Green water ggrrrrrr......

[adavisus]

There are several 'types' of iris which are evolved to grow in aquatic settings, with their roots in ground saturated with water all year round. Tough as boots is another nice feature if your piggy koi or duck are aggressive grazers,

Laevigata, Versicolor, pseudacorus, Louisiana, Japanese (Ensata) are among the better known for pond plant positions

Louisiana iris, Clyde Redmond

 

[Patchtig]

My plants got beat up last night during storm. I had to go take a swim today to get one from the bottom of pond.

 

[CometKeith]

Actually green is good. That means there is an abundance of algae that is feeding on the ammonia that is currently in your pond. When your pond cycles the algae will die off because there will not be enough ammonia (food) because it will have to compete with beneficial bacteria that is converting the ammonia to inert substances. Without the algae right now the high ammonia levels could make your fish sick.

 

[Smaug]

Ammonia is not the food for green water algae so much as others are. Nitrates and phosphates are it's biggest contributors. There should be near zero ammonia present in an established pond even at the beginning of spring.

 

[sissy]

I have used what colleen said liquid barley with peat and it really does help the water .It also helps with nitrates and phosphates .I use it in my stock tank also .Thank you Colleen

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Actually green is good. That means there is an abundance of algae that is feeding on the ammonia that is currently in your pond. When your pond cycles the algae will die off because there will not be enough ammonia (food) because it will have to compete with beneficial bacteria that is converting the ammonia to inert substances. Without the algae right now the high ammonia levels could make your fish sick.

So true. This preference for Ammonia does vary from specie to specie.
I am not sure that I would term Nitrite and Nitrate inert substances since they can elicit a reaction.

 

[sissy]

try the barley with peat it works great colleen told me about it .I buy microblift brand

 

[Patchtig]

My ammonia levels are less than .25. I would say 0 almost now after a 30% water change. But nitrites are still about .50.
Can I do water change the day after also or should i wait 2-3 days?
It was all at 0 before we had a flood yesterday.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

If the Nitrite Level remained unchanged after a 30% water change then your test kit is giving erroneous results.

 

[Smaug]

I have never seen a heavy rain cause a mini cycle. At the risk of sounding insulting, do you mean nitrites or nitrates?

 

[Patchtig]

Nitrite is what I am testing for. Heck No I am not insulted. I am posting so I can get help from you all.

 

[Smaug]

Well okeedokee then,I guess now I've seen a rain cause a mini cycle. Water changes should bring it down but until then back way off on the feedings. Are the fish acting up at all?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

The only explanation that fits is that you experienced some run off from the surrounding landscape into the pond. This could account for Nitrite readings. I would not recommend water changes as your existing biofiltration should quickly oxidize this Nitrite into Nitrate. If no run-off, then I must question the reliability of the test kit.

 

[Smaug]

Why would there be nitrite in runoff water? If your implying that the runoff water contained a nutrient that overwhelmed the bio filter then that makes sense. Water change would do nothing to hamper the nitrifying process and theoretically would remove some of the toxic trites. No harm in that.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

If Patchtig has landscaping in the yard surrounding the pond and has used fertilizer on this landscaping then Nitrite could very well have accumulated in this soil. This is caused by the Ammonia in the fertilizer inhibiting the Nitrite oxidizers (Nitrobacter et.al.) (Field and Laboratory Studies of Nitrite Accumulation in Soils1, 2; Chapman and Liebig).
Also-
"Nitrite is an intermediary compound formed during nitrification as well as denitrifiication. It occasionally accumulates in soils and drainage water."
Nitrite in soils: accumulation and role in the formation of gaseous N compounds
Oswald Van Cleemput, Abdullahi H. Samater.
But, since she stated that the Nitrite level remained constant even with a 30% water change, the Nitrite test kit accuracy is highly suspect.