Waterfall is enough right?

[Shoestring Ponder]

Oh buckry, I am so very sorry to hear you lost another fish! I so hope you get on top of these deaths and find out what the problem is. Golly. We had a situation 2 seasons ago witih numerous deaths for no apparent reason. Nothing was newly introduced to the pond that year other than we had 95% plant coverage. We floated hula hoops to provide empty areas to feed and see the fish.The water was nice and clear, you could see your fingertips if you put your arm in the water up to your elbow. For some reason, we lost close to 1 1/2 dzn fish. They would stay towards the top and the next day, dead. We took samples in and the samples all were good. Finally we started to remove some of the water lettuce, actually quite a bit of water lettuce and the deaths stopped. Afterwards I had thought maybe the fact that I had fed the GF catfish food as it was less expensive then GF food because DH was unemployed at the time. I'm still am not sure why the deaths, but we did not lose any over winter nor last season. It sure was depressing as I scooped 1 or 2 fish out of the pond and sometimes more on a daily basis. Keeping fingers crossed that you find the issue w your fish.

:goldfish:

 

[j.w]

That sounds kinda like an oxygen problem SP. Maybe the plants were robbing the pond of it or putting off too much carbon dioxide or whatever it is they do. Fish couldn't breath.

 

[buckry]

Yeah, I'm at like 10% plant coverage, looking forward to getting more, but afraid now of having too much. Didn't realize it was such a fine line.

 

[j.w]

You can have 50 - 75% coverage and be fine. I like to have quite a few plants tucked in around my pond rocks w/ their roots growing and sprawling out across the waters surface sucking up nutrients which cleans the water of excess nitrates. I've got quite a few Water Iris w/ lots of roots stuck in the rocks. Have some sedges also in a pot and a floating ring that have masses of roots. And some floating Ludwigia and Creeping Primrose also that have a lot of roots. The more roots the more sucking the poo out of the water!

 

[buckry]

I have:

Hyacinth
Hardy Lilies
Creeping Susan
Some Small Grass
Cattails
Something that grows in my goldfish pond, very similar to creeping susan
And finally I put mint into some floating baskets

All are doing their best to get started, but I don't think any are too terribly effective yet.

 

[sissy]

The thing is plants use up a lot of oxygen at night .

 

[j.w]

Aeration is important!

 

[buckry]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure the 4000gph niagra falls I built is still running all night lone. I mean, there's no waterfall gnomes that come out and drink pond water right off the falls right?

I'm not relying on plants only to aerate during the day and then having nothing all night long, I have a mllion things going on 24/7. The only pond device I haven't bought so far is a heater. There are no heaters in my pond, but I have 1 or 2 of everything else, and in some cases even 3.

 

[crsublette]

Hmmm, I would take a water sample to a Petsmart type retail store to find out the dissolved oxygen content, if they do that. Cheapest way to do get that test done. I figure you can easily compensate with a simple airstone.

Small Koi can survive quite well in 3~5 mg/L. Bigger Koi supposedly need 7mg/L yet 90 F degree water can only maintain oxygen saturation up to 7mg/L. ((dissolved oxygen))

 

[buckry]

Oh, ok, that's a great idea. I'm positive the test will be fine, but it will be very comforting to have the data to back that up.

 

[Waterbug]

Water sample in a jar, shaken for 20 mins in the car, temp increased...I don't think that would tell you the dissolved oxygen of the pond.

 

[buckry]

What if I walk the jar to PetSmart really really slowly?

Actually, my town is so small we only have Walmart for pet stuff. We have a stand alone pet store that opened last year, but they only sell dog food. It's really confusing as a business, and as a pond owner, totally useless. So my chances of this place being able to test water is very slim, and I'm sure it's zero at Walmart. So basically I'm on my own, and I'm pretty sure we've all agreed I've got plenty of O2, 4000gph waterfall in a 3400g pond, plus aerators, and plants. I believe that's the definition of "good to go."

 

[JohnHuff]

I've read this thread over a couple of days and it seems most likely that it's the fish. Why don't you try getting fish from another dealer and seeing if they will be ok? This way you can cross fish off the list if they also die. If they survive, then you know it's the first dealer's fish.

After all, your water testing is all a-ok for the regular stuff.

 

[buckry]

Thanks for that John, that's what I'm hoping for. I sure hate to think I did something wrong. It's really hard to for sure know it's the fish, but I just can't find any other conclusion to jump to.

I ordered 10 more fish from the place I got my first 12 from in March. I'm going to QT them in an aquarium in the basement for a month this time so that should help. When I finally add them to the pond in August, I should be completely sure they are fine.