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Old 27-08-2003, 03:02 PM
Lynda Thornton
 
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Default Oxygenators seem to be dying

Hi

I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant
since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high
heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! I've got
one dwarf waterlily in it which is actually thriving well and putting
out lots of leaves and 2 irises in a medium-sized basket filled with
soil sitting near the top of the water level. I've tried adding several
bunches of Elodea Crispa which seemed to just sink and rot (I thought it
would have free-floated and been OK) and I kept having to fish out slimy
black stems which were obviously rotten and dead. The plant has now
disappeared completely. I then added some frogbit which a kind person
on this newsgroup sent me from their pond, and although it has thrived
and flowered in a plastic container which I also have filled with water,
it has not done well at all in the barrel and looks on its last legs,
going brownish and dwindling, with only a few small green leaves
struggling, so I might have to fish that out next. The water is very
murky, almost a greyish brown and you can't see anything below the
surface.

I can't understand what it is that is killing the plants - is there
anything else I can do as oxygenating plants don't seem to be working?
I am getting to the limits of my tolerance now as I just cannot stand
the smell (it was particularly awful in the hot weather). I assume the
winter temperatures won't do anything to curb the smell once things warm
up again?

I'm pretty sure the pond is not 'poisonous' as I found a lesser water
boatman in the net I was using to fish out mosquito larvae the other day
- gave me a shock I can tell you! It leapt back into the water and
dived right down so it must be OK in there.

My husband is getting so sick of it that he wants us to drain it, but I
want to try a bit more before we reach that stage, and of course I'd
have to re-home the water lily.

Can anyone suggest anything else I can try?

Thanks

Lynda