On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 18:35:06 -0500, (Iris) wrote:

So I had water tested
at a 3rd fish store & Nitrates,Nitrites & amonia is good.Hardness is at
425. PH a whopping 9.4 & he said get fish out & change all water! Also
he said put in a cup
salt per 100 gallons We have a lot of plants & they look scorched on
edges. For the first time we have pea soup watr that won't clear with
Micro-lift. Micro lift is the only different thing we've added this
year.
Any ideas as to what we should do? Iris.

I've heard people talk of doing a 30% water change for three days and
calling that changing all the water. Actually, I've cleaned my pond
and added new water while the fish waited in another pond then dumped
them back into their old home with new water with no ill effects.
People with aquariums do it all the time. You do have to add a
chlorine killer if you don't wait overnight, or if you have
chloramines in the new water.

Wonder what caused the hardness to climb so high? Do you have
anything like new cement stones in the water? How about gravel or
sand on the bottom? Could there be a buildup that needs to be
vacuumed out? Koi and goldfish are bottom feeders and I try to keep
the bottom clear of buildup that could release harmful gasses from
decay.

Regards,

Hal