On Fri, 16 May itten replied to sick fish form:
Pond Size in Gallons? (litres*.26=US Gallons):
I haven't figured that out yet. My pond is seven feet long by four feet wide
by sixteen inches deep. It has another section two feet square and
also sixteen inches deep. I don't know how many gallons I have.
I come up with a rough estimate of 240 gallons.
Summarizing: Great, you are dechlorinating the tap water. Pond is 3 weeks
old, liner is EPDM or PVC most likely,
5 Koi, 10 guppies, 20 small feeder goldfish, 10 mosquito fish. The Koi range from about 7" down to about 4".
OMG!!!! Oops, sorry.
The Koi have been in a week tomorrow.
I don't feed the fish. There are plenty of aquatic plants in my pond.
At this point, that's a good thing, if you were feeding them, more would
have died from water pollution.
Pondmaster Magnetic Drive Utility Pump in the pond. 1800 gallons per hour.
I use a Bio-Mech 1200 Submerged Filtration System with a filter size of
15 x 15 x 8".
That's great for the size of pond, unfortunately not good enough for that
many residents.
Foam filter. I clean it weekly.
Aeration?
Fountain and spitter.
Water Temp?
Get a thermometer.
PH?: Tested acceptable per my test strip today.
If your test kit doesn't give you a number rating, you need a better kit.
If it does, we need the numbers. If one took a child to the doctor and Doc
asked what has said child's temperature been running, you wouldn't say
"acceptable" you'd give Doc the numbers and let Doc decide if it is
acceptable. ;o)
Ammonia (ppm or mg/l): Not tested for this.
This is *Thee No. 1 most important test.* An your pH number makes a
difference on how toxic the ammonia is to the fish and the eventual
treatment protocol.
Nitrite (ppm or mg/l): Safe level
Again, we'll decide that we know the numbers. The only safe level is Zero,
but we can work around a low level by using salt.
Nitrate (ppm or mg/l): Caution indication on my test strip.
Water Color, cloudiness, odor?:
No odor. It is not clear but not real cloudy either.
Water changes? (% of pond volume and how often):
Haven't changed the water yet.
Well we're gonna start here. I'd LOVE to say "make a water change of 20%
right now!" But without knowing your pH I don't dare. I'm quite sure your
ammonia reading is up there, but if your pH is 7.0 or less and your tap
water is 7.5 and up, we could make a bad situation worst. Therefore I
suggest you get a product called Amquel, treat the entire pond with that
after which do a water change of 20%, using the Amquel to treat the tap
water. Why?
Treating the entire pond with Amquel will detox the ammonia right off, the
water change w/Amquel after, will rid the pond of some of the nitrates &
nitrites.
Additives used (water conditioners etc):
Tests done by self or another?:
Did testing myself with my test kit today.
Weather (what's it been like lately?):
Rain today, otherwise fair in the 80's.
Charleston, South Carolina.
Additional information: For a new pond and a new pond person you overloaded
your pond with residents. If the LFS knew what was going on they should be
severely scolded, imo. They think we're fish keepers, when really we are
water quality keepers, the fish just add interest. ;o)
What is important to you, koi or goldfish? Get rid of the guppies and
mosquito fish. I'd let you keep the koi if you removed the goldfish and
started digging a new pond or put a BIG out-of-the-pond filter on the
current pond. ;o)
Personally, if you want to stay with the smaller pond for now. I'd take
back all the fish and trade them in for 2-3 pretty shubunkins (calico
single tailed goldfish) or 2-3 fantails, they will have babies.
Filtration, your filter isn't getting a chance to mature if you are
cleaning it once a week. *Looks like I need to change my form a tad and ask
what kind of water (straight from the tap or chlorine-free) is being used
to clean the filter?*
If you were to drop your fish numbers & type to what I suggest I bet you
might find that your filter cleaning drops to once-a-month, if that. Now
wouldn't that be more fun? Who needs an extra weekly chore? I know I don't,
I just cleaned my pre-filter today, first time since October. I won't clean
my bio-filter till late fall shut-down. ;o) ~ jan
See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/
~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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