Outside Pond

[Mreid95]

Not sure if anyone knows this... but I thought I would give it a shot. My husband and I recently put in an outside pond/waterfall. It holds about 1000 gallons of water. We have a biofilter and he went all out on the pump/filter system. We ran the pond for a while (about 1-2 months) before introducing fish. We bought several different kinds and they all were doing well (except for a racoon snatching up 2 of our black moores). Well we had an agae bloom and finally have the pond cleared up. We used a uv light and several different plants. Our fish did great for about 3 months. Now, we have lost 4 of our larger fan tails. They will come to the top and gasp for air. We added another pump to help oxygenate the water more... but we still have lost 2 more since doing that. When we pull them out of our skimmer the fish looks completely healthy. Not slimy, no spots, fins looks great... We have a water test kit and it was all normal, our most recent findings yesterday showed a ph of 8, small nitrates and small ammonia. Any idea what is going on with our precious fish?!

[Crispy]

do you have any plants growing out of the pond? they can eat up nitrate and phosphates and outcompete algae. floating plants can especially keep the algae down because they will block the light that the algae need.

a waterfall should easily provide enough oxygenation for the pond. I'm a bit stumped as to why your fish could be dying. my guess would be ammonia? perhaps the biofilter wasn't cycled enough to hold your bioload?

pics of the pond and exact water parameters may help.

[smaug]

You should have no ammonia at all,even ponds go through a cycle where things can get ugly quick. What exact ammo reading did you get and did you also check for nitrites? I recomend and use a bio booster product called microbe lift spring and summer cleaner. They come in small egg size water soluable pouches that you toss in the water. They help break down fish waste and other nastys as well as boost the biofilter in the fragile spring. Fwiw,moors are not good pond fish unless kept by themselves due to there slow doppy nature. They simply do not compete well or navivgate obstacles. Tell us as much specifics as you can about your pond including dimensions plz.

[hybridguy]

as just said u have the wrong fish,could he be getting sucked into the skimmer? U need strong swimmers,a couple koi would b good.

[DeadSulphurhead]

Ph is a little high, but shouldn't be a problem if it's consistent and the fish were introduced properly.
When you say small amounts of nitrites and ammo, what are the actual levels?
Because that's what I point the blame at.

Also, if you have any fancy goldfish, this could be the case.

Did you dose the pond with any disease prevention for when the higher temperatures arrive?

[smaug]

Ph is a little high, but shouldn't be a problem if it's consistent and the fish were introduced properly.
When you say small amounts of nitrites and ammo, what are the actual levels?
Because that's what I point the blame at.

Also, if you have any fancy goldfish, this could be the case.

Did you dose the pond with any disease prevention for when the higher temperatures arrive?

The ph is fine at 8.0 all the way to mid high 8s. My ph has always been mid 8s for yrs. There is also no reason to dose any "disease prevention" for hot months or otherwise. The best preventative would be proper media cleaning every 5 days or so and good water movement. Never treat for anything that doesn't exist at the moment.

[Lady Hobbs]

Agree with smaug. Most likely they died due to the ammonia/nitrites. If showing levels when you tested, the toxic levels were probably much higher prior to testing.

I moved your post to the "pond" section.

[DeadSulphurhead]

I was a skeptic at first too. Tetra pond disease treatment is where it's at, especially in small bodies of water exceeding 86 F like mine. Haven't seen a good koi pond around here that doesn't use that stuff in late spring. The ones that don't, seem to always have ill fish when the temps get up to 40 with 90% humidity. (Although the humidity kills us, not the fish lol)

I have no clue why I thought they said 9, my ph is over 8 as well.

[smaug]

I was a skeptic at first too. Tetra pond disease treatment is where it's at, especially in small bodies of water exceeding 86 F like mine. Haven't seen a good koi pond around here that doesn't use that stuff in late spring. The ones that don't, seem to always have ill fish when the temps get up to 40 with 90% humidity. (Although the humidity kills us, not the fish lol)

I have no clue why I thought they said 9, my ph is over 8 as well.

Its not about skeptism its about plain experiance. I'm in souther pa and it gets very hot here. I've been keeping ponds for about 9 yrs now and have never seen any condition happen in a fish pond that couldn't have been prented with my earlier stated methods. With ponds as well as tanks there is no reason for any preventative med. Good water keeping precludes all of that.IME