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[MermaidTracy]

Lovely pond.

Could you please post the actual numbers for your water tests? That would help us a lot to know what is going on. Are you using liquid tests or strips?

Also, did you test for KH?

Does your pond have any air being pumped into it?

Thanks for answering these questions.

Just posted

 

[WaterGardener]

Thanks for posting those pics. But I can't really see them. Old eyes.

Could you list the results for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

If the KH is indeed zero, that may be causing the trouble. You need to raise that.to at least 100. 200 or more is not too much.

With KH (alkalinity) that low there is nothing to buffer the acid being produced by the nitrogen cycle. That's an ongoing situation, so KH gets depleted over time.

With low KH, the pH will not be steady and will swing from high to low, stressing the fish. Those swings would make your fish lethargic and can kill them. At zero KH, the pH can easily drop into the acid range, killing your beneficial bacteria and your fish. That's called a pH crash and may be what is happening in your pond.

It may also be what happened before. The KH was used up and the pH crashed.

You need to raise the KH, but you need to do it gradually because it also raises the pH. It's easy to do with baking soda, one cup for every 1000 gallons of water. If your pond is smaller than 1000 gallons you will need a fraction of that amount of baking soda.

It's better to do a smaller amount and raise it even slower than doing a lot at one time. I would use the baking soda once each day until the KH is at least 100. Keep an eye on the pH, too. It may go up to 8.3 over the course of raising the KH, but that is no problem. Many of us here keep our ponds at that pH.

This is an easy fix and even if it's not the entire problem, it is certainly a major part of it and it needs to be corrected.

As I said before, KH will drop over time, so it needs to be monitored.

 

[MermaidTracy]

Just posted

I just added an air pump. Will that raise kh? Thx for the assist

 

[MermaidTracy]

I just added an air pump. Will that raise kh? Thx for the assist

Thanks for posting those pics. But I can't really see them. Old eyes.

Could you list the results for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

If the KH is indeed zero, that may be causing the trouble. You need to raise that.to at least 100. 200 or more is not too much.

With KH (alkalinity) that low there is nothing to buffer the acid being produced by the nitrogen cycle. That's an ongoing situation, so KH gets depleted over time.

With low KH, the pH will not be steady and will swing from high to low, stressing the fish. Those swings would make your fish lethargic and can kill them. At zero KH, the pH can easily drop into the acid range, killing your beneficial bacteria and your fish. That's called a pH crash and may be what is happening in your pond.

It may also be what happened before. The KH was used up and the pH crashed.

You need to raise the KH, but you need to do it gradually because it also raises the pH. It's easy to do with baking soda, one cup for every 1000 gallons of water. If your pond is smaller than 1000 gallons you will need a fraction of that amount of baking soda.

It's better to do a smaller amount and raise it even slower than doing a lot at one time. I would use the baking soda once each day until the KH is at least 100. Keep an eye on the pH, too. It may go up to 8.3 over the course of raising the KH, but that is no problem. Many of us here keep our ponds at that pH.

This is an easy fix and even if it's not the entire problem, it is certainly a major part of it and it needs to be corrected.

As I said before, KH will drop over time, so it needs to be monitored.

I have frogs. Is baking soda safe for them?

 

[WaterGardener]

Baking soda is perfectly safe. I've been using it for years.

Air will not raise the KH. Not to my knowledge anyway.

You need to neutralize the acid in the system and you do that by adding something alkaline, like baking soda. And you need to have enough in the system to keep the pH from dropping and going into the acid range. So we increase the alkalinity enough to keep the pH stable for a while, weeks or even months.

But we have acid rain in this part of the country, east coast, and that adds acid to your pond. The nitrogen cycle itself produces acid and those two things in themselves will eat up the alkalinity in the water over time. So every now and then we have to add more alkaline buffer to keep the pH steady and prevent a crash.

 

[MermaidTracy]

It looks like we’ve about covered everything, short of seeing, evaluating, and testing your pond in person. Keep in mind that almost everyone on this forum has [at one time or another] faced similar problems with their ponds. I don’t know what else you want us to do to help you.

Don’t you have any strips left? Can you run a repeat test?

Why not [just to humor us] get a liquid test kit (like API) and try again. Test strips are notoriously unreliable. Once the bottle has been opened, no matter how careful you are, the strips will begin to deteriorate on exposure to air and moisture.

I will get. Just using what I have at the moment

 

[MermaidTracy]

@MermaidTracy Questions we usually ask:

• size of pond not sure? Pic attached
• how long has it been up and running 4 yrs
• any recent water changes no water changes aside from rain
• how many and what kind of fish - 3 shubunkins, 1 goldfish. Now 2
• do you use any chemicals - only water conditioner when adding water
• what is your filtration - oase pump/filter
• results of water tests — actual results! ”good,” or “OK” doesn’t tell us anything - see picture
• have there been any recent changes (such as adding new fish….) - no
• any chance of water run-off from your yard (could be fertilizers or pesticides that you aren’t aware of) no way
• what is your location/weather/climate central jersey
• water temperature - 75-80

 

[GBBUDD]

That should be a joint effort.

What other questions should be added?

When we get a list together, someone could type it all up.

i'lL dO THE TypInG !!!! GB STYLE

 

[GBBUDD]

I just added an air pump. Will that raise kh? Thx for the assist

No but it can add heat into your little pond or some other chemicals that may have been air born like pesticides or spray paints and cleaners

 

[Lisak1]

I would lean to water quality since that's usually the case. However you may also have too much plant coverage - not enough water surface for gas exchange. Plus those plants take u oxygen at night, which can make that situation worse.

These small ponds are extremely difficult to keep in balance. The smallest thing can wreak havoc. Heat, low O2, not enough filtration... they don't have a lot of wiggle room.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Looking at that test strip, if it's correct, your KH is zero & your ph is very low. (I'm not sure about the GH reading - it doesn't match any of the colors) I'd prioritize getting that corrected & stabilized asap, but in order to properly dose it with baking soda, you're going to need an accurate calculation of how many gallons you've got in there.

 

[MermaidTracy]

That's correct kh is 0. I will slowly add some baking Soda

 

[GBBUDD]

ADDING BAKING SODA slowly will not hurt anything it can raise ph to 8.5 but done SLOWLY will not be a problem .... kh is never 0... you ultimately want to be 100 plus or minus. but i would not make any drastic additions of anything untill you get a legit test kit ..... You can not like my words @MermaidTracy but it won't change the guidelines.

 

[MermaidTracy]

Here I go again losing fish. 3 months into fish and they're dying off. I have no idea why. This happened last yr and I lost them all. Pond is clean, running waterfall only have 4 shubunkins

I agree re new test. Thank u. Yesterday was an upsetting day losing my fish then tons of questions coming at me

 

[GBBUDD]

we only see your words sorry you lost the fish, but that is why when they breed they do so by the hundreds or thousands. and why a 30 inch koi can sell for 10,000 or more