Hello from MA -- pond newbie with questions

[AmeBee]

Hi everyone! I'm new here and excited to learn as much as I can about pond/koi care. My fiance and I recently purchased a house and it has a lovely small backyard pond (maybe 12 feet by 5-6 feet and approximately 5 feet deep) that has a little waterfall filter. There also are approximately 4 or 5 decent-sized(maybe 8-10" long?) koi in the pond -- approximate because we didn't close until it was getting colder out and the old owner had already stopped feeding for the winter. I see some big orange and black shapes moving around sometimes but they never come up far enough for me to get a definite count. The previous owner left us a sheet with some very basic instructions but no troubleshooting or anything like that. I'm panicking a little trying to find out what we should be doing to make sure we don't accidently kill the fish/ruin the pond.

So far all I've done is spend some time cleaning dead leaves off the surface and some algae that was stringing down from the waterfall. We also added about 20 gallons of water because the water level was looking a little low (we did make sure to use water conditioner in the amount listed on the bottle to dechlorinate). We have not touched the filter or anything like that. Recently (right after we started adding water) I noticed there's been a slimey/oily looking sheen on the water and some foam/bubbles. No weird smell or anything like that though. Any ideas?

This weekend I planned to unplug the filter and hose out the media (lava rocks and filter pads) if it's not too cold. Also I was going to cut back some of the large plants that are growing alongside/in the pond and skim again. Otherwise, I plan to search more about winterizing and try to not worry too much.

 

[sissy]

Welcome and sounds like that is from dead plant matter .Have you looked to see how clean or dirty the filter is because I have seen that happen in ponds I took apart .Sometimes it is caused by rotted filter padding also .Congrats on your new home and pics would help '

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome and have fun with your new pond!

 

[j.w]

AmeBee

 

[AmeBee]

I went outside and took some photos this afternoon. Sorry they are only cell phone-quality (I'm trying to figure out how the pictures got flipped sideways...when I looked at them before adding to the post they were correctly oriented. I'll try to fix that ASAP).

This is the overall view.


Looking down to the right side & back. I think the floating ring is the pump? The sheet left for us says that it is attached underwater to a plastic crate to keep it off the bottom. Also, some fish making an appearance (kind of).


Looking down to the left side. The waterfall/filter is there.


This is the oily film/sheen I was mentioning. And some bubbles. Some of the ripple/oily looking parts are because it was raining lightly out, but there is definitely a film.


A better shot of the waterfall area.


Another view of the left side of the pond area. I really want to trim back the spikey looking grass that's half submerged (maybe fully in the water -- I haven't poked around too hard yet) -- can I do that or will it just be a mess that I should take care of in the spring when I do a major cleaning??

 

[sissy]

Major cleanings are never a good idea .It can harm the fish .I clean my pond but use a crate with quilt batting in it so what ever I disturb does not harm the fish .You never know what bad things lurk under the water that can kill fish .The spring is when they are getting to spawn and wake up .I would do really small little cleanings over time

 

[AmeBee]

Major cleanings are never a good idea .It can harm the fish .I clean my pond but use a crate with quilt batting in it so what ever I disturb does not harm the fish .You never know what bad things lurk under the water that can kill fish .The spring is when they are getting to spawn and wake up .I would do really small little cleanings over time

Thanks! After I got through this winter I was kind of concerned that I would need to take the fish out and put them in a kiddie pool or something then use a pond vac to get all the accumulated muck off the bottom once spring rolled around...

 

[sissy]

Get a pool net because if you empty the pond get rid of all the good muck you will be starting over again and get an algae bloom .I would look at the filter media as it sounds like there could be built up muck in the bottom of it or rotted filter media .The pump will have to turned off because if there is black muck on the bottom of the filter it could be toxivc and wear rubber gloves to protect your self

 

[sissy]

You never really want to do alot of it come spring .If youget decent days now and then do a little at a time

 

[Tula]

I would trim back the plants that are dying off and falling in the pond…..removing as much organic debris as possible. I'd also take a look at your pump and filter. If you've a lot of trees in the area, consider netting the pond.

You mentioned a water " conditioner" to dechlorinate the water you added. Was it just a dechlorinator, or did it have other "additives"…just curious. Welcome to the forum and ponding! Kim

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forum! :wave:

 

[sissy]

Trying to look at your bridge and is that pine needles on it as they are very acidic .

 

[AmeBee]

Trying to look at your bridge and is that pine needles on it as they are very acidic .

Most likely, yes. There's a large pine tree behind the fence you see behind the pond. I've skimmed out so many needles since we moved in...
I love the pond and the fish, but we SO behind on maintanence it seems. If we had been able to, I would have put netting up in early fall and actually gotten to know the system a bit better than trying to learn it all at once.

We had our first big stretch of freezing weather this weekend and there's about 1/4" of ice on the pond as of this morning. I punched big holes in the ice (and the waterfall is still running so there was some air getting through---though I'm going to make another thread about that later) and am headed out to the hardware store to get a Thermocube for the heater at lunchtime.

 

[dieselplower]

Ok 3 things. One, never punch holes in the ice. That is terrible hard on the fish. Two, if you are going to rinse your stones and filter media, do it with pond water, not tap water. The chlorine in the tap water could kill all of the benificial bacteria that have established and you could be setting yourself up for a large ammonia spike. Three, you want to keep a hole open in the water all Winter, for gas exchange. This should be done with a water pump pointed at the surface, an aerator, or a heater. Please don't smash holes in the ice.

 

[AmeBee]

I would trim back the plants that are dying off and falling in the pond…..removing as much organic debris as possible. I'd also take a look at your pump and filter. If you've a lot of trees in the area, consider netting the pond.

You mentioned a water " conditioner" to dechlorinate the water you added. Was it just a dechlorinator, or did it have other "additives"…just curious. Welcome to the forum and ponding! Kim

This is the product we used (it was the only thing I could find that included ponds on the label, I'm going to order more pond-specific stuff to use in the future).

http://www.petco.com/product/120313/Petco-Water-Conditioner-for-Aquariums-And-Garden-Ponds.aspx