Hi there. New member and pond novice.

[LorraineT]

@LorraineT How are things going? Haven't heard from you in a while.

Hi TurtleMommy! We are doing pretty good. FINALLY feel like we are getting this pond thing down and under control. The fish are doing really well - coming out more and more during the day and I hope, starting to recognize us, maybe. I have to post some pictures - just been busy. All of our new fish have survived the drama of us learning to balance the water so we have 2 orange butterflies, 2 white butterflies, a white & orange butterfly and regular orange guy but he's kind of odd looking with an almost butterfly tail but tiny little fins. Maybe I'm just comparing him to his beautiful brothers & sisters but he's just kind a weird. The pond water is looking nice a clear, everything balanced and I planted a new water lily that I am thrilled to say, is coming up already! Can't wait to see it get flowers. We just ordered a pond vacuum that we're hoping will help keep the water nice and clear. My husband is obsessed with this vacuum idea so I hope it does what he wants it to. Thanks for thinking about me and I'll get some pictures up soon.

 

[Mmathis]

@LorraineT Thanks for the update and happy to know that it's starting to fall in place! What vacuum are you getting? And, yes, please post some pics for us.

 

[LorraineT]

Sorry to be gone so long! The vacuum is Pondovacfour. My husband is very happy with his purchase. We purchased 3 new koi last week and they are beautiful! We got them from Kodoma Koi Farm in Davie,Fl.

 

[Usman]

Sorry to be gone so long! The vacuum is Pondovacfour. My husband is very happy with his purchase. We purchased 3 new koi last week and they are beautiful! We got them from Kodoma Koi Farm in Davie,Fl. View attachment 94841

which ones are new? love the white ones with orange line of scales on top looks artistic

 

[Mmathis]

@LorraineT Glad you got back with us! We so often lose folks after the initial round of problem-solving, and it's nice to know how things are working out!

We are about to order the Pondovac 4 [Santa just hasn't gotten around to it yet, LOL!]. Good to know it gets a seal of approval from your hubby! Ask him if there is anything I need to know about using it.

 

[LorraineT]

which ones are new? love the white ones with orange line of scales on top looks artistic

The fish that we got from the (killer) pond company were 2 white and orange butterflies - mostly white with orange stripes down their backs, 2 orange butterflies, one orange with black scales on his back (not a butterfly), and my favorite, white with metallic orange top and white fins! We call him Sherbet because of the lovely colors. We have been feeding new food from the koi farm and his orange is becoming more gold/yellow and he's quite the looker. The three new ones we got are really exciting because we picked them out ourselves! We have a red & white Showa and his gray spots are starting to get darker. I understand they will turn black over time till he is black, red and white spotted. We also got a red, white and black Kujyaku who's black section makes him look like he's wearing a jacket - so we call him Tuxedo. And my favorite of the three , is a yellow and black Kinkikokuryu. He's the littlest guy right now but he looks so fierce with his metallic black scales and yellow face. We call him Dragon because of his beautiful armored coat. We are so lucky to have this great Koi farm close by. I think we've maxed out our pond at this point, with 9 fishes, but it great to have experts, not only here on this forum, but nearby to help out just in case.

 

[mgmine]

Here is what I am reading... that your fish died the day after the pond was drained and cleaned. So to keep your new fish alive you have started down the trail of adding chemicals after chemicals. It sounds like the pond company is trying to cover their mistake buy selling you stuff that you don't need. The fish died for a reason just like Meyer said. They were poisoned. They were either poisoned with a washing solution or they were partially killed in what ever vat they put them in while thy were washing the pond. Fish just don't die overnight unless something is drastically wrong. Putting all the stuff in that you are now putting in is not doing them any good. In the future just let the fish be.

 

[LorraineT]

Here is what I am reading... that your fish died the day after the pond was drained and cleaned. So to keep your new fish alive you have started down the trail of adding chemicals after chemicals. It sounds like the pond company is trying to cover their mistake buy selling you stuff that you don't need. The fish died for a reason just like Meyer said. They were poisoned. They were either poisoned with a washing solution or they were partially killed in what ever vat they put them in while thy were washing the pond. Fish just don't die overnight unless something is drastically wrong. Putting all the stuff in that you are now putting in is not doing them any good. In the future just let the fish be.

Have no idea what you are talking about at this point in time. We have learned how to care for our pond and have nine healthy beautiful fish and a gorgeous pond. I don't buy chemicals from any pond company EXCEPT while the crisis was occurring because we HAD to get the water under control. Which we did quite successfully and have the fabulous fish and pond to prove it. I have no idea what "stuff" you are currently referring to other then a pond vac and some new koi. And yes, there was something drastically wrong because the fish died. No brainer there. That's how I ended up here, getting great advice from several nice people who helped me with the issue. Yes, something killed the fish. No, there's no way to know what it was exactly. Have no idea what you could possibly think that I'm doing to my fish but you are a couple of dollars short and several days late.

 

[mgmine]

Have no idea what you are talking about at this point in time. We have learned how to care for our pond and have nine healthy beautiful fish and a gorgeous pond. I don't buy chemicals from any pond company EXCEPT while the crisis was occurring because we HAD to get the water under control. Which we did quite successfully and have the fabulous fish and pond to prove it. I have no idea what "stuff" you are currently referring to other then a pond vac and some new koi. And yes, there was something drastically wrong because the fish died. No brainer there. That's how I ended up here, getting great advice from several nice people who helped me with the issue. Yes, something killed the fish. No, there's no way to know what it was exactly. Have no idea what you could possibly think that I'm doing to my fish but you are a couple of dollars short and several days late.

Wow I was just replying to what I thought was a new thread (which appears to have updated yesterday) from someone that was asking for help. See your original post. Reading through the responses I came upon this one

"Our pond company has been trying to figure out what happened and so far we have discovered that our water has no chlorine and they put chemicals in to neutralize the chlorine because they didn't test first!......This afternoon the bubbling problem seemed to get worse and now it looks like soap clinging to the plants and bubbling over the rocks in the waterfall! We have checked the Ph and it is high so with the advice of the pond guy we added baking soda and will check again shortly. The barley bale that I had in was removed during the cleaning so I just added a new one and that may be helping withe bubbles. We also purchased bacteria to add because the bacteria balls had been rinsed off but nothing new added.....
I did not say that you killed the fish I said that the pond company did. Adding stuff to the pond will not get the pond under control. It will make the pond company richer and it could compound the problem. That is why I said to let it be. By cleaning it (which you thought you were doing right) they NOT you messed it up. By trying to cover themselves they told you to add stuff to make it better. You not knowing better added stuff. The fish are now healthy, so are you going to add stuff in the future? I'm guessing yes because it helped this time. Did it help? Well the fish are alive so it must have, right? It couldn't be because what ever killed the original fish is no longer a problem. All I was saying was not to do anything more( NOW or EVER) to the pond and it would be just fine. That was the advice I was giving. A pond is nothing more than a pretty ditch that holds water. Fish live in ditches without any help so they will live in your backyard pond with out any help INCLUDING FOOD. Sorry that I offended you so much.

 

[LorraineT]

Wow I was just replying to what I thought was a new thread (which appears to have updated yesterday) from someone that was asking for help. See your original post. Reading through the responses I came upon this one

"Our pond company has been trying to figure out what happened and so far we have discovered that our water has no chlorine and they put chemicals in to neutralize the chlorine because they didn't test first!......This afternoon the bubbling problem seemed to get worse and now it looks like soap clinging to the plants and bubbling over the rocks in the waterfall! We have checked the Ph and it is high so with the advice of the pond guy we added baking soda and will check again shortly. The barley bale that I had in was removed during the cleaning so I just added a new one and that may be helping withe bubbles. We also purchased bacteria to add because the bacteria balls had been rinsed off but nothing new added.....
I did not say that you killed the fish I said that the pond company did. Adding stuff to the pond will not get the pond under control. It will make the pond company richer and it could compound the problem. That is why I said to let it be. By cleaning it (which you thought you were doing right) they NOT you messed it up. By trying to cover themselves they told you to add stuff to make it better. You not knowing better added stuff. The fish are now healthy, so are you going to add stuff in the future? I'm guessing yes because it helped this time. Did it help? Well the fish are alive so it must have, right? It couldn't be because what ever killed the original fish is no longer a problem. All I was saying was not to do anything more( NOW or EVER) to the pond and it would be just fine. That was the advice I was giving. A pond is nothing more than a pretty ditch that holds water. Fish live in ditches without any help so they will live in your backyard pond with out any help INCLUDING FOOD. Sorry that I offended you so much.

Your response to my ORIGINAL post from July sounded quite accusing and I absolutely did not appreciate the tone at all. Didn't sound like advise - its sounds like a blasting for doing our very best to not end up with dead fish again. Obviously there are different ideas about what makes a pond nice and if I wanted what it sounds like you are implying - "a ditch filled with water" - then I wouldn't have wasted my time in making an effort to improve the pond so the fish - beautiful Koi fish - could have a nice environment to live in that we can also enjoy. And yes, IF the need should arise to add chemicals to FIX a problem so I can SAVE my fish then I absolutely will do what's necessary. My fish are 100% dependent on ME to survive in their environment and since we aren't talking gold fish here, then I will do whatever I can to keep them healthy and keep my pond in the manner that I find appealing to me. I trust the expertise of the Kodama family who have been breeding koi for over 40 years and are known all over the world for their quality koi for advise about feeding my fish as well. I happen to think their reputation and experience far out weighs any opinion you might share.
Try changing your tone if don't want people to be offended at your manner.

 

[Mmathis]

@mgmine You were a little behind. I do that sometimes. You have to go back and read through all the posts. In the meantime, I think that @LorraineT has rebounded from and learned a lot.

 

[sissy]

yep pond cleaners can be the death of a pond .Clean water clean pond means a not so healthy pond .To many people want that clean pond and that is not a pond it is a fish tank

 

[mgmine]

Your response to my ORIGINAL post from July sounded quite accusing and I absolutely did not appreciate the tone at all. Didn't sound like advise - its sounds like a blasting for doing our very best to not end up with dead fish again. Obviously there are different ideas about what makes a pond nice and if I wanted what it sounds like you are implying - "a ditch filled with water" - then I wouldn't have wasted my time in making an effort to improve the pond so the fish - beautiful Koi fish - could have a nice environment to live in that we can also enjoy. And yes, IF the need should arise to add chemicals to FIX a problem so I can SAVE my fish then I absolutely will do what's necessary. My fish are 100% dependent on ME to survive in their environment and since we aren't talking gold fish here, then I will do whatever I can to keep them healthy and keep my pond in the manner that I find appealing to me. I trust the expertise of the Kodama family who have been breeding koi for over 40 years and are known all over the world for their quality koi for advise about feeding my fish as well. I happen to think their reputation and experience far out weighs any opinion you might share.
Try changing your tone if don't want people to be offended at your manner.

Again just sharing an opinion. But I'm not sure why you bothered asking anyone on this site for their opinion if the Kodama's already gave you one. By the way how did that work out? But lets take a look at what I said

"Here is what I am reading... that your fish died the day after the pond was drained and cleaned. So to keep your new fish alive you have started down the trail of adding chemicals after chemicals.
So far sounds correct doesn't it? Barley, bacteria, baking soda and who knows about the chlorine... I go on to say...

It sounds like the pond company is trying to cover their mistake by selling you stuff that you don't need.( Is this the opinion part that you don't like?)The fish died for a reason just like Meyer said. They were poisoned. They were either poisoned with a washing solution or they were partially killed in what ever vat they put them in while they were washing the pond. Fish just don't die overnight unless something is drastically wrong.

Sounds to me like I am accusing the pond company and not you and pointing out the obvious. Do you read anywhere in here that I say it was your fault for having the pond washed? No you felt bad enough already I wasn't about to point out your first mistake. It was done and couldn't be undone. Now you move forward so what you do in the future to your pond is on you.

Putting all the stuff in that you are now putting in is not doing them any good. In the future just let the fish be.

So that is what I said, read the above line over again, the last line of my "blasting" to you. And for that you blasted me. In addition you felt it necessary to throw in an insult in.

"Have no idea what you could possibly think that I'm doing to my fish but you are a couple of dollars short and several days late."

After all you went through you still say
"IF the need should arise to add chemicals to FIX a problem so I can SAVE my fish then I absolutely will do what's necessary. "

Well good luck.

 

[Mmathis]

The purpose of this forum is for people to learn how to maintain a garden pond, with or without fish. We all have to start somewhere and we all make mistakes. The difference between those who succeed and those who don't is all about learning from our own mistakes and from the mistakes of other people. But we can't learn from anything if no one tells us about their successes and their failures. And they can't learn anything if they choose not to network and share here on GPF, or on similar forums.

I love hearing about the successes and failures of everyone here. Their situations may not ever happen to me, but the stories broaden my knowledge and provide insight.

 

[Usman]

I think u must have observed , Its funy that fishes keep therre home very clean , i blocked few times part of pond from fishes then it gets realy dirty with dirt and algae,fungus ,roten leaves etc. fishes koi gf keep things shaking. Munching from walls and floor so it feeds filter.