"The G Man" wrote in message
.. .

Thanks for all the advice so far - oh, apart from the one about the
bleach and not quitting my day job - very helpful. I can't help being
an amateur at something - after all, isn't that where we all start out
and learn by experience??

## Ignore the rude posters using *other people's names* here. :-) That
was a TROLL, not me.

To try and answer some of your questions - I can't remember exactly
what I put in last year but they were all oxygenating plants from a
reputable garden centre (World of Water) - I definately put in about 6
bunches of Elodia Crispa (Goldfish Weed) and a water lilly.

## Odd that the elodia would die. As for the water lily - they need to be
planted in large pots and fertilized regularly to thrive. Still, they
shouldn't have died so quickly. Most places will give you a refund in such
a case. It's possible these plants were infected with some form of rot when
you got them. Elodia needs to be a crisp green and in excellent health when
bought or can fail - it's happened to me. I'm real careful to inspect every
plant I purchase now.

snip

It's in a semi-shaded area of the garden - ie. It probably gets about
three hours of sunshine a day.

## That's not much for pond plants. Before we removed the trees behind the
house my pond plants back there didn't exactly thrive. Water lilies need
at least 6 or more hours of sun to do really well. I have read about some
that will do ok in more shade. I never found any locally. The elodia likes
sun as well.

I live in the north-west of England (between Liverpool & Manchester)
and at the moment the weather is mixed - yesterday was hot & sunny,
today dull with rain. Temperature wise - yesterday was in the mid 70's
- today is a bit colder.

## And our weather has been the same here in Tennessee. :-) It's overcast
here and drizzling lightly.

Not sure whether this is a good or bad sign - when I cleaned the pump
the other day I noticed some water snails attached to it (which I put
back in with the pump of course!) Is this a good sign? Also, a big
blood worm came out. Blood worms are one thing I did have a lot of last
year!

## Bloodworms are harmless. My fish must eat them all as I never see any in
my ponds. I do see an occasional hairworm in the filter material. Snails
are fine - but I think my fish must eat them as well.

If I empty the pond (as suggested) will this not kill the good bacteria
in my filter since I'll have to switch it off for a few hours while I
clean the pond? What about the bit of life I have in the pond?

## If there are no fish in your pond killing the bacteria is not going to
be a problem. The will recover rapidly once you turn it back on again.

By the way... I seem to have a mini-cycle going on in the washing up
bowl. Yesterday the water was thick and green - this morning it's a lot
clearer!!

## I have seen my ponds go clear as gin overnight only to turn green a few
hours after the sun comes up. :-(

Can someone tell me what a google converter is??

## I have no idea.....

Will do some more tests on the water and post my readings. Are there
any better kits than the test strips?? Also, what are the best plants
to add to a small pond?

## The lack of sun may be a problem for you in selecting plants. Someone
with a shady pond may offer you some suggestions. And please remember -
someone is FORGING my headers and using my name to post immature, silly and
sometimes NASTY posts in my name.....
--
Koi4Me.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
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