Need Help with Bosses Pond

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Hello All!

Hope I can get insight to the problem we have.

Quick Backstory:
Boss came over to my house one day, seen my 300 gallon goldfish pond that i had set up inside and wanted his own. Goes to the extreme of course and builds a monster 5000-6000 gallon pond outside and fills it with koi its pretty, buuuuuut here comes the trouble.

The pond has been built for an official year now, but many fish have been slowly added over the year, and as we all know koi are very addicting to keep. I don't own any because one; I know this and two; I dont have a pond set up for it, because I am noob.

The major thing you will note is that in the images the pond is filled with so much debris, algae and the like; that you can not see the fish. the pond does not smell very lovely, and I have done all I can as a beginner to help out. I have actually done a full water change within a two week time frame and yet it looks like the images that I took today.

Information to help me out

Water quality
* Ammonia Level = off charts - before water changes, after change, still some high levels of ammonia ppm wise ??? I just know its not healthy.
* Nitrite Level = 0.0 ppm
* Ammonia Level (tap water) = 0.0 ppm
* Nitrite Level (tap water) = 0.0 ppm
* Ph Level, pond = 7.8 ( i believe )
* Ph Level, tap water = ??
* Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops = API test kit, drip testors

Other useful information:
* Water temperature = ?? outside temp has been around 78 - 85 for the past two weeks nice and sunny

* Pond size and how long has it been running = 5000-6000 gallons and for one year

* What is the name and size of the filter - custom built filtration unit. No idea name of brand would have to go back out and look.

* How often do you change the water and how much - changed full 5000-6000 last two weeks...typically change 1000 or so every 3 months.

* How many days ago was the last water change and how much did you change - Last change was 3 days ago and was 2000 gallons aprox.

* How many fish in the pond and their type - around 30+ fish.. comprised of mostly koi of all sizes, a few carp varieties, and comet goldfish.

* What kind of water additives or conditioners have you used - use algae away, API pond dechlorinator myself...Boss, he has other chems but is afraid to touch them so I do not know if he does anything else. we tried barley straw extract and the straw itself along with adding the floating hyacinth as you see in the pics.

* What do you feed your fish and how often? Not sure feed Brand, but it is medium pellets and from what I understand he feeds them once a day.

* Any new fish added to the pond recently - possibly, last I knew was 4 fish adds a month ago.

* Any medications added to the pond - no

* List entire medication/treatment history for fish and pond - none

* Any unusual findings on the fish - fish seem just fine, when i did the water changes and brought it practically to the bottom. I did a fish health check and gills looked fine, eyes looked fine, swimming and activity looked fine. couldn't tell if any of them had issues if they did... no slow swimmers or laying on the bottom or anything.

* Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? - as stated all seems fine.

*additional info - the pond is approx. 7ft deep, maybe 6-ish ft wide, and 20+ ish feet long

The biggest thing I would really like to know is how are we gonna be getting this thing back to clear-ish water to where we can actually enjoy the fish, I told my boss the algae and other debris problems will always be there, but if we cant see the fish then whats the point.
 

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Your boss's pond is very nice.

Why are you practically emptying the pond and refilling it?
 
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with ammonia levels off the charts, plus the pungent smell and my bosses anxiety of fish health and not being able to see them, has stressed me to do all that I could to try and make this happen, you know, help the boss! lol...I know from my beginner years as a fish hobbyist that if there is a problem, do a water change, but this problem is on a larger scale than what I have ever done.
 

Meyer Jordan

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Water changes are not always a solution to water quality issues. In fact, too large of a water change done too frequently can be a problem unto itself. But that is another story.
How old is this test kit? When you say that Ammonia level is 'off-the-charts' do you mean this literally? What is the actual Ammonia numeric test result?
Most importantly is how often and how much is your "boss" feeding his fish?
 

sissy

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Also well or city water and water temps can be way different than the water in the pond ..Odd I see no fish and even with that bad a water you should see something . Is it a liquid test kit and how may koi and what size and has anyone netted the pond to see if there are any dead ones .also what kind of filter and who installed this thing .saying it politely or trying too
 
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You'll get lots of help here, so just stick with us. And kudos to you for trying to help your boss!

Just remember that when faced with pond challenges, the impulse seems to always want to "do" - sometimes the better choice is to "wait". All the large water changes you have been doing have probably exacerbated the problem. The best pond water is mature pond water, not water fresh from the tap. And in order to get mature pond water, you have to leave it in the pond. The same with using any product that kills algae - the end result will be more algae, because now you have a pond full of dead algae to feed more algae. Not a good cycle to get in to.

Two things stick out from your post.

1. You say you don't know what the ammonia level is, but you know it's not healthy. I hope when you re-read that, you hear why that doesn't sound right. You can't KNOW it's unhealthy if you don't know what it is.

2. You mention the debris. There is no debris visible in the photos, but if the pond is indeed 7 feet deep then it's possible the bottom has collected some debris. Having said that, you don't mention removing the debris. Are you attempting to remove the debris manually? But when you said:

I told my boss the algae and other debris problems will always be there

I wondered - you know algae isn't debris, right? And it's not a problem to have algae in a pond. In fact, algae is a big plus in a pond and a healthy coating of algae on all the underwater surfaces should be the desired goal. If your boss' goal is a swimming pool with koi, he's going to be disappointed.

I guess there's a third thing - you mentioned a filter, but you didn't mention filter maintenance. Is the filter being cleaned?
 

addy1

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Welcome to the group! everybody here will help you out as much as possible.
 
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Sorry Folks. Let me go ahead and clear things up and answer people in order.

@Meyer Jordan: - Test kit is around 4 months old maybe a tad older,
- I am sorry, but when I seen that the ammonia water from the drop test was the darkest shade of green possible, with how i have done aquariums in the past i knew it wasn't good. its suppose to be 0 ppm and yellow any green would indicate too much ammonia in the system. Or i may be wrong with that.
- Boss feeds around 2 cups (give or take) of food for the day, course its not my pond so I do not know the true amount, but he confers that he does not feed much.

@sissy: - it is the API liquid test
- 30+ fish
- Fish size ranges from 8" to 30" all sorts of variety of sizes
- When i drained the pond, my boss has a fish count chart, All fish accounted for! :)
- A local company that apparently does pluming and some other stuff, no idea about their rep with ponds, but they build pools lol. They did say this was the first build they had ever done like this.
- Its near midnight doing this post, I will attempt to get the brand of filter for you ASAP

@Mmathis: - I used this term loosely. I apologize for all confusion on the term Debris. With as much plant matter, some uneaten food stuffs, clumps of dead algae, I just (rather than typing it all out) stated it was debris. solid floating masses of organic matter floating around in the water. Again I apologize on that term use.

@Lisak1: - Most of what you asked has been answered except filter cleaning. The filter has a rinse, backwash, waste, filter settings and custom pluming set up for the water falls, skimmers and aeration. I personally use to backwash the system once every weekend. Now I haven't been over there that often and of course i guess me not doing as much has probably caused this. other than cleaning filter media and skimmer media and debris (using that word again) catch baskets, I suppose the pond took a turn for the worst. I am lost on that point...the maintenance on this thing was taught to me via crash course by the people who built it and I kind of just had to read the instructions over and over till I was thinking I got it right. My work duties and my boss didnt want me to be so involved with it and my boss later entrusted the company to come out every now and then to do maintenance (of course this didn't happen) so there is definitely a large gap between when I was involved till now.

@addy1 - Hi and thank you!
 
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I would stop feeding the fish until we know more about the filtration and water circulation for this pond.
Pictures of the filter setup plus pump specs/plumbing layout would help.
A numerical nitrate test value please.
With an ammonia level so high (dark green) you could start using a neutralizer, but that requires reapplication every 24 - 48 hours. You need to be available to do that.
Presently the fish are receiving gill damage/injury by being in water with that high of ammonia reading. This damage is not reversible.
 

sissy

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All food that is left should be netted out and is the food sinking food or floating food as it breaks down it can cause more problems than you will realize .I have seen it in ponds here and people almost killed the fish they had .They were feeding them to much and to many times a day .There is always plenty to eat in the pond .I only feed my fish 3 or 4 times a week and I wait until I make sure the filter is working and built up bacteria in it and that is with fall food only. Some of the really old ways of taking care of ponds are still around and it is hard sometimes to find the right source for information .I still see pond owners here that go by air temperature for feeding and I have to explain it is water temperature .Salt is another pond bad and so is it that algae is bad for the pond ,but algae is there too tell you it is trying hard to protect the fish from our mistakes and keep them healthy .Not all ponds are the same and once you figure it all out it really does help .The old ways are not always good ,some are good but seems more are bad ideas that should be canned .
 
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30 + fish, especially some up to 30 inch range, is way too much for a 5K - 6K pond. Add to that, over feeding and you've got problems.

You've already received good advice, so I'll follow along, with interest.
 

sissy

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Makes me wonder looking at the tiles on the sides .Since you say they build pools do you know if everything they used is fish safe .Pools and ponds are different and what could be considered safe for humans may not be safe for fish .I know i used a grout that had an additive to it that said it was not safe for certain things like countertops but safe for backsplashes .Not to come in contact with food .Maybe someone else may know more .I know people transform pools to ponds .Reason I ask is in pic 2 there is something strange floatiing on the surface of the pond
 
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Alright,

@sissy: - they are floating pellets, He has a scoop in the bag so I assume he just take out a scoop ( its fairly large so assume around 2 cups, it has no measuring device on it)

So to start fixing this issue I will itemize as follows:

- start feeding once maybe twice a week (and in this event stop feeding all together until more solutions become present)
- (i doubt he will part with any fish), seek to re-home some of the koi
- Get you guys the filtration system name and take pics of pluming layout...(will do as best as I can)
- update you all with any progress
 

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