Hiding Fish and H2O is good
I hope I can find some help here, I've read and posted a few messages
here and there, so here it goes..... I have a 125 gallon (yeah, that's all) pond. It's been up a running for three years now. I added two comets a few weeks ago and a Butterfly Koi over a week ago. For the past week, all the fish have seem to be hidding in the corners of the pond or hiding together at the bottom of the pond. This weekend, I lost the Butterfly fish. This AM, I found one of the baby fish, about a year old flipped himself out of the pond and out onto the ground. Luckily, it must have just happened and I was able to place him back in the pond and I quickly got him into a bowl. I checked the all the levels with the following: Ammonia - 0.0 pH - 6.9 Nitrite - 0.0 Nitrate - 80! Yup, 80! I did some quick internet searching and came up with a water change. I changed 50% of the water and filled it back up and de-chlorinated the water. I also added some aquarium salt. The fish are doing a little better, but some are still hidding. I again checked the levels and all were the same except for the Nitrate that was down to 20. Any ideas on the problem? SHould I be more concerned about the water quality? This is the first major problem that I've had with the pond and I'm lucky to say that's all. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kris Kauker kkauker at princeton dot edu |
Hiding Fish and H2O is good
Hi Kris! Usually when water problems start they actually started with overstocking. Our rule of thumb is 20 - 40 gallons per goldfish and 1000 gallons for koi with 100 gallons for every additional koi. It is tricky, at best, to keep water parameters going with overstocking and once it goes out of whack, as we've recently learned, the numbers can be adjusted but often the fish problems are only beginning. So look at your fish numbers and see if you can do any adjusting that way. Others will chime in. (I have taken the coward's route. I have about 20 goldfish in 3,000.... ;-) kathy :-) A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A |
Hiding Fish and H2O is good
"Kris Kauker" wrote in message om... I hope I can find some help here, I've read and posted a few messages here and there, so here it goes..... I have a 125 gallon (yeah, that's all) pond. It's been up a running for three years now. I added two comets a few weeks ago and a Butterfly Koi over a week ago. For the past week, all the fish have seem to be hidding in the corners of the pond or hiding together at the bottom of the pond. This weekend, I lost the Butterfly fish. This AM, I found one of the baby fish, about a year old flipped himself out of the pond and out onto the ground. Luckily, it must have just happened and I was able to place him back in the pond and I quickly got him into a bowl. I checked the all the levels with the following: Ammonia - 0.0 pH - 6.9 Nitrite - 0.0 Nitrate - 80! Yup, 80! I did some quick internet searching and came up with a water change. I changed 50% of the water and filled it back up and de-chlorinated the water. I also added some aquarium salt. The fish are doing a little better, but some are still hidding. I again checked the levels and all were the same except for the Nitrate that was down to 20. Any ideas on the problem? SHould I be more concerned about the water quality? This is the first major problem that I've had with the pond and I'm lucky to say that's all. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kris Kauker kkauker at princeton dot edu Honestly, I think your pond is much too small to raise koi. Stick with the goldfish, and don't over-populate it. Also, it looks like the pH was low, while the Nitrate was a little high. Consider including some limestone into your water feature. It will help prevent a pH crash. |
Hiding Fish and H2O is good
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Hiding Fish and H2O is good
Hi Kris
I am way far from an expert, but its late and I cant sleep so here's my 5 cents worth of advice. It has been very painful but ponding is once again teaching me.... common sense. There are a number of factors you did not mention, like how many fish already, plants etc etc. There are a bunch of things you could consider and many rules of thumb. But if all new fish act funny, one dies and another is willing to jump into the unknown to escape its current surroundings you have water problems -and the older fish are not as excited about it YET. Change what you do know - even 20 Nitrates is about the max I believe - got any filtering root systems? Adding Limestone to your water feature sounds good to me but in the short run I would add Baking soda and slowly bring you ph up, like today. 7.5 would be a very safe first goal ecspecially if you are not sure if 6.9 is your lowest in the morning, not bouncing too drastically ph. I would want to know what your fresh water going in is. If its over 6.9 subsequent water changes will at least temporarily improve ph and nitrates. You still have 2 new fish, which is probably at least 2 too many. My wild guess is that the 80 reading is telling you your fish load was already getting excessive - the darn things grow. Okay-well 5 cents doesnt buy what it used to. The calvary should be arriving in just a few hours. Good Luck! Bill Brister - Austin, Texas "Kris Kauker" wrote in message om... I hope I can find some help here, I've read and posted a few messages here and there, so here it goes..... I have a 125 gallon (yeah, that's all) pond. It's been up a running for three years now. I added two comets a few weeks ago and a Butterfly Koi over a week ago. For the past week, all the fish have seem to be hidding in the corners of the pond or hiding together at the bottom of the pond. This weekend, I lost the Butterfly fish. This AM, I found one of the baby fish, about a year old flipped himself out of the pond and out onto the ground. Luckily, it must have just happened and I was able to place him back in the pond and I quickly got him into a bowl. I checked the all the levels with the following: Ammonia - 0.0 pH - 6.9 Nitrite - 0.0 Nitrate - 80! Yup, 80! I did some quick internet searching and came up with a water change. I changed 50% of the water and filled it back up and de-chlorinated the water. I also added some aquarium salt. The fish are doing a little better, but some are still hidding. I again checked the levels and all were the same except for the Nitrate that was down to 20. Any ideas on the problem? SHould I be more concerned about the water quality? This is the first major problem that I've had with the pond and I'm lucky to say that's all. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kris Kauker kkauker at princeton dot edu |
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