My new fish are listless. I stirred up the bottom of the pond three days ago.

[Karen Crowley]

I was trying to circulate the water to help the pump and filter suck up algae. I bought barley straw and was looking forward to clearing it up. That evening, I covered my fish to protect them from predators. Something moved the board underneath the "waterfall" filter overnight and I lost half of the water! In a panic, I added probably the same amount as I lost. I poured Fluval CYCLE into the little pond, and, to my relief, they regained their playful spunk. Success was short-lived though. Trying to expedite getting rid of the algae, I scrubbed the walls (with new brush)
and stirred up the bottom. I thought that would jumpstart the process, but now they move slowly. They aren't eating. Please help?

 

[Karen Crowley]

Bacterial bloom?

 

[snoozer]

Are you on city water that would contain chlorine? if so, you would have needed a dechlorinator. I am not familiar with the product you used.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!
Can you give us more information about your pond?

• Size (gallons and/or dimensions)?
• Total number, size, and type of fish?
• What kind of filtration do you have and what kind of/size pump?
• Do you have any aeration such as an air pump or spitters to splash the surface?
• Where do you live — what USDA zone? (This is helpful because it gives other members who live in a similar climate a chance to share and compare!)
• How long has your pond been up and running?
• Do you test your water for ammonia, etc?
• Are you on city water (treated), or well water?
• You mentioned scrubbing the sides to remove algae — do you do this often?
• What is Fluval Cycle?

 

[Lisak1]

@Mmathis asked for all the info I would also ask for, in addition to a few more:

How did you cover your fish?
What is this "board" under your water fall filter that caused the water loss?

Simply stirring up the water shouldn't bother your fish. Clear water is something we like - fish could care less.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Are you on city water that would contain chlorine? if so, you would have needed a dechlorinator. I am not familiar with the product you used.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Thank you for responding. I am on city water. The product I used reads that it is a concentrated biological booster. It says it allows instant addition of fish. It eliminates ammonia and nitrite. It also says with something called bio flocs.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Are you on city water that would contain chlorine? if so, you would have needed a dechlorinator. I am not familiar with the product you used.

@Mmathis asked for all the info I would also ask for, in addition to a few more:

How did you cover your fish?
What is this "board" under your water fall filter that caused the water loss?

Simply stirring up the water shouldn't bother your fish. Clear water is something we like - fish could care less.

The fact that you say "stirring" won't harm my fish, puts me somewhat at ease. Thanks for that. The "board" is simply a covering over my 3x3x3' in ground (container) pond. It's filled to 200+ gallons. I have two 2" koi, and five assorted goldfish.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Are you on city water that would contain chlorine? if so, you would have needed a dechlorinator. I am not familiar with the product you used.

I am hoping that the product I used from Petsupermarket is indeed a dechlorinator.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Hello and welcome!
Can you give us more information about your pond?

• Size (gallons and/or dimensions)?
• Total number, size, and type of fish?
• What kind of filtration do you have and what kind of/size pump?
• Do you have any aeration such as an air pump or spitters to splash the surface?
• Where do you live — what USDA zone? (This is helpful because it gives other members who live in a similar climate a chance to share and compare!)
• How long has your pond been up and running?
• Do you test your water for ammonia, etc?
• Are you on city water (treated), or well water?
• You mentioned scrubbing the sides to remove algae — do you do this often?
• What is Fluval Cycle?

Hi Turtle mommy. You asked me about filtration. I use one of those bottom pumps with a fountain. 1200, I believe. Instead of using the fountain, I attached the pump to a large aquarium filter. Used as a waterfall waterfalls to splash two streams at once into the water.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Hi Turtle mommy. You asked me about filtration. I use one of those bottom pumps with a fountain. 1200, I believe. Instead of using the fountain, I attached the pump to a large aquarium filter. Used as a waterfall waterfalls to splash two streams at once into the water.

I only scrubbed the sides (walls) once.
I live in Tampa bay. Zone 9 or 10.

 

[Karen Crowley]

Hi Turtle mommy. You asked me about filtration. I use one of those bottom pumps with a fountain. 1200, I believe. Instead of using the fountain, I attached the pump to a large aquarium filter. Used as a waterfall waterfalls to splash two streams at once into the water.

I am hoping that Fluval CYCLE is a dechlorinator.

 

[BarbO]

Karen, it is not. Get a bottle of Prime at the fish store. Add double dose asap.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

@Karen Crowley In addiiton to the Seachem Prime that @BarbO mentioned, I would definitely recommend you to test your water as soon as possible with a liquid/drop master test kit and post the results. You probably won't like this but you're most likely going to need to rehome those koi sooner than later. Koi get HUGE and you're already pretty well stocked with 5 goldfish in about 200 gallons. Most people will only recommend koi if your pond is over 1000 gallons and that's the low end of the range.

This is the kit I use to test my water since it has the tests for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000255NC...olid=34HXSAYHGQHJG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I hope your fish do well, but in the long run I fear the koi will need a larger pond, maybe it's time to start digging!?

 

[Panzer13]

I agree with ShawnInfirmity. I also have a 200 gallon pond, with allot of plants and filtration. I currently have three comet and three sabumkin goldfish. I had ten but this was too much for the system and caused and algae bloom and an increase in my nitrates.
The algae you cleaned of feeds off of nitrates. If you get rid of it you will have to find some other way to deal with nitrate levels.
Personally I use a gravel vac to do about a 25% water change once a week. This also remove the fish waste and other funk on the bottom of the pond. Otherwise the funk will decompose and increase the biological load on the pond.
I would not remove the algae it your friend and the fish also eat it. Do you have any plants?

 

[Mmathis]

@Panzer13 ”Shubunkin.”

 

[Karen Crowley]

Karen, it is not. Get a bottle of Prime at the fish store. Add double dose asap.

Thank you! I already went earlier and bought a chlorinator. The dishes look much better since this morning. My husband spotted a giant toad, so they may be just stressed. I forgot to bring a water sample, but I will asap.

 

[Karen Crowley]

@Mmathis asked for all the info I would also ask for, in addition to a few more:

How did you cover your fish?
What is this "board" under your water fall filter that caused the water loss?

Simply stirring up the water shouldn't bother your fish. Clear water is something we like - fish could care less.

@Karen Crowley In addiiton to the Seachem Prime that @BarbO mentioned, I would definitely recommend you to test your water as soon as possible with a liquid/drop master test kit and post the results. You probably won't like this but you're most likely going to need to rehome those koi sooner than later. Koi get HUGE and you're already pretty well stocked with 5 goldfish in about 200 gallons. Most people will only recommend koi if your pond is over 1000 gallons and that's the low end of the range.

This is the kit I use to test my water since it has the tests for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000255NC...olid=34HXSAYHGQHJG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I hope your fish do well, but in the long run I fear the koi will need a larger pond, maybe it's time to start digging!?

I guess I was wrong thinking 20 gallons for the first fish, 10 gallons for each additional fish. Yikes!
Regarding a larger home for my fish, our back, I have emptied our unused swimming pool. I haven't researched how to properly transform it into a pond yet. I figured I would wait until we needed it.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

@Karen Crowley The 20 gallons for first fish and 10 gallons for each additional fish really only applies to goldfish and even if you follow that rule in an aquarium (or pond) you would likely have to perform large AND frequent water changes. I currently have 15 goldfish ranging in size from 3.5-9 inches long in a 450+ gallon pond so I'm stocked at about 30 gallons per fish which is pretty manageable for me. I also have a good amount of plants and my filter turns over the water in the pond 2x each hour.

The kind folk on this forum don't seem to follow any stocking rules as far as gallons per fish, but will usually recommend you start off with a comfortable amount and slowly add if you desire. The fish themselves will usually add to your numbers with spawning and you might find your 200 gallon container pond overrun with cute little babies and no where to put them. There should be others here that have experience with converting pools to ponds, or could at the very least offer guidance and advice to help you along on your journey.

 

[Lisak1]

Many people will tell you 1000 gallons for the first koi and work up from there. But generally speaking you want less fish than your pond can comfortably handle, especially since they will reproduce and add to their own numbers.