Just Realised Our Small Pond Is Vastly Over Stocked

[samyboy]

well my granpas small pond

for about 10 years now he's kept various koi's in a backyard pond..............a bath sunken into the groun filteration is a baby otter pump/fountain with a green geenie filter box i clean it all out with 100% water change 4/5times throughout the summer months.

the water is allways a dark green slimey colour and the filter has to be cleaned on a weekly basis, now i know more about keeping fish (thanks to this forum) i realise is stupidly over stocked im guessing 20-30 fish and about 5 of those are a good 5 inches long rember this is in your avarage sized bath,

so tomorrow ive decided to clean it out and reduce the stock to about the 5 best fish (including the shubunkin that i was keeping in a tank, i love him ) and carry out a weekly 25% water change along with washing the filter in pond water and not in tap water, or does the bacteria thing not apply to ponds?




with a bit of luck we will end up with crystal clear water and fish that will happily come up to feed

 

[tjp]

urmmmmm i wouldnt change the water 100% all ponds go green ... afterawile natunal incects like Daphnia (water fleas), eat the green water and it will become clear our went green for 3/4 weeks before it starded to get clear


so wen u clean it out and put new water in .... buy sum plants for the pond and put lot of Daphnia , there not dear about 10/20p a bag at your lfs

hope that was any help

 

[samyboy]

the pond is in a well shaded corner and not usually in direct sunlight we have a small(ish) potted water lil

do the fish not eat the daphnia?

thanks

 

[tjp]

do the fish not eat the daphnia?

YES they do but usually they are to small for them to eat them all . and they will hide and soon start beeding.... so it should be allrite . but like u sed if the pond is overcrouded they could get eaten

 

[LucyHurst]

btw the bacteria thing does still apply to ponds.
The average bath is about 60 gallons right? If there are koi, you will need to rehome all of them.

 

[samyboy]

btw the bacteria thing does still apply to ponds.
The average bath is about 60 gallons right? If there are koi, you will need to rehome all of them.

no problems we have a pond/lake at seprate location the size of a small swimming pool

 

[samyboy]

reduced the stocking to

shubunkin
calico something or other
pale koi
koi
ghost koi
and a goldfish


4 firsh were a good 6" long


oh i was emptying it with a bucket i accidentally soaked the dog (it was warm he needed a cool down) anyway i found loads of bloodworms on the paving which i carefully put in a jar and fed to the betta's they thoughrly enjoyed them

 

[liz2]

my pond is only small but is really green. dunno how many fish in there have seen at least 4 but there is so many tadpoles (or whatever toads are called) keep taking them down to a local pond but it desperately needs a good sort out but fish seem happy enough!

 

[Opcn]

My 150 gallon pond with 3 whiteclouds and 5 1" goldfish greened up and I wasn't even feeding it.

Also, just a pet peeve of mine, its Koi, not Koi's even when you are talking about different kinds of Koi its still Koi, its Japanese, not English.