High Nitrate level

[grumpyseagull]

i have had a pond for 11 years - above ground 15ft x 4ft x 2.5ft, has a yamitsu black box with 4 filter sponges, pro clear 55w uv and an air pump as i dont want plants, up until 2 months ago all was fine crystal clear water fish fine ( 12 large fish nothing fancy ) 3 koi - few ghost - couple of fish i have had from about my previous house. since we had torrential rain a few months ago i have lost 4 fish ( only had 12 to start with ).Nitrate through the roof - ph 7 - NO2 is low - i did what looked like a 75% water change - added some water stabiliser and that stuff you use after adding tap water. i have just added 24 hours ago those pond bomb pellets in a filter bag in my black box also just now added some envi nitrate klear.

am i missing something - any suggestions would be greatly received. In 11years i havenever had any fish die on me until last 2 ish month where now i have had 4

Thanks

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

Can you give us exact numbers for all of your water tests? “Through the roof” doesn’t say anything. Actually, the nitrate levels aren’t the dangerous ones.

 

[grumpyseagull]

thanks for getting back so quick
just did another API 5 in 1 test and readings are as follows
NO3 - 200
NO2 - 1
PH - 7
KH - 60
GH - 180

 

[Mmathis]

What is your ammonia?

 

[grumpyseagull]

sorry but dont have an ammonia test kit will have to buy some....

 

[grumpyseagull]

What is your ammonia?

found an old test kit which had ammonia test - just did a test and its 2mg

 

[j.w]

@grumpyseagull

Sorry to hear you are losing fish. Wondering about so much rain and it being acidic. Not sure on the issues w/fish so hopefully someone can help soon.

 

[Mmathis]

found an old test kit which had ammonia test - just did a test and its 2mg

How “old” is the test kit? When was it first opened? I thought that ammonia was measured in ppm. Is it ppm rather than mg?

 

[yorkshire pudding]

How “old” is the test kit? When was it first opened? I thought that ammonia was measured in ppm. Is it ppm rather than mg?

i think its milligrams per litre

 

[Mmathis]

i think its milligrams per litre

I always thought “parts per million,” but chemistry is NOT my strong point in any way, shape, or fashion, LOL!

 

[mrsclem]

Guessing your pond pomb pellets are an algae treatment? What was the water stabilizer you added?

 

[yorkshire pudding]

I always thought “parts per million,” but chemistry is NOT my strong point in any way, shape, or fashion, LOL!

View attachment 144772

i use a colombo professional pond test lab kit and that is measured in mg/l. and chemistry is definitley not my strong point.

 

[grumpyseagull]

tetra pond water stabilizer
and
pure pond bomb....
its so frustrating - had this pond running and what i thought looked so clean - no debris on bottom - no algae - and since the rain a few months ago its all gone pete tong

 

[yorkshire pudding]

if it was my pond i would do a 40-50% water change to get that ammonia down, ammonia above 1mg/l is getting toxic for fish 2mg/l is toxic, was it an evolution aqua pure pond bomb ? i have used them when starting a filter off. hold of with the envii klear nitrate isnt toxic between 20-60mg/l, your no3 nitrate reading says 200 is that 20mg/l ? if so that is acceptable. hope this is of some help, cheers mark.

 

[yorkshire pudding]

also i just noticed your pond is roughly 1000gal so maybe your koi/ghosts/goldfish have grown in the 11 years you have had them and you are now reaching a tipping point on your filter versus fish waste maybe time to think about a bit more filtration or move a couple of fish on, a lot of forum members use an upflow bog as there only filtration with fantastic results.