Newbie from tucson

[Ballugrad]

We bought a home five years ago with a pond about 7' x 10' x 20" deep. Previous previous owners left two orange and black koy. We have lived here for 5 yrs now and tillrecently all was well. Pond has a filter that is supposed to have some sort of media in it that does not need replacing. Besides some algea problems this summer due to high heat the pond has been good. I found a powder that cleared up the pond in two days instead of all the other algae liquids at the pet stores, those did not work. Today our pump gave out, a little giant wgp 65 that has been running since we bought the house. The filter is buried and has a 6 way valve like a pool. The original pump was jerry rigged to a skimmer with filter and basket. The first time i did work on it i noticed that they had forced a pipe connector to the impeler side od the pump and connected it to the skimmer. I gave had some problems with the connection getting loose but kept itbthat way until know. My pump died sometime today, i noticed it not working around 4:30 pm. Thought it can wait till the morning...I was wrong. By 5:30 we noticed that the fish were all near the surface, inthought they where eating. Noticed that they where not very active and ran to home depot to get a pump. Beorevwalking outbthe door i went backnto get a part that i left and noticed that our white silver koy, which we bought at petsmart five years ago and now about 18" long with beatiful big tail was on its side. I could not beleive it, i noticed one of the original koy at the surface and seemed like he was breathing air, he was next to the failing koy, ran to HD and when i returned wife said tant we almost lost some more until she started running the water hose on top of the water. She tried to make our white one swimm by holding her. after installing new pump and no activity i beleive she is gone. Wife says once she started the hose the fish swam down. I am perplexed at this. How can a short time without the pump do this. I bought the only complete pump HD had all the other ones had missing pieces, a Total pond 3600 gph pump. Running good. Immediatly backwashed and man the filter needed it. Pump came with a nylon bag that goes over it, should i worry about the skimmer? Should i try it out for. Few and get diff pump setup? Could use some help do not want to loose any more fish. From the two that where originally ther, we bought the white one, and about half dozen 10 cent gold fish. Now my largest gold fish is about 7-8 in long and have about 20 more since we bought them ( all born there). This yaera has been a bad year for green algea maybe due to pump failing. Will post pics soon to get a bit more input.

 

[CometKeith]

Sorry about your fish. It wasn't the filtering activity of the pump that caused your fish to die when it stopped running. Carp like koi and goldfish can live in some pretty mucky water. By your description of the fish that died it was clearly a lack of O2 or dissolved oxygen causing your fish to get sick. The pump was helping to move water around and was helping aeration. You were probable close to the extreme limit of what the fish needed and by it being off it caused the problems. Things you can do: Create as much water flow as possible. Consider adding a second pump that goes to a waterfall of some sort or aeration device. Reduce the number of fish. Since they have all been growing there is less oxygen for all of them now. Also I don't believe in adding chemicals. There are a lot of natural ways to reduce algae. You should add more plants like lilies. They will compete with the algae for the same nutrients and also some plants will add oxygen to the water like hornwort and anacharis. I hope this helps.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the Forum

 

[addy1]

Welcome from an ex phoenix resident. With the heat there, the pond water is warm, without water movement the o2 like Keith says drops, the fish suffer and sometimes die. The bigger fish go first. Get a good aerator, air pump, keep it running. Waterfalls are great there, I had a four foot one for my phoenix pond, kept o2 in the water and kept it cooler.

Post some pictures of your set up that will help us help you. Sometimes it is hard to understand the set up via words.

The nylon bag is to keep stuff from getting into the pump and freeze it up. The best thing you can do is put the pump into a milk crate or some sort of container to make a prefilter for it. I do not use submersibles, Sissy on this site, has a good set up for her submersible, she most likely will chime in when she sees this thread.

 

[sissy]

Welcome and sorry you have gone through all this .I always use 2 pumps this way if one goes out there is back up .If it is hot and your pump gave out and only being 20 inches deep it was more than likely a lack of oxygen .The total pond pump pump is kinda big for your small pond that is for a much larger pump .My total pond one is only a 2900 gph and it is in a 25x10 by 4 feet deep pond and really stirs things up .I did not use the mesh bag it is a waste of time .I drilled holes in a bucket and set it in the bottom and put lava rock on top of it .You could use a planter since your pond is small .Plants really use up a lot of oxygen at night and your pump went off at night .You would have been better getting an aerator to help them .Since your filter has never been cleaned with the power in that pump you may have stirred up all the bad stuff that did not help either .I put pics here the flower pot I used one winter but small for my pond and then a crate and the bags i used I got at the dollar store and the lava rock I clean really good makes a great prefilter ,but does have to be cleaned every 2 or 3 months at least in my pond that is what i do .The quilt batting soaked in peroxide and water helps pick up all the fine stuff .Is the powder your using the oxy stuff that I see on the net .Green clean
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[Dave's pond Indiana]

Sorry to hear about your problem. I can relate to it because I just lost 27 Koi. I would suggest a second pump because your pond is approximately 10,000 gal.

 

[Ballugrad]

Thanks for the responses to all. I am posting some pictures of the setup. The filter is an Aquavita with 2" flex pipe. The double tier waterfall is about 4' tall. New pump seems to be doing a great job. The old pump def needed replacement. This one backwashes and rinses in no time. Will probably do as suggested and place pump in container. When i had the murky problem I used NT-max. You could see results by next morning. You can see in the waterfall tiers the algea. The old pump was probably not doing a good job and water was not circulating as fast. Buried our fish this morning was about 24" and prob over 6 or 7 pounds. All others seem to be doing well now. Again thx for all the comments.

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome! Cute little pond.

Agreeing that heat is probably a big factor, along with lack of O2. Your pond is only 20" deep, which means it can heat up real fast. Water lilies or any other plants that add shade can be helpful. Is it a liner or pre-form?

 

[sissy]

you can use peroxide to clean waterfall rocks off .Just turn off pump spray and wait 10 or 15 minutes and full sun it works best .

 

[sissy]

Amazing all the filters you see these days but pressurized filters have really never been the best at cleaning .My opinion only .I had one on my big fountain back in NJ when I first put it in and opened to see why it was not cleaning right even though i was back flushing it 3 or 4 times a day and was hit by the of an open sewer .Went to 2 clay trough type planters with a pump in each and lava rock and never looked back .

 

[Ballugrad]

Actually filter is Aqua Ultraviolet system. Not Aquavita, i was snozzing

 

[Becky]

Sorry to hear about your fish welcome to the forum!

 

[GreatDanesDad]

Welcome to the Forum. Sorry it is under sad conditions. I am in the Phoenix area, or actually Maricopa City, so less than an hour from Tucson. Your little pond looks great, I hope it remains healthy for you. I have a similar size pond and deal with all the same heat and O2 problems. Keep us posted if there are any other issues.

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

Sorry to hear about your problem. I can relate to it because I just lost 27 Koi. I would suggest a second pump because your pond is approximately 10,000 gal.

Sorry I figured your gal. incorrectly app. 800 gal.