Ounce of prevention?

[Cdsdave]

Wow! All these sad stories are upsetting. What is the best way to prevent illness and disease in fish? I do back flushes about once every 2weeks. I also do small water changes (80 to 100 gallons) due to evaporation. I have 10 small fish in approx. 2000 gallon pond. I have lost a few little guys and its tough. Any tips on maintaining a healthy environment would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

[fishin4cars]

If I was to say one thing that stands out above all other to protect fish from illness and disease it would have to be doing water testing, and learning how to maintain the water to the best quality you can provide. Understanding water and providing the very best water quality is not something that iis learned over night, but it is something that in 99% of all cases can be improved on.
Second most important step to prevent illness and disease is Quarantining any new fish at least 3- 4 weeks prior to adding to your existing herd. This is something that should be done with every single new addition. This includes even fish that are known to be healthy. .

 

[Dave 54]

If I was to say one thing that stands out above all other to protect fish from illness and disease it would have to be doing water testing, and learning how to maintain the water to the best quality you can provide. Understanding water and providing the very best water quality is not something that iis learned over night, but it is something that in 99% of all cases can be improved on.
Second most important step to prevent illness and disease is Quarantining any new fish at least 3- 4 weeks prior to adding to your existing herd. This is something that should be done with every single new addition. This includes even fish that are known to be healthy. .

I'm in total agreement with Larkin on this patial water changes are another , do you have an aeriator on the pond if so thats another suggestion you need one of the large koi ones with multi gang taps so that you can add koi airstones around your pond.
Our own pond is 1,000 gallons imperial and I change aproximetely 30% on a weekkly basis plus do pump and filter maintenance weekly
What filters do you have on the pond it has to be meaty enough to filter your pond taking out as much detritus as you can e also have another doing the same job and the last is our bio filter .
Plants will also help .

rgrds

Dave.

 

[Mmathis]

Wow! All these sad stories are upsetting. What is the best way to prevent illness and disease in fish? I do back flushes about once every 2weeks. I also do small water changes (80 to 100 gallons) due to evaporation. I have 10 small fish in approx. 2000 gallon pond. I have lost a few little guys and its tough. Any tips on maintaining a healthy environment would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

I'm a newbie at this, so always learning. I try to read as much as I can as well as ask LOTS and LOTS of questions -- just as you are doing. Gosh, there's so much information out there, and deciphering it all (and deciding what will work best in your situation) is almost a science in itself

 

[capewind]

I agree with everything posted so far. Adding water for evaporation is NOT a water CHANGE. The only view I slightly disgree with is automatic large water changes. I am NOT saying they should never be done, but depends on variables, ie, individual situations. If I was asked outright if I do water changes, I would say NO, but learned from reading on the forum that is a misleading statement. When cleaning out a filter's backflow for example, we run it til the water runs clear and sometimes even a bit longer, then add new water to replace what we took out. That is actually changing some of the water.

The only other biggie I can think of off hand is to be careful about stress related issues from over crowding. Less fish per volume is also less work for their ecosystem, and the less work for the pond keeper to make sure water qualities stay where they should be ...

 

[HTH]

And keep in mind that the word pond covers a lot of ground (should that be water ).

You are going to get information that seems to conflict unless you tie it into the context of the specific pond type.

For example I could tell you that water changes are not required. What I should have said in my large pond where there are vast amounts of bare root plants water changes are not required.

On the other hand in my above ground 1000+ gal container setup I am doing frequent larger changes because there are no bare root plants and it is heavily stocked.

The other thing to keep in mind that nobody knows everything. The few who come close realized they don't. The ones who claim they do know far less.

 

[Dave 54]

Fish keeping is a hobby were folk folk are constantly learning I know of nobody who claims to know everything even the experts themselves I was Lucky to have to very good mentors for my swop over to outdoors but it was still a steep learning curve thats why one must constantly keep abreast of things new ideas new publications etc but it has to be kept simple for the newbie too much full on information seems to put them off .
Personally my maintenance routine is weekly because of that lack of root plant but most UK Koi keepers like to keep their ponds deviod of plants anyway as Koi are plant wreckers

rgrds

Dave

 

[capewind]

You both hit on why I said those variables ... with our pond, under normal circumstances, we have enough water volume and plants, plus filtration to really not need much for official water changes (add in the water swaps with heavy rain, good water circulation, and a predetermined place for the pond to over flow) ... As I say this, we are in need of a water change, doing one right now ... plans got changed a bit due to weather, but drained out 1000-1200 gallons (pond size is 8500-9000 gallons), and refilling now. I incorrectly thought the water was dark from fine muck, which isnt totally incorrect .. it is fine muck, but it isnt from the pond ... We have a "dirt issue" in the yard, and tons of dirt has been getting blown into the pond ... need to get it out ... the little fines filter worked just fine for the normal pond stuff, but is not working for the massive amounts of dirt being blown in ... til we get the DIRT issues in the YARD taken care of, we'll be doing a few water changes I am sure, but this is NOT the norm for us. Just dealing with a variable.

 

[fishin4cars]

Dave, You now know someone that knows everything, I get told all the time by the wifey that I'm a _____ Know it All. Only problem is, I also have ALLTIMERS, All the time trying to figure out what all it is I'm actually suppose to know????? :dunno:

Fish keeping is a hobby were folk folk are constantly learning I know of nobody who claims to know everything even the experts themselves I was Lucky to have to very good mentors for my swop over to outdoors but it was still a steep learning curve thats why one must constantly keep abreast of things new ideas new publications etc but it has to be kept simple for the newbie too much full on information seems to put them off .
Personally my maintenance routine is weekly because of that lack of root plant but most UK Koi keepers like to keep their ponds deviod of plants anyway as Koi are plant wreckers

rgrds

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

You both hit on why I said those variables ... with our pond, under normal circumstances, we have enough water volume and plants, plus filtration to really not need much for official water changes (add in the water swaps with heavy rain, good water circulation, and a predetermined place for the pond to over flow) ... As I say this, we are in need of a water change, doing one right now ... plans got changed a bit due to weather, but drained out 1000-1200 gallons (pond size is 8500-9000 gallons), and refilling now. I incorrectly thought the water was dark from fine muck, which isnt totally incorrect .. it is fine muck, but it isnt from the pond ... We have a "dirt issue" in the yard, and tons of dirt has been getting blown into the pond ... need to get it out ... the little fines filter worked just fine for the normal pond stuff, but is not working for the massive amounts of dirt being blown in ... til we get the DIRT issues in the YARD taken care of, we'll be doing a few water changes I am sure, but this is NOT the norm for us. Just dealing with a variable.

Capewind I know hat there is a way of clearingg up a large aquarium whiich has a cloudy appearance it sort of binds the dirt to it and is sucked into the filter clearing it within 24 hours , I wonder if they do pond size bottles , let me check but it'll be wednesday before I can do anything

rgrds

Dave

 

[capewind]

You are scaring me Dave LOL ... always looking to learn something new, but adding something to the pond to handle dirt really sounds scarey to my minimilistic views ... From day 1 of building the pond, hubby has planned to build a filter meant to pull solids but hasnt gotten to it yet ... I get some of the terms mixed up ... Im going to call it is sediment tank (something like a 55 gallon barrel, where the crap falls to the bottom of the barrel to pull fine materials out of the water) ... Under normal circumstances, a simple clothes basket filled with pillow stuffing gets it out of the pond, and is clear to the bottom. The area surrounding the pond is still bare dirt, and some gets blown in regularly, and the pillow stuffing was keeping up ... since hubby dug the next pond (still a big hole in the ground) and has a mountain of dirt right there too, a LOT of dirt has been getting blown in. Add to the problem the pump and the shape of the pond keeps it all stirred up (good circulation, no dead spots) ... if we shut the pump off, the dirt settles to the bottom after a few hours, and visibility is pretty good for the top area of water ... turn pump back on, and a cloudy muddy mess ... think in terms of a big bucket of water. Throw a shovel full of dirt into the bucket. No agitation, and the dirt settles to the bottom ... stir it up, and no more visibility ... If we didnt still have so much exposed dirt near the pond, I would be tempted to drain the pond and start fresh and clean but that is a nasty method I dont want to do (ie, dont want the pond to have to "start over" ....

 

[Dave 54]

Oh Capewind so sorrry to scare you just trying to apply my Aquarium knowledge to your pond thats all lol.
Hows about building a wall around the pond it would at least keep some of it out , I freaked tonight when our upstairs neighbour and pond builder started strimming the grass on his part of the garden, he realized to late that he was spreading grass all over the netting.
Thankfully the 6mm hexagonal netting kept it out and allowed me to pick the bits off, I then quickly as this beat up old body of mine would allow to pull the polycarbonate sheets over the net so he could strim to his hearts content.
We do get from tme to time sand from the Sahara blowing in but the vortex filter seperates it out.
A Vortex may well be the answer to your problem the dirt would be spun down to the bottom of it and could be bled off

rgrds

Dave

 

[capewind]

The easiest answer is to simply get the next pond in, and do something about all the dirt ... the pond with the issue was basically built above ground ... hubby brought in a pile of dirt to raise the area, and put a hole (the pond) in the middle of it ...

This picture will give you the idea of how the main pond was done above grade ...


This is the rough dig for the next pond, right next to it (and all the dirt that came out of the hole is just out of the picture) ...


The smart thing (PREVEBTION) would have been to already have some type of sediment filter on the pond and not just a basket with pillow stuffing ... raining too hard today for hubby to go to work, so this afternoon he took one of the 55 gallon barrels he had and started to turn into a filter ... just drilling two holes for now on the sides,.. one for a flush valve, and one for a water return back to the pond ... later, if he wants to do something else, the barrel will still be good ... he got the bulkheads in, and an old plastic barrel (on hand) to act as what I THINK you are calling a vortex filter of sorts ... he's now at a stand still as he is out of pvc and the stores are already closed:-(

Only thing I know for sure is between the normal pond muck, and all the dirt, the pond is gross to look at.

 

[Cdsdave]

Hi Dave54. My pond is 2000 gal. With a 4000 gal/ hr Tetra bio filter. The only other filters on it are in my spillway and skimmer. They're screen filters and some Nu- foam. I do get good circulation both on the surface and below but do not have an aerator. So far all the water tests have come back good. The fish seem healthy and happy...hope to keep them that way

 

[Dave 54]

Hi Dave an areator goes along way to putting Oxygen into the pond itsself this is especially useful should you develope algea in your pond during the day it makes Oxygen but goes into reverse in the night, making huge amounts of CO2.
You have to look at it as it basically even though made up of thousands of little plants it is one huge plant a little like our human skin being the largest organ in the body.
Ponds can develope catastophic Oxygen deplteion which is big trouble for our fish so you see areators are a very useful things to have, the large koi ones are the best especially with the multi gang taps that they come with.you can even use airstones in your filtration I have three large filters , two are vortex style the third is a large barrel filter , the vortex style filters each have three large koi airstones in them and the bio filter which is the barrel filter has six airstones .
Our bottom drain has what is known as a spindrifter areator on it supplied soley by another koi airpump, we even have a back up 700 watt generator on standby incase of power cuts .
In reality you are covering all eventualities plus giving your fish a healthy enviroment.

rgrds

Dave