Where Do I Go From Here?

[Nyboy]

Yesterday I found all my fish dead except for one who was being quarantined. How do I make a safe pond for my fish ? Empty all the water, wash down pond and start over ? How do I treat the filter since not sure what might have killed them? While I am at it might move pond right now in full sun. Is shade better even though it would mean pine needles and leafs falling in water?

 

[mgmine]

I would do what you are saying and empty it, clean it and refill it. How long did you have the pond and fish before they died? It sounds like a smaller pond did you use regular tap water and if so did you treat it first it? As far as the leaves and pine needles I wouldn't worry about them. Shade will keep the water cooler which is good. Hot water could have been your problem or lack of oxygen like in a fish bowl.

 

[Lisak1]

I felt so bad for you reading your post. What a disheartening situation.

The first step has to be to figure out what happened. I know you said you put a plant potted with organic soil in the pond just prior. What brand of soil? Maybe we can start there.

Did anything else happen near the pond? Grass fertilized? Any kind of weed killer applied? Do you live in an area where they might have been spraying for mosquitoes or other pests? Just trying to rule out any other toxic event. When all the fish die like that at one time, you have to assume they were poisoned somehow. You don't have any neighbors that abhor you, do you? Did you use any chemical treatments in the pond - algae killer perhaps?

As for your filter and starting over with fresh water, it seems that would be the judicious approach. You'd hate to get it all back together and find there was something toxic in the water. Sun or shade is really not as big a deal as one might think, since ponds do fine in both locations. They do have separate challenges - as you mentioned, you may have more debris in a shady area, but a sunny area may need more creative shade protection.

You'll get through this and we'll all learn something from your experience.

 

[DutchMuch]

Ya know, i know this one guy named ED who has 2 ponds, one is for his night bloomers and lilys, the other is for his fish. Both relatively close to each other. The lily pond has got a large rock bottom and has alot of good algae growth in there. Clear water to. The fish pond has rocks at the bottom with magnolia leaves (and some other im sure) all over the bottom of it. Looks so pretty.

 

[Nyboy]

Thanks I do have a thread in fish section titled All My Fish Dead Today. I did 2 things to the pond day before I added three 5 gallon pails of city water to pond, treated water with new bottle of dechorlinater (sp) I potted up a bare rooted Canna, I used Miracle Gro soil did not realize it had water storing crystals in it. Completely submerged pot under water. I live in city with chain link fenced backyard, on good terms with all neighbors, I use no chemicals in my yard. Yesterday was very hot because Sunday I did not check pond till early afternoon found all fish dead. Did API water test results PH 7.4 Ammonia 0-.25 ( color closer to 0) Nitrite .50 - 1.0 Nitrate 0. When getting water for test noticed color change of water yellowish brown tint. Water has always been colorless till yesterday.

 

[Lisak1]

I would guess the color change is from the soil - probably leached tannins into the water. Not a big deal. But I would bet those water storing crystals were the culprit. Like I said in your other thread - I don't trust Miracle-Gro products at all. The word "organic" means something different to Monsanto.

 

[Faebinder]

Your nitrites level indicate that your filter/pond was not cycled for the amount of fish you have in it. Or you may have overloaded the pond...

Can you give us details please? Number of fish, total gallons of the pond, how old is the pond, what speed is the pump sending water to the filter.

 

[Mmathis]

Yes, @Nyboy, as @Faebinder brought up.......to start over, please give us a complete run-down of your pond: fill in the blanks....you can cut & paste....or not. It's just helpful for us to have the info available in one spot while we try to figure everything out.

• Liner or pre-form
• Sunken or above ground
• When was it first set up
• Dimensions
• How many gallons
• Type and size of pump
• Type of filter
• How many (and sizes) of fish
• Any chemicals added
• How often are they fed
• Is there water movement, IOW, how is water returned from pump/filter (surface agitation is important)
• Water temperature (can buy floating thermometers)
• Anything in the bottom of pond: rocks, gravel
• City water or well water
• can you post a picture of the potting media label

 

[Nyboy]

Pond is preformed plastic I picked up at yardsale I believe 300 gallons. Was filled beginning of May. 6 small goldfish filter is a new pondmaster 190. Only chemical added is stress coat when I add city water maybe 15 gallons at most. Have hornwart, cat tails, iris, duckweed,creeping charlie and water canna all plants are in water with tops out water

 

[Faebinder]

Yep not cycled.. pond and filter are too new to add fish. Good news is that it will be safe in another week. I would add 1 fish a week.

 

[Nyboy]

unfortunately I added the fish then found this site. Total newbie that caused the fish their lives. @Faebinder are you saying I should keep old water that fish died in?

 

[PossumsDad]

We have all been there when we first started. Don't beat yourself up.

 

[Tula]

You mentioned it was very hot, what was the temperature? A pond of 300 gallons could heat up quickly, especially in direct sun.

 

[Mmathis]

unfortunately I added the fish then found this site. Total newbie that caused the fish their lives. @Faebinder are you saying I should keep old water that fish died in?

I wouldn't keep that water, esp since it has the potting mixture stuff in it. I would empty and thoroughly rinse it out, then start over with fresh water, with just one fish or 2 fish. You could use the fish you have in QT. What I did when my pond was new was to do frequent water checks and I wrote all of those results down. I probably did a test every other day, but that's just me. It was actually kind of cool to watch the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate change as the pond cycles! I even drew out a graph, and though my levels were never high [low fish load at the time and 3000 g pond], you could SEE when the ammonia started to rise, then peaked, then started down, and when the nitrites started to rise, etc.

You mentioned that you use Stress Coat..... And why do you use it? Are you on city water? You probably have chlorine AND chloramines in your water. I don't know if Stress Coat will work on these chemicals, so you need to find a product that does. Look on the label and it will tell you.

 

[Nyboy]

City water has chlorine use stress coat to remove it