It's going to be a bad fish year

[WaterGardener]

Prime will bind ammonia and nitrite for 48 hours. It would need to be dosed again at that time.

If that is not done the bound ammonia and nitrite will be released back into the water.

 

[snoozer]

Thank you. I am going to do a water change and vacuum as much as i can. I have today and tomorrow. Mondays high here will be 31 but 10 overnight and the 20's for the high for a couple days so the ice will be forming. Would it be better if i put the pumps back in and have the steam and waterfall going?

If that is not done the bound ammonia and nitrite will be released back into the water.

 

[brokensword]

Thank you. I am going to do a water change and vacuum as much as i can. I have today and tomorrow. Mondays high here will be 31 but 10 overnight and the 20's for the high for a couple days so the ice will be forming. Would it be better if i put the pumps back in and have the steam and waterfall going?

with the fish supposedly dormant and the good bacteria essentially dead or inactive, AND with your aeration+pond breathers, I don't see any benefit to putting the pumps back. If you had one IN the pond and all it took was to plug it back in, then yeah, can't hurt. Do the water change (slowly, slowly), take out the leaves (even slower), vaccuum without stirring every thing up, and watch your fish for any clues that the water still is toxic in some way. If you've lost a lot of fish and they're out of the pond, the remaining ones shouldn't be stressed much as long as the ammonia comes down. If I'm not mistken though, ammonia poisoning has the fish flashing and gasping at the surface, behavior you didn't notice.

Good Luck; keep us in the loop moving forward. Hopefully you'll report normal behavior and no more losses.

 

[Tula]

Are you able to keep your stream running without risk of frozen pipes? I've got my bog and water fall off but am still running my sand and gravel filter as long as I can.

 

[brokensword]

Are you able to keep your stream running without risk of frozen pipes? I've got my bog and water fall off but am still running my sand and gravel filter as long as I can.

he wanted it running but needed new nikes for it to keep up. Some sort of GPF gofundme is needed, methinks, as there's rumors the new coffee pot Ian's grudginly upgrading is taking half the budget!

 

[snoozer]

Are you able to keep your stream running without risk of frozen pipes? I've got my bog and water fall off but am still running my sand and gravel filter as long as I can.

The stream and waterfall are fed by a 4x5 upper pond. The pipes won't freeze if water is running but kind of worried about the cold coming on Monday. I don't want to have to blow out the pipes when it is 20 degrees. I need to thaw out after working out there all day.

 

[snoozer]

Good news this morning, no floaters! I am hoping that the carnage has been stopped.

 

[snoozer]

still looks high. I wish there was a test method that didn't depend in my determining color matches.

 

[WaterGardener]

If you are using Prime, your test will still read all the ammonia in the water, even though it is bound. It still shows up but will not harm the fish.

An ammonia alert card would tell you if there is harmful ammonia present, the unbound ammonia. The alert cards are inexpensive and can usually be found in a local pet store.

Glad to hear there are no new deaths.

 

[snoozer]

If you are using Prime, your test will still read all the ammonia in the water, even though it is bound. It still shows up but will not harm the fish.

An ammonia alert card would tell you if there is harmful ammonia present, the unbound ammonia. The alert cards are inexpensive and can usually be found in a local pet store.

Glad to hear there are no new deaths.

Thank you.so much. I will go get the cards and see what it says. I did do an additional water change yesterday so hoping that things are better. Tonight will be single digits so the ice will form and i won't be able to do anything else.

 

[brokensword]

Thank you.so much. I will go get the cards and see what it says. I did do an additional water change yesterday so hoping that things are better. Tonight will be single digits so the ice will form and i won't be able to do anything else.

well, you should have aerators going so you still have access via the hole(s), so that's not necessarily true, but I get your point! Glad it's looking better and you did yeoman's work to remedy the situation.

 

[snoozer]

well, you should have aerators going so you still have access via the hole(s), so that's not necessarily true, but I get your point! Glad it's looking better and you did yeoman's work to remedy the situation.

View attachment 144958

There will be openings but not enough for big work to be done. I need to thank Amy at physical therapy for getting my shoulder working well enough to be able to clean the pond properly. Thanks for all of the help and support.

 

[cas]

still looks high. I wish there was a test method that didn't depend in my determining color matches.

I agree! I have such a hard time determining the ammonia reading too. My ammonia reading looks like it is always .25 to me.

 

[snoozer]

I agree! I have such a hard time determining the ammonia reading too. My ammonia reading looks like it is always .25 to me.

I bought one of the ammonia alert cards that @WaterGardener mentioned and it is showing at zero now. Much easier to look at this and know where you are rather than the liquid test.

 

[snoozer]

well, a little over a week has gone by and the ammonia is still zero, ph is. Unfortunately, ich is now the issue. There are several fish that are covered and not doing well but still swimming well enough to not be caught. Is there anything that can be done when the water is 40 degrees or do i wait until spring and start over?