High Nitrates after re-potting lilies

[Neo]

I just re-potted all of our lilies two days ago and I noticed My fish acting odd and sticking to the waterfall so I tested the water and found the nitrates showed in the dangerous level. Everything else tested fine except water was a little hard also.

My water has been clear, no bad algae but a little brownish, almost like watered down coffee/tea but other than that no problems and the fish acted fine until the lilies were moved around.

I was wondering if it could be because I stirred up so much stuff at the bottom with all the lilies being upset and maybe it hadn't had a chance to filter all out yet? I scooped all the muck out and it really wasn't a lot but there was some.

 

[Waterbug]

I was wondering if it could be because I stirred up so much stuff at the bottom with all the lilies being upset and maybe it hadn't had a chance to filter all out yet? I scooped all the muck out and it really wasn't a lot but there was some.

It's possible a tiny amount of nitrates were released by stirring, but no where enough to be close a dangerous level of nitrates.

Unless you test regularly I would assume the nitrates have been building for a long time. If this was a sudden increase I would suspect a fertilizer source.

 

[Neo]

We did re-pot them with bags of walmart topsoil but it says natural dirt and sand.

 

[addy1]

I would pull them out, get kitty litter clay, pure clay, or just put them in pea gravel. The bagged topsoil probably has something in it that is causing the issue.
Bagged soil can have a lot of additives, who knows where or how the soil was processed.

 

[fishin4cars]

Neo, I think WB and Addy are both hitting on the problem. already high nitrates, combined with stirring up the pond, along with possible additives in the soil. i would remove and repot with a differnt potting media, do a good size water change, and monitor water closely.

 

[Neo]

I'm buying pea gravel now and pulling them out. Should I wait until it cools off for a major water change since it has been 101 all day? All I have is cold water from the hose.

 

[addy1]

As long as you don't add so much water that the temp drops a lot on the fish you should be fine. Or, if you have an overflow area, put the hose on low flow (city or well?) and put in new as the old flows out,

I put my lilies in kitty litter clay, they seem to like it.

 

[Neo]

I did a small water change tonight and plan to do another early tomorrow since I got a late start. Lilies are potted in pea gravel and the fish seem a little happier. When should I test My water again now to get an accurate reading to see if the nitrates are lower? Everything is pretty stirred up right now in the pond

 

[addy1]

Yes test again after your next water change and see if it is dropping, keep an eye on them until you get them back to normal.

 

[Waterbug]

You can test as soon as a water change in done and you're pretty sure the pond pump has mixed the water enough to be uniform.

You may also want to test your source water for nitrate to get an idea of what is going on. No sense doing water changes if your source water has high nitrates.

 

[Neo]

You can test as soon as a water change in done and you're pretty sure the pond pump has mixed the water enough to be uniform.

You may also want to test your source water for nitrate to get an idea of what is going on. No sense doing water changes if your source water has high nitrates.

I never even thought of testing the water I put back in, thanks! I'm going to test it in a little while after the next change and hopefully things look better.

 

[Neo]

I just did another water change and tested, everything is better, nitrates are still showing high but under the dangerous level now and the fish are definitely acting better. The water is still very hard, could that be a bad problem? I know our town has hard water issues anyways so I expected it to be high after a big refill.

 

[Waterbug]

How hard is hard? In general many people would consider hard water as a good thing for stable pH. There may be some downsides having to do with fish colors, like whites not being as white. But those debate are generally between Koi show competitor type pond keepers.

 

[fishin4cars]

Hard water does seem to effect colors in koi, however Soft water is more dangerous to the fish themselves. hardwater holds the PH far more stable and for most pond keepers that is more imprtant than holding a paticular color on a koi.

 

[Neo]

I would say between the 150 and 300 according to the color chart, it says 300 is very hard though so I figured I would ask. PH has been near perfect.