Green Pond

[cs091]

Hi everyone,

My 1000gal pond (with 6 4" koi , 6 assorted 6" goldfish and lots of newts) had to have a major clean this spring (for various reasons mainly to do with large lily deciding to go walkies around the pond) and this, along with the horrible weather we've been getting, has caused a few problems.

First was the blanket weed. I treated with Clover leaf, which seems to have sorted that out. I was left with a brown muddy pond, due to soil being washed in by torrential rain.

Last weekend I put a dose of pond clear in.

The pond is no longer brown, but green!!!!

I'm due to have the filter replaces this winter/early spring as the one I've got is pants. It's one that fills from the bottom, goes through some plastic pieces, three layers of sponge and boxes of pebbles (from the bottom to the top). Then returns to the pond via a waterfall. Okay for biological treatment but practically no mechanical filtration and no-where to put an IV.

Plant wise there is a new lily - not doing much good at shading the pond yet - and about 10 water hyacinths. At one side of the pond is a shallow area full of irises.

I've had a good look today and I think I've got fry. Some 3/4 inch and some about 1/4 inch. They probably love the green water and it is no doubt a reason that they have survived.

Sooo to the question. I am best leaving the pond to find its own balance?


Thanks

Cathy

 

[GoldLenny]

Hi Cathy,

Since you have a nice detailed post, I'll go through and answer it paragraph by paragraph for simplicity.

Hi everyone,

My 1000gal pond (with 6 4" koi , 6 assorted 6" goldfish and lots of newts) had to have a major clean this spring (for various reasons mainly to do with large lily deciding to go walkies around the pond) and this, along with the horrible weather we've been getting, has caused a few problems.

Your 1,000G pond is the bare minimum sized pond for koi and is only capable of handling three koi. They need 300G each as a minimum. If you think you are having ecology issues with the pond now, wait till those fish start getting bigger (although, ultimately they will be stunted due to the overstocking issue that will happen with too many fish) putting out even more waste and CO2.

First was the blanket weed. I treated with Clover leaf, which seems to have sorted that out. I was left with a brown muddy pond, due to soil being washed in by torrential rain.

You should always test your pH and KH after heavy rains to make sure your pH does not crash. Keeping your KH between 7-10dH will usually keep the water buffered enough to prevent pH crashes and the fish like a higher pH and KH.

Last weekend I put a dose of pond clear in.

The pond is no longer brown, but green!!!!

Try to avoid chemical fixes in the future. There are basic ecology issues that take place in a pond and as long as you keep those things in check, you don't need all the chemicals that the stores try to sell you.

What are your water chemistry parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH (early A.M. and P.M.), KH, phosphate (if available), temperature (high and low).

I'm due to have the filter replaces this winter/early spring as the one I've got is pants. It's one that fills from the bottom, goes through some plastic pieces, three layers of sponge and boxes of pebbles (from the bottom to the top). Then returns to the pond via a waterfall. Okay for biological treatment but practically no mechanical filtration and no-where to put an IV.

Actually, that filter system does provide biological (plastic pieces and other filter media) and mechanical (sponges). The other thing you could add is a box filter of bio-media at the top (behind) of the waterfall (if it can fit) and then remove the plastic pieces and pebbles from your main filter and put them in the waterfall filter. Then you should be able to add more mechanical filtration to your existing filster system. Also, if you choose to have a UV filter, you could plumb the UV into that same box filter between your main and the waterfall.

Plant wise there is a new lily - not doing much good at shading the pond yet - and about 10 water hyacinths. At one side of the pond is a shallow area full of irises.

The more plants the better. They help with all phases of the ecology of a pond.

I've had a good look today and I think I've got fry. Some 3/4 inch and some about 1/4 inch. They probably love the green water and it is no doubt a reason that they have survived.

Yep, the green water is actually good for the fish but people usually don't like it. As long as the water is buffered properly and aerated/filtered properly, green water will not cause problems. Now, if there is inadequate KH and aeration, you could end up with high CO2 levels at night which could case respiration problems for the fish. The downside of fry in your pond is that you are already overstocked so the fry will add even more to your bioload.

Also, by having Koi and Goldfish in the same pond, you likely will have some mutts but hopefully you'll have some fish to sell or give to other pond keepers. You also need to re-think your long term stocking so you will not have stunting, health and ecology problems in your pond.

Sooo to the question. I am best leaving the pond to find its own balance?

God and Mother Nature always do it best in the long run so our goal is to try and mimic nature with our ponds ecology. In nature, overstocking issues are handled by predators and illnesses that wipe out a large percentage of the overstocking. Since we don't want either of those in our ponds, we need to manage the stocking from the start to avoid the overstocking issue.

Thanks

Cathy

Your welcome... although I'm not sure how much of what I had to say is what you wanted to hear... especially on the overstocking issue.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask away. Here is a page of decent articles on ponds and DIY pond projects. http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/index.html