks brand new. The white plastic looks completely white still, hence my bacteria treatment.
 
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Let's just say if a customer of mine called with this issue, 99.9% of the time it's over-application. Call it an educated guess.

Regardless, that isn't supposed to happen with a proper dose of pond bacteria. You might get a little noticeable activity going, but to have large masses of solids rise up to the surface is not the desired result, as it can be quite dangerous and even deadly for your aqua pets. It's sort of like you or I walking into a mulch factory without a mask.

My suggestion: Just keep an eye on them, and definitely let the manufacturer know your experience. They may have a suggestion on how to tweak the dose.
 
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"large masses" is pretty vague. Definitely visible, but its not like it covered my pond surface. More like small patches here and there. Probably not enough to cover 1 square meter of the 50 sq meter I have. But it looked weird and ugly. Also worth pointing out I was doing other work in the pond, running around in it with my high boots, stirring everything up.
 
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I'm sure everything's fine, and you should trust what your fish are telling you, but even clumps are somewhat unusual, or rather, would be for the product I know. I've seen unfortunate situations arise from heavy doses, so I always err on the side of caution. You can't go wrong with being conservative (generally).

The generic instructions on a product label such as this are typically based on ponds with no noticeable upsets or heavy bottom loads. If you have a lot of solids, a normal dose may not be the best choice. If it happens again and you're not tromping around in your pond, definitely get them on the horn.
 

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