On 4 Jun 2005 18:49:37 -0700, wrote:

I'm trying to get a pond going with 1/2 barrel that was used for red
wine. I'm not using a liner, and I've filled it with water and some
plants (water lily, hyacinth, anacharis, a couple of marginals). The
problem is that after about a week the water turns really foul: it gets
this white filamentous stuff in it and a really nasty sulfurous smell.
I've tried emptying and refilling, but the same thing happens each
time. Also, I've noticed these little critters, about the size of a
grain of rice, with an equal sized pointy appendage wriggling around in
there. They don't appear to be mosquitoes.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I had a 1/2 whisky barrel pond, but with a liner. Just a few plants
in it. It got really skanky smelling until I put a small aquarium air
stone in it powered by a small battery powered air pump. Cleaned it
right up. Don't know if it was the added oxygen or just the
circulation.

I have some little wriggly things in my regular pond that are not
mosquitos. A larger head and not as black. Some kind of gnat larvae.
If I go out at night and shine a flashlight into the water they
approach it and within a few seconds come to the surface and
metamorphose into a little flying bug and take off. It's bizarre to
see.

Steve J. Noll | Ventura California (USDA Zone 10)
| The Glass Block Koi Pond/Fountain:
| http://www.kissingfrogs.tv