Strange request but makes sense

[VanDiesil]

OK this may seem strange to some of you, but I don't want the water in the pond to be crystal clear. Over the past 5 days, the water in the new pond has cleared a lot, which has started to affect the fish in their behaviour. When they went in, the water had about 6" visibility, and after a day in the pond they were feeding like piranhas when food was introduced. As the pond has started to clear, the fish have become a lot more "spooky" with regards to feeding and moving about. As soon as I walk by the pond, they head straight for the deeper water, where a couple of days ago they would follow me around. They have also been more suspicious of feeding over the past couple of days & last night I could only get them taking food as the sun was setting.

I have today turned the UV off and removed the white filter matting from the filters, to try to get a bit more colour back in to the water, but is there a way of keeping the water coloured but without resorting to allowing algae blooms to do so, and to keep the water parameters good for the fish and filter bacteria?

 

[addy1]

Mine are always spooky in the spring before the plants start to grow. Just stand near the water, let them get used to how you look and that you mean food. My gf always came running once they got used to me.

But to get algae to grow, can't help, turning off the uv might make the green water My water stays clear all of the time.

 

[VanDiesil]

The fish went from a crystal clear pond (other than blanket weed) and they were skittish in there when it came to feeding, but when I moved them to the new pond at the weekend because of the pump issues, the water was murky with about 6" visibility using Polarised glasses, and they completely changed in their behaviour in that they seemed much happier with the extra colour in the water. As it has cleared a lot over the last couple of days, they have gone back to their "usual" skittish activity.

I could add some aquatic peat to the water, but that will obviously settle on the bottom of the pond or clog up the pre-filters. The additional colour in the water will also allow the fish to be less visible to cats, birds, etc, which gives e more peace of mind as I haven't seen 3 or 4 of the smaller koi that were moved since Sunday (no evidence of them jumping out or hiding anywhere in the pond so thinking that a predator may have been about).

 

[Tula]

Some people add color to their ponds. I don't know much about it, assume it's a liquid? It provides a blue appearance that is appealing to some people, it also darkens the water....which sounds like what you're trying to achieve?

 

[Priscilla]

You are one of the few people on this site looking for darker water. Good luck in finding it. It seems easy enough to do (at least in my case, I'm constantly fighting it). But of course if you really want it, it will be hard to do. Always the case.

Just a thought on your fish, maybe something is spooking them at night or during the day? My fish are all pretty much new (the oldest being with me for 4 months) and they are crazy friendly. We don't have anything that would bother them at night, but I do have herons visit some days, and I can always tell when the heron has been around as they are quite skittish.

 

[VanDiesil]

It is definitely the colour of the water. The old pond that they were in until Saturday was crystal clear and now the new pond has cleared up a lot over the past few days they are back to being skittish again. When the water had colour in it from sediment/algae/etc they were completely different in their behaviour - much more active and feeding more confidently.

A friend of mine never turns his UV on and has constantly coloured water (you cannot see 4" down in to it), but he has left it like this so the fish are not constantly trying to spawn when the weather warms up, and his fish when someone walks by the pond, come to the to and start mouthing and crashing over each other thinking they are going to be fed.

I may just bite the bullet and put some clay in at one end and hope that it doesn't clog the pumps, but don't want to do this if it is going to affect the parameters of the water.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

As the pond has started to clear, the fish have become a lot more "spooky" with regards to feeding and moving about. As soon as I walk by the pond, they head straight for the deeper water, where a couple of days ago they would follow me around. They have also been more suspicious of feeding over the past couple of days & last night I could only get them taking food as the sun was setting.

I wouldn't expect that behavior to last forever. Because of the clear water, they can see much better, and they're probably smart enough to know that predators can see them, so they're being more careful. I'd guess they'll probably get used to it.

 

[VanDiesil]

I wouldn't expect that behavior to last forever. Because of the clear water, they can see much better, and they're probably smart enough to know that predators can see them, so they're being more careful. I'd guess they'll probably get used to it.

Apart from Saturday through to Monday, they have ALWAYS been like it (for the past 2 years!!). Once the colour was in the water, they were fine. No colour in the water, they are skittish and spooked by any movement (even a leaf blowing in to the pond causes them to shoot about), hence why I want the colour in the water! I don't want to be able to see the fish every second of the day. I want the fish to be comfortable and with as little stress as possible - which is only obtained by the coloured water at present.

 

[sissy]

you could use pond dye

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Apart from Saturday through to Monday, they have ALWAYS been like it (for the past 2 years!!)..

that's really odd. I wonder why they are so paranoid.

 

[dieselplower]

Turning off the UV as you mentioned could allow the green water to return. As noted, you could also add blue pond dye to see if that helps, BUT, blue pond dye is supposed to block sunlight from getting to the water, which is something the algae would need to grow. I have also heard, however, that too much Sun will kill off algae because it is afterall, UV.

 

[VanDiesil]

I don't want algae though. What I am looking for is suspended sediment without affecting the water parameters. I am now thinking of maybe putting clay in mesh bags and suspending them in the filter boxes to add the colour (similar to rain washing mud off the bank of natural waters), purely to give some sort of confidence to the fish. The non-ornamental carp I have came from a seriously coloured naturally filled stock pond (you wouldn't know fish were in there until feeding time) and obviously going from that sort of clarity to crystal clear water has thrown them completely out of balance.

 

[dieselplower]

So you dont want green water? You just want a lot of debris floating in it? Well sure just throw a bunch of dirt in it, keep it circulating and dont use a filter....

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I don't want algae though. What I am looking for is suspended sediment without affecting the water parameters.

Single cell algae (green water) is actually a healthier way to go for the fish and looks natural compared to brown murky water. Another suggestion I have is that if you have a lot of surface water showing, buy plants that cover it lilies, water shamrocks, water hyacinth, anything that covers the surface. That should give them a better sense of security. Some people have fish tunnels and they say having those tunnels can make fish more brave because they know they have a safe point.

 

[VanDiesil]

Green water would be ok I suppose, just a little reluctant due to blanket weed issues in the past with the old pond. Going to take a while longer though to do now as woke up this morning to find that a 1 1/4" pipe had split during the night and left me with 6" of water in the pond and 3 of the 4 pumps exposed running dry for God knows how many hours!!!! Wife's flowers got watered well but that has annoyed me a lot and now got to dig up the old pipe to replace the whole length to be sure as it split 3 metres away from the filter box. Only thing I can think of that would have caused this was that there was a small earthquake 15 miles away at 7am this morning which may have moved some of the rocks around the pipe and crushed it causing the split (was where it was routed over the top edge of the pond and "secured" between a couple of rocks). Just hope that it was only a couple of hours that the plants were left in the "open".