PH deadly??

[blessedfamily]

My friend has a preformed pond(150gallons or so? and she can not seem to keep fish alive in it..so today I went over and tested her water for her and her PH level was 9.0..not good color lol.. I have never tested my water so I have no idea what to do or if the PH is her problem..any suggestions? What else should we be looking at? She is on city water,no rock on bottom..she did recently drain the pond to take all the rock out of the bottom and then let it sit for 2 weeks..after that I gave her two fish and within a month they were both floating,i'm stumped.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fishin4cars]

PH is just one test Amber, To really know what's going on you need to have PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, General hardness and Carbonate hardness, Also need one test done on pond and one on the tap water so we can tell what is coming in through fill ups and what is coming going on in the pond. First thing I can think of is make sure there is no cinder blocks in the pond for plants to sit on, 9.0 is high, going to have to locate the source of what is causing the water to become that high.

 

[blessedfamily]

Thanks Larkin, I have all that test stuff so I will go over and get all the readings..As far as I know there are no rocks inside just the pump and flowers,so how do you get the PH level down? Thanks for you help,will get those #'s for ya.

 

[sissy]

what does she have the plants planted in .meaning what kind of dirt or soil that could be raising ph .I bought a pond plant last year (it was a papyrus )not thinking I just planted it and my ph spiked in about 24 hours and the only thing I could think of was the plant and took it out 24 hours later ph was down .I repotted the plant and no problems after .

 

[fishin4cars]

Like Sissy said, it could be as simple as a plant media, a rock or cement block, If it's any of those the removal of what is causing the PH to climb may drop back down and stabilize in a better range. If not there are PH down drops, and peat that will drop it down, some add acid but I have never liked using it myself.

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Amber, What type of fish died? PH of 9 is not a big deal for goldfish, but it's trouble for koi. If goldfish died then something else is wrong. Plants will lower the PH, and anything made of cement or limestone that comes in contact with the water will raise it.

 

[KennethO]

I'd take a look at what the plants are in. Most people use pea pebbles in the pots. I could see a beginner making a simple mistake and using crushed limestone or something of the sort. Also take a look around and see if any runoff is getting in.

Test the tap waters ph and tell us what it's at.

Good luck.

 

[blessedfamily]

She lost all her fish last winter so come spring she drained it and took all the rock off the bottom..refilled it and let it sit for 2 weeks..she has a few water hyacinths and a water lily-I then gave her two goldfish that lived maybe a month before she found both floating. I am waiting on her to email me her test results..thanks everyone for all the suggestions on what to look for.

 

[CometKeith]

Amber, It doesn't sound like PH is the problem. Goldfish can do okay with PH's over 10. Is she getting run off from her lawn or garden into the pond? Maybe some poison is finding it's way into it.