"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

"Reel McKoi" wrote in message
...
snip
My first thought is overstocking. When did you take your ammonia
reading?
What time of day?

Your 9.5 sounds high as well.

What are the fish dieing of? What are the symptoms?
==============================
I think it'll come down to too many fish and too high a PH. A large
water
change would be where I would start. While the pond is down I would
remove
HALF of those 70 fish. I hope he gets a handle on his problem. It's
probably being aggravated by a parasite or bacterial problem. Just my
opinion.....

My guess is it is somehow related to buffering. If his filter is capable
of
0 ammonia with that fish load, then by definition it's not overstocked.
The
question is...can the filter handle spikes and changes? I'd guess not,
which
brings us back to overstocking.

As for treatment, I'd agree with partial waterchanges, and of course
de-chlored. But I would not stop there. I'd probably get a water sample to
someone with a scope, to see if there is a parasitic problem.
==============================
Even if his filter keeps the ammonia at 0 doesn't mean there aren't OTHER
pollutants building up in the water. 70 fish in that much water is quite a
load. He didn't mention how often he's doing partial water changes, or how
much he changes at a time. A scrape and look under the microscope wouldn't
hurt either.....
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
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