? For Feeding Fish...

[JenH]

So I am wondering if the type of food or how much I'm giving is contributing to this awful string algae. So can you all tell me what you feed your fish and how you determine how much to give them? I am currently feeding mine Tetra Pond Flaked Fish Food for smaller goldfish and koi. I started off with Laguna Goldfish and Koi medium pellets and it seemed like they couldn't eat them. They would suck them in and then spit them back out. The flakes though they eat up. I also noticed that the skimmer sucks the pellets in a lot faster then it does the flakes, especially since they seem so slow to eat the pellets It's difficult to say exactly how much I am feeding them, but I got out there first thing, every morning and feed them while I'm out there smoking. probably 3-5 minutes. I give a pinch at a time when one is gone I give another. Pretty big pinches of food, If I had to guess though I would say they are getting around 2-3 tablespoons of flakes if not more total. They are all still acting like they want more when I stop, and continue to follow me around the rest of the day when I am out there. I have 25 fish total, 4 are koi, with the majority of them all being around 3" with maybe the koi and 4-5 gold fish being in the 3-5" range. So am I feeding to much, to little or should I switch the type of food I'm giving them? If you think I should go back to the pellets then how would I keep them from getting sucked in the skimmer before they can get to them, and how do I encourage them to eat them and not spit it back out?

Oh, water tests consistently read zero for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Which from my barely understanding, means I am balanced. Pond is a tad over 1000 gallons, the bog would be around 100+ gallons if it were empty. And before anyone says I'm overstocked for all those fish to be full grown, I know that (but I wouldn't think I'm overstocked for their current size). I will not be keeping every one of those goldfish into adulthood, just didn't have the heart to tell my friend no, when her mom was filling in their pond.

 

[Waterbug]

See it a lot, zero nitrates but lots of algae. Algae requires nitrates to grow, but you have zero. The test isn't that accurate and really means very low nitrate. Lots of things in ponds produce nitrates, so the net is they're being used pretty much as fast as they're being produced, probably mostly by algae since they're out in the water and have best access.

The other thing this shows is what small amounts of nutrients these plants require.

All food is going to turn into nitrates at some point. Reducing this source might reduce algae growth by 5,10,15, maybe 25%. Is that really any kind of help? You can reduce that much growth just by reaching in and pulling out a handful. Lot faster and easier imo.

Although I dislike the term, your pond is "balanced" in the sense that algae is using nitrates. Kind of a meaningless term.

When your ammonia and nitrite readings stay above 0 you are overstocked. When 0 you are not overstocked, assuming good water movement for O2. Even then those things can be fixed and you'd go back to not being overstocked. Being overstocked is not a function of number of, or size of fish. You may be a high fish load but currently your pond is able to handle the load.

 

[HARO]

Waterbug;
You notice Jen didn't say her POND was balanced, She said SHE was balanced. Just means that bottle in her hand hasn't been drained yet!
John

 

[JenH]

Waterbug;
You notice Jen didn't say her POND was balanced, She said SHE was balanced. Just means that bottle in her hand hasn't been drained yet!
John

Bahahaha! Unfortunately for me I'm not balanced even when the bottle is full (you can only imagine when it's empty)!

Waterbug, so what do you recommend for getting this algae under control. Pulling it out with a brush or stick doesn't work it just breaks off where ever I stick the brush and I can't get it out. Even when I climbed in the pond and tried to just use my hands I couldn't get much of it. I used hydrogen peroxide, dosed based on what I read on your website and that worked pretty good for my waterfall, but didn't phase the algae in the pond. Only did it once, last Thursday. In all honesty some algae doesn't bother me much, as long as water is clear and I can see my fish. However it seems to drive my hubby nuts since he can't stop commenting on it, and also we have family coming in on the 13th, and I really would love for the pond to look amazing when they come.

There must be some amazing cure for this. Everytime I go to the pond store their ponds look pristine and have way more large koi then any internet website would recommend! So what is it?

Oh and am I overfeeding? should I switch foods or what?

 

[addy1]

Jen I don't have koi, just a bunch of goldfish and shubunkins. They get fed maybe 3 times a week, usually the pellets are gone within a minute and that is all they get. If your fish are too small for the pellet size you could try a smaller pellet. I have never fed mine flakes, it does not sound like you are overfeeding.

The only quick fix I had for string algae was peroxide (arizona pond) I have not had to use it here. I would dose 1 liter per 1000 gallons within a day it was dead then I would pull it out. It did not affect my fish or the plants, but that pond was not as heavily planted as this one. Also no koi there either. I also would make sure I had a ton of air flowing when I did it. That pond had a stream, I would put the peroxide in the stream, run a aerator in the pond.

 

[JenH]

Yep that was how much I dosed mine. Maybe I should try another dose? It did good killing it on my waterfall. But I used a spray bottle there and sprayed it, left it off for a little bit then after I turned it all back on dumped the liter in at the top of the waterfall so it could circulate well. I messed around in there today. Still couldn't get it to accumulate twirling a brush, so I just used a net and stirred everything up and then started catching all the tiny floating pieces with the net. Huge PITA! I want it to be nice when family gets here in two weeks, who knows when/if they ever come again. Last time was 4 years ago or longer...

 

[Waterbug]

Waterbug;
You notice Jen didn't say her POND was balanced, She said SHE was balanced. Just means that bottle in her hand hasn't been drained yet!
John

I sooo wanted to go there.

 

[addy1]

Jen you could try the 1 liter per 1000 gallons or start with 1/2 liter, put in some quilt batting where the water flows through it to help catch the dead floating pieces. I would do it then net out the dead string algae, then add some extra filtering stuff. usually fixed it for the year.
Try less then add if you need to, like i said I did not have a ton of plants in my az pond, it did not bother the ones I did have. If I recall right it started dieing within a day or even the same day. I would pour 14 liters in pretty rapidly lol, right into the stream. The algae would turn whitish gray. I had some rocks in the stream heading into the pond, they got full of muck, the string algae would grow like trees out of it.