Hi from Western Ky

[anubias]

I am currently rebuilding my pond. It was a cheaply built 4000 G algae producer. It came with the house and the previous owner didn't do much maintenance. The filter was a poorly designed homemade contraption, the pond liner was 3 layers of black polyethylene, the pump was under-sized and to top it off, the pond was grossly overstocked. I redesigned the trash can filter, bought a larger pump and gave away over 300 goldfish that first spring. I've learned much from the mistakes of someone else and made a few mistakes of my own. I hope I can learn much more from this site and look forward to sharing my pond photos with everyone.

 

[koiguy1969]

welcome to the group ..we are all happy to help. got a question, ask it..got an answer, give it!!

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the forum.
Bowling Green Kentucky makes great cars...

 

[koikeepr]

algae producer! THAT gave me a good laugh! Welcome!

 

[anubias]

algae producer! THAT gave me a good laugh! Welcome!

The water was pea soup green and nearly as thick. It had body, I don't know how the fish could breathe. They were skittish for weeks after I cleared it up.

 

[anubias]

Welcome to the forum.
Bowling Green Kentucky makes great cars...

Yep, they do make some nice cars in BG and in Louisville, KY they build some very nice trucks.

 

[koikeepr]

The water was pea soup green and nearly as thick. It had body, I don't know how the fish could breathe. They were skittish for weeks after I cleared it up.

When I moved to the house I have a few years ago, I had the same scenario. The previous owner had no filtration in the pond and never fed the fish. There were 12 feeder goldfish in it. The water was thick and murky as you describe and had a foot of muck at the bottom.

After I cleaned it all out and the water cleared, the fish were skittish as well. They spent so many years hidden in green water, that I think they were shocked to be able to look up and see me! I guess they were thinking, if we can see her, then she can see us--and we're no longer hidden. LOL!.

After a month, they got over it. I still have a bunch of those goldies in my pond many years later and they are about 7" now. I'll be rehoming them soon to a neighboring pond, as my new pond will be strictly koi and watonai goldfish...and I'll let some of the sarrassa goldies stay too, I think.