tested my pond water

[Johnny d.]

Hi everyone, tested my pond with the new master test kit from pet smart and all my levels were at 0 ppm. My ph was a little high at 8.4. I'm going to get a bottle of ph down to lower. As of now I have 4 med goldfish and one small koi. All are doing fine. I also added a small bottle of bacteria starter to my filter to jump start the good bacteria. Don't know much about the high ph and hope that's not why my fish were dying. Any input is welcomed.

 

[Nepen]

I'm glad to hear that the water is fine. Did you do water change before testing? I dont know about high pH, I thought goldfish can tolerate high pH. The problem with pH is it fluctuation, if you have high pH and is stable, it's safe than having it goes up and down.

 

[Johnny d.]

I'm glad to hear that the water is fine. Did you do water change before testing? I dont know about high pH, I thought goldfish can tolerate high pH. The problem with pH is it fluctuation, if you have high pH and is stable, it's safe than having it goes up and down.

I just read that ph as high as mine can kill fish. So I will treat and try to lower. That maybe what was behind my fish kill.

 

[Nepen]

try testing the water that you put in the pond (I mean the source) and see what is the pH there too. If it's tap water, then I think you have to put it in a glass for a day before you test it, something like that... pH crash can also kill fish. I put crushed oyster shell in my stream and bog to help maintain pH level.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I don't know what you read or where you read it, but Koi and Goldfish can tolerate pH as high as 9.0. Do Not start tampering with pH levels. pH stability is more important than actual levels. Over time, the general aging of the pond will slowly lower pH levels, but we are talking months, maybe years. Until then, let Nature take care of itself.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I second that you should NOT mess with your ph and try to lower it. A level of 8.4 for goldfish is fine and by playing around with it you will harm your fish and possibly even kill them.

Have you tested your ammonia and nitrite levels in the pond?

 

[Mmathis]

Johnny, don't worry about your pH. Just monitor it regularly, and check out posts regarding "KH." The main thing is that you want your pH to remain stable (IOW, not be bouncing around). Your fish will adapt.

 

[Mmathis]

Like Nepen suggested, check all of the same parameters on your "source" water -- that is your baseline. I keep a journal of all my water tests (pond, QT, inside tank, and source water). Then I add in things like interventions, or if I recently added fish, etc.

 

[Johnny d.]

I second that you should NOT mess with your ph and try to lower it. A level of 8.4 for goldfish is fine and by playing around with it you will harm your fish and possibly even kill them.

Have you tested your ammonia and nitrite levels in the pond?

Yes I did and all were at 0 ppm. Everything else was fine.

 

[Johnny d.]

try testing the water that you put in the pond (I mean the source) and see what is the pH there too. If it's tap water, then I think you have to put it in a glass for a day before you test it, something like that... pH crash can also kill fish. I put crushed oyster shell in my stream and bog to help maintain pH level.

I will say this, I live in a little town called La place, Louisiana and we had a very bad quality of water, so a few months back, they double treated the water with chlorine to kill the bad bacteria. So I'm careful to treat for chlorine when adding water.

 

[sissy]

My ph for koi and goldfish always runs mid 8 and up to 9 with no problems and been like that for 11 years even after pond rebuild .PH of my well before really heavy rains is 8 and higher and a couple of days of heavy rain brings it down to 7 .My water is filtered through a whole house filter and runs about 6 .I use my old screw on manual filter I took off my well and use a carbon filter in it to fill the pond from my outside hydrant .It was one of those filters from tractor supply less than 30 dollars and just screws onto the hose and i turn water on slow .We have a lot of iron in our water here and that can cause problems also

 

[Nepen]

I will say this, I live in a little town called La place, Louisiana and we had a very bad quality of water, so a few months back, they double treated the water with chlorine to kill the bad bacteria. So I'm careful to treat for chlorine when adding water.

That's unfortunate that they had to do that. Do you know if they treated the water with Chloramine? I just learn about this word when I joined this forum Some of the de-chlorinate only get rid of chlorine and not Chloramine.

For some people on here, their source water has trace of ammonia. People've been wondering why they tested high ammonia in their pond and after looking at the source water, they found that their already has ammonia in the source water. So eventhough they did water change to the pond, ammonia will get in the pond anyway. Same with pH level. Some people source water has low or high pH, it's something that you should know so if your source water has low pH (acidic) that can harm the fish. Or if you have high pH in your source water, and in the pond your pH is lower than the soruce, when doing water change, that difference can harm the fish also.

 

[Dave 54]

Whoa hold on here Meyer and Maria, from what I can remember about Ph is that each species of fish [such as koi or goldfish], has its own very narrow range of Ph preferances anything outside of this will cause health problems even death for our fish .
Nephen you have one half of the equasion there what about alkalinity ?
"Koi and Goldfish prefare a range of 7.0-8.5 Ph nothing higher or lower" ..
It is a fact that high Acidity or alkalinity may cause physical damage to your fish such as damage to gills , skin or eyes , as such prolonged exposure to sub-lethal can cause stress , an increase in mucus being produced also epithelial hyperlasia which is a thickening of the skin and gills, this often ends up with fish mortalities .
Fish also need to maintain their own internal Ph so even small fluctuations of their blood Ph could prove fatal for the fish .
High/Low external water Ph can influence and effect blood Ph which results in either acidosis/alkalosis of the blood.
We should also bear in mind that as well as fish nitrifying bacteria in the filter also have a narrow range of preference between 7.5 and 8.6 Ph.
So in reality the Ph level of 9.0 over a prolonged period will do damage risk alkalosis of the blood as well as cause mortalities
So it has to come down somewhat within the ranges of 7.0-8.5 ph or we may well see further fish mortalities in Johnny's pond .
Johnny can you buy some Microbe_lift PH filterpad innoculat gel and add it to your filter to give it a boost of good bacteria following the instructions to the letter , this will mean stopping and emptying your filter adding the gel to your filter medium whilst no water is in the filter and leave it that way for an hour , then add water to your filter but leave it standing for half an hour before switching your filter on again, the gel makes for rapid colonization of your filter hopefully then everything will drop in place and your Ph etc will settle down making the pond safe for your fish to live in
Johnny I've added a couple of attachments for you and a koi health chart .....as you can see your water is in between baking soda and detergent at this moment in time

Dave

 

[Nepen]

Nephen you have one half of the equasion there what about alkalinity ?


Dave

Haha, I forgot what it called (alkalinity, now i remember!) and I'm focusing more on the pH fluctuation
And because I had pH crashed before (went so low) I killed so much fish that day so I always remember!!

 

[Johnny d.]

Haha, I forgot what it called (alkalinity, now i remember!) and I'm focusing more on the pH fluctuation
And because I had pH crashed before (went so low) I killed so much fish that day so I always remember!!

For the time being, I'll keep an eye on everything and let nature do her thing. Pond looks great today and fish seem happy.