~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
On Tue, 17 May 2005 20:16:56 -0500, (DD DDD) wrote:


I tested my pond water. I have Nitrite at 10.0 Nitrate at 40 and ph at
7.4 and alkalinity at 120 hardness at 120 Ammonia at 0.50.


Your pond is in the middle of its cycle to balance.


But the small baby 1 inch fish are dying.


They are dying due to brown blood disease because of the nitrite. Salt in
the pond will help this. I recommend going to 0.1%, this requires 13 ounces
of salt/100 gallons of water. Morton's water softener salt with NO
additives.


Last night they seem to gulp at the surface for air.


They are gulping for 2 reasons, they're gills have been fried by the
ammonia spike that happened prior to the nitrite, and because the pond
doesn't have enough aeration going on.


I did a 20% water change after the reading. Im worried The water
is toxic. The pond is 3 weeks old. Thank you


No worry there, you're right, the water is toxic. :-\ The good news is, it
is fixable. Unless you have no ammonia showing don't do a water
change without treating that ammonia with an ammonia locking chemical. Then
you can safely do a water change. Don't feed anyone till your test kits
read zero, then start feeding a little bit once/day and gradually increase
that. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website


I used to use 0.1% salt for nitrite. Now aquaculture articles are
popping up that say you can use much less. Using less is nice if you
have channel cats or weather loaches and is easy on the plants.

http://msucares.com/pubs/infosheets/is1390.htm
http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/en/crops_li...d+Nitrates.htm

Of course, you lose the protection against ciliates and other parasites
that higher levels of salt can provide.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com