Water change

[snoozer]

Well, this is turning into a nightmare year for my pond. which I have had for almost 20 years. I have lost count of how many fish I have lost and how many more I can still see frozen in the ice. With the warmer weather we have had for a few days, ice is starting to melt and the smell of death is horrible. I am thinking of doing a water change, hoping to keep whatever is still alive in there going. My thought is everything is dying so maybe it will help. Is this something I can do now? Will doing this cause more issues? I have 2 pumps bubbling at the surface and 4 air stones that sit on the pond shelf at 12 inches. I am in southeast Wisconsin. The pond is 25x35 and 30 inches deep.

 

[JRS]

Bummer, sorry to hear. If it smells that bad, I would assume high ammonia levels so what do you have to lose? Do you have a kit to test the water? I would at least start a slow exchange from the hose, weather permitting, to get some fresh water in there.

I have a down spout draining into my pond and have had snowmelt and the recent rains filling and flushing my pond. Scooped a bunch of dead green frogs during the previous thaw (move in every year and die every year even with a deicer) otherwise my fish seem to be doing ok.

 

[snoozer]

Bummer, sorry to hear. If it smells that bad, I would assume high ammonia levels so what do you have to lose? Do you have a kit to test the water? I would at least start a slow exchange from the hose, weather permitting, to get some fresh water in there.

I have a down spout draining into my pond and have had snowmelt and the recent rains filling and flushing my pond. Scooped a bunch of dead green frogs during the previous thaw (move in every year and die every year even with a deicer) otherwise my fish seem to be doing ok.

The first thing I did was test the water. Ammonia and nitrites were at 0. We had a really warm fall until 2 days before Thanksgiving. That Wednesday, the temp dropped like a rock and we had 40-50mph winds that were blowing leaves and locust seed pods all over. The pond froze over that night and I am thinking that may be the issue, but with the ammonia at zero maybe not. I pumped out 6 inches of water and ran the hose to refill. I have had the 4 koi for a long time and i pulled two out. I am so sad.

 

[GBBUDD]

The first thing I did was test the water. Ammonia and nitrites were at 0. We had a really warm fall until 2 days before Thanksgiving. That Wednesday, the temp dropped like a rock and we had 40-50mph winds that were blowing leaves and locust seed pods all over. The pond froze over that night and I am thinking that may be the issue, but with the ammonia at zero maybe not. I pumped out 6 inches of water and ran the hose to refill. I have had the 4 koi for a long time and i pulled two out. I am so sad.

I find it impossible smell is that bad and there's zero ammonia. I suspect your test kit is outdated or possibly even strips. Either way id get a new test kit.

Secondly. I'd get those deD fish out. Forti
Fortunately the. Cold slows decaying IN A BIG WAY. BUT IF THE SMELL IS THAT BAD ACTION IS NEEDED. Regardless how thick the ice is you can use a drill and say a long wood 1 1/3 paddle bit so you can insert a strong air flowing the water. In a day or two you will have a large hole where the air is running under the ice.. now ifbyour temps are in the teens or lower you'll need a stronger and stronger air pump to do the job.

A water change imo is a must drain your pond down a foot or so and then placed a garden hose is the pond but add the water slowly . Not a trickle but a gentle flow so the temps dont change quickly. That can kill fish even faster than a high ammonia.. make sure to check your pH.

Wish yeah luck .

I haven't seen my fish in a month we have had much colder than usual weather this year

 

[Lisak1]

Ugh. That's horrible! We had a year from H E L L when we lost 12 big koi. Luckily we discovered the issue in time to get them out as soon as we were able before the pond thawed completely. We had to chisel a few of them out of the ice, but they were all frozen pretty hard so no odor or decay. Funny story - I laid the dead fish in my garden until I could get rid of them (I wasn't really sure how at that point since the ground was still frozen) and a family of raccoons found them - frozen delight. I actually didn't feel too bad about that - not a total waste anyway.

 

[snoozer]

Ugh. That's horrible! We had a year from H E L L when we lost 12 big koi. Luckily we discovered the issue in time to get them out as soon as we were able before the pond thawed completely. We had to chisel a few of them out of the ice, but they were all frozen pretty hard so no odor or decay. Funny story - I laid the dead fish in my garden until I could get rid of them (I wasn't really sure how at that point since the ground was still frozen) and a family of raccoons found them - frozen delight. I actually didn't feel too bad about that - not a total waste anyway.

The ice is only about 2 inches thick right now. Too thin to walk on and too thick to push on with a pole to break. it's almost 50 right now so I am hoping a couple more hours of warm and sun helps make it more brittle so I can get out the bodies I can see. i put the fish I have gotten out near my burn pit, and they have been disappearing. Something is having a midnight snack.

 

[sissy]

can really ice cold water effect the test kits also . Over the years I would test in the winter and blazing hot days in the summer and always wondered about that . I asked the big pond building store in NC but they said the never really could tell me honestly if there is a differnce in the test kits working or not ,They never even really thought about that and they could not find any really reliable info on it either . My sister and I visited the pond place in NC again this past summer to see the changes they were makinhg since I got an invite letter to the party and I could bring a gust with me . Alot of good info was discussed there and that was my question I asked . They really thought it was a good question to get info and feed back on from both he companies and pond owners

 

[snoozer]

I find it impossible smell is that bad and there's zero ammonia. I suspect your test kit is outdated or possibly even strips. Either way id get a new test kit.

Secondly. I'd get those deD fish out. Forti
Fortunately the. Cold slows decaying IN A BIG WAY. BUT IF THE SMELL IS THAT BAD ACTION IS NEEDED. Regardless how thick the ice is you can use a drill and say a long wood 1 1/3 paddle bit so you can insert a strong air flowing the water. In a day or two you will have a large hole where the air is running under the ice.. now ifbyour temps are in the teens or lower you'll need a stronger and stronger air pump to do the job.

A water change imo is a must drain your pond down a foot or so and then placed a garden hose is the pond but add the water slowly . Not a trickle but a gentle flow so the temps dont change quickly. That can kill fish even faster than a high ammonia.. make sure to check your pH.

Wish yeah luck .

I haven't seen my fish in a month we have had much colder than usual weather this year

Thank you. I did a water change, about 6-7 inches or so. There was a large opening in the ice, 8x8 or so closest to the air stones and small pumps and the rest was only about 2 inches thick. We had several days above freezing, which had made the ice very brittle, so I was able to step on edges and break off fairly large chunks and toss them out. With the edges gone, i was able to hook the ice and drag it into the rocks and break it up. All of the dead fish, at least those I could see have been removed, as well as most of the ice.

I cleaned the impellers on the pond breathers, which were not working at full capacity. This was something that I hadn't noticed. I could hear them gurgling and didn't really look at them. I will be purchasing a stronger air pump for the pond going forward.

The ammonia reagent in my API test kit expires in 2027 so the test should be accurate.

Maybe I am just a really crappy pond keeper that suffocated her fish. I feel like such a loser. Maybe it is time to shut it down and grow more grass.

 

[snoozer]

can really ice cold water effect the test kits also . Over the years I would test in the winter and blazing hot days in the summer and always wondered about that . I asked the big pond building store in NC but they said the never really could tell me honestly if there is a differnce in the test kits working or not ,They never even really thought about that and they could not find any really reliable info on it either . My sister and I visited the pond place in NC again this past summer to see the changes they were makinhg since I got an invite letter to the party and I could bring a gust with me . Alot of good info was discussed there and that was my question I asked . They really thought it was a good question to get info and feed back on from both he companies and pond owners

I never thought of that but it would make sense that the chemical reaction time would be slower with the colder water. I will bring water in and let it get to room temp and test again.

 

[Lisak1]

I see where you are located - you are not far from me. I have heard from a number of local pond keepers that the sudden onset of cold weather lead to fish deaths that they have never experienced before - like fish literally frozen in the ice as if they just didn't have time to react to the sudden cold. I pulled out our very oldest comet a few weeks ago - just up and died. We had noticed on the pond cam that a lot of the fish were much higher/closer to the ice in the pond than they typically would stay. So maybe they just did not adjust as they normally would have with weather that slowly turned cold vs what we experienced this year.

The answer is never more grass for the record!

 

[snoozer]

I see where you are located - you are not far from me. I have heard from a number of local pond keepers that the sudden onset of cold weather lead to fish deaths that they have never experienced before - like fish literally frozen in the ice as if they just didn't have time to react to the sudden cold. I pulled out our very oldest comet a few weeks ago - just up and died. We had noticed on the pond cam that a lot of the fish were much higher/closer to the ice in the pond than they typically would stay. So maybe they just did not adjust as they normally would have with weather that slowly turned cold vs what we experienced this year.

The answer is never more grass for the record!

That makes me feel slightly better knowing I am not the only one. The weather is crazy. Yesterday was 53 degrees and sunny, today it's cloudy, windy and 20 degrees. ugh

 

[Lisak1]

I just realized this was a separate post from your first -

How big is your pond? How many fish do you/did you have? Maybe you just hit a tipping point.

 

[snoozer]

I just realized this was a separate post from your first -

How big is your pond? How many fish do you/did you have? Maybe you just hit a tipping point.

it is 25x35 feet and 30 inches deep. I had 4 koi, about 12 inches long and not sure how many shubukins and comets

 

[Lisak1]

Plenty big, plenty deep. Weird.