you have to get rid of the algae. the big problem is going to come when the water is
warm and the sun goes down it will suck ALL THE OXYGEN out of the pond and by morning
your fish will be gasping if not floating. the bigger ones die first. Ingrid

Working on it. Got a UV filter for the soluble stuff, skimming the
stuff on top every day, vacuumed a ton of green mulm up. Bottom looks
pretty clean now. And working on adding shade: floating plants,
putting up an actual shade.

I do know my phosphates are up. I did a dumb thing. A couple of
weeks ago, I panicked when the pH got so high and added some pH down
adjuster. (Very slowly and carefully). Turns out it contained
phosphoric acid. It did lower the pH slightly for a while. I think
what must have happened was that then, the phosphates promoted more
algae growth and the increase in photosynthesis starting driving the
pH way up during the day. Did about a 33% water change yesterday. I'm
wondering if I should add some phosphate adsorber?

Joan