I'm new to rec.ponds and to pond keeping in general, and I hope you
more experienced people can help me with a problem I have with my
pond.

My pond is very small (about 50 gallons or so I think) and I had two
cute little 3" koi. They lived for about a month. When the second
died today, I took a sample of water in to where I bought the koi and
they tested it, and told me it was too acidic. The other levels were
OK. They recommended a chemical treatment called "PH Down" but,
because I have two dogs that think nothing of drinking from the pond,
I don't want to use that product as it's hazardous. Any other ideas
out there on how to bring down the PH of my pond, in a way that would
be safe for pond-drinking pets? Also, any ideas on why this happened
and how I can avoid it in the future? If it is helpful to know, I
also have in this pond 3 aquatic plants (the kind you put in
aquariums), a "sucker fish" to clean up the sides of the pond, two
snails and a flag lily. There are two small pumps drawing water
through filters and one of them sends the water through a spitter to
help with aerating it. I had just done a forced water change of about
half the pond water in the week before the last koi died; one of the
pumps got bumped and pumped half the pond water out into the garden.
I replaced the water over several days; each batch of water I added
to the pond sat out 24 hours before adding it. It also rained heavily
the day before the last fish died.

I feel so bad about the koi and don't want to get any more unless I
can keep them healthy! Thank you for any advice you can give me.

If you've been reading a lot of posts, you'll see that most people agree
that 1,000 gallons is a minimum for 1 koi. Though many people break that
rule, for 50 gallons, I would seriously stick with goldfish...
Kirsten
"KarenZ" wrote in message
om...
I'm new to rec.ponds and to pond keeping in general, and I hope you
more experienced people can help me with a problem I have with my
pond.

My pond is very small (about 50 gallons or so I think) and I had two
cute little 3" koi. They lived for about a month. When the second
died today, I took a sample of water in to where I bought the koi and
they tested it, and told me it was too acidic. The other levels were
OK. They recommended a chemical treatment called "PH Down" but,
because I have two dogs that think nothing of drinking from the pond,
I don't want to use that product as it's hazardous. Any other ideas
out there on how to bring down the PH of my pond, in a way that would
be safe for pond-drinking pets? Also, any ideas on why this happened
and how I can avoid it in the future? If it is helpful to know, I
also have in this pond 3 aquatic plants (the kind you put in
aquariums), a "sucker fish" to clean up the sides of the pond, two
snails and a flag lily. There are two small pumps drawing water
through filters and one of them sends the water through a spitter to
help with aerating it. I had just done a forced water change of about
half the pond water in the week before the last koi died; one of the
pumps got bumped and pumped half the pond water out into the garden.
I replaced the water over several days; each batch of water I added
to the pond sat out 24 hours before adding it. It also rained heavily
the day before the last fish died.

I feel so bad about the koi and don't want to get any more unless I
can keep them healthy! Thank you for any advice you can give me.

Xref: kermit rec.ponds:151424

On 23 Jun 2004 21:38:46 -0700, (KarenZ)
wrote:

I'm new to rec.ponds and to pond keeping in general, and I hope you
more experienced people can help me with a problem I have with my
pond.

My pond is very small (about 50 gallons or so I think) and I had two
cute little 3" koi. They lived for about a month. When the second
died today, I took a sample of water in to where I bought the koi and
they tested it, and told me it was too acidic. The other levels were
OK. They recommended a chemical treatment called "PH Down" but,
because I have two dogs that think nothing of drinking from the pond,
I don't want to use that product as it's hazardous. Any other ideas
out there on how to bring down the PH of my pond, in a way that would
be safe for pond-drinking pets? Also, any ideas on why this happened
and how I can avoid it in the future? If it is helpful to know, I
also have in this pond 3 aquatic plants (the kind you put in
aquariums), a "sucker fish" to clean up the sides of the pond, two
snails and a flag lily. There are two small pumps drawing water
through filters and one of them sends the water through a spitter to
help with aerating it. I had just done a forced water change of about
half the pond water in the week before the last koi died; one of the
pumps got bumped and pumped half the pond water out into the garden.
I replaced the water over several days; each batch of water I added
to the pond sat out 24 hours before adding it. It also rained heavily
the day before the last fish died.

I feel so bad about the koi and don't want to get any more unless I
can keep them healthy! Thank you for any advice you can give me.


In addition to what K connover said

You say that the water is too acid. That is low pH, not high. PH
down would make that worse. Try to get the actual pH number.

The sucker fish can be a bad mix with koi, not always, but sometimes
they will attack. The algae on the sides of the pond is generally
considered good, I'd take the sucker fish out. Floating algae and
green water algae are considered undesirable.

Bad news about the leak, but it looks like you handled it properly.

You may have just gotten two bad fish. I spend a lot of time at a
local water garden shop, we've had several fish deaths which we can
attribute only to them being sick when we got them.

The pond at 50 gallons would make a good home for two goldfish.


--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

"KarenZ" wrote in message
om...
snip
My pond is very small (about 50 gallons or so I think) and I had two
cute little 3" koi. They lived for about a month. When the second
died today, I took a sample of water in to where I bought the koi and
they tested it, and told me it was too acidic. The other levels were
OK.

Two Koi in 50 gallons is about 950 gallons too little. If your fish were
small, you probably were OK, but were destined for bad water problems as
they grew, and grew. You may want to stick with a goldfish or two. They are
more tolerant of water problems, and as such don't need that larger volume
of water.

I had just done a forced water change of about
half the pond water in the week before the last koi died; one of the
pumps got bumped and pumped half the pond water out into the garden.
I replaced the water over several days; each batch of water I added
to the pond sat out 24 hours before adding it. It also rained heavily
the day before the last fish died.

This paragraph rings a bell for me. My county uses Chloramine not Chlorine
for water treatment. Chloramine does not evaporate out as readily from water
as does Chlorine. I NEVER add water to the pond without dechlor. I did this
to my pond when I first built it and killed all six minnows that I had in
it. My guess is that your fish suffered either from chloramine, or possibly
from a temperature shock from the water change.

My advice to you is to buy a test kit. Here is a nice one at PetSmart,
http://tinyurl.com/33539.

BV.

Hi Karen,

Glad you found your way here. Often petstores,
even some nurseries, don't know much about ponds and you don't get good advice
from them. But we know a lot and we give good advice ;-)

What everyone else says. Two goldfish in 50 gallons will be fine. There are
some loverly ones out there who rival koi in their colors.
Also when you get the test kit, post exact numbers as some numbers can have a
scale of measurements that are okay and some if there is even a bit reported is
not good.

Algae eaters can turn on fish so we don't recommend them. As BV said algae that
grows in the side of the pond or on the sides of your pots helps your pond.
What ponders don't like is algae that makes your pond look like pea soup. Click
the link below my sig. and you can read my algae primer to help you understand
who to avoid an algae bloom or deal with one when it happens.

We'll have you up and running in no time. For now I'd call your city/county,
find out what is in your water, buy the product needed and treat the water.
When you add fish float them in their bag for about 20 minutes, you are waiting
for the temperatures in the bag to adjust to the water so the fish won't be
shocked by a rapid adjustment in temperature. (If the sun is shining on the
bag, shade it with a kitchen towel.)

Unfortunately many of us have had some of the same experiences but we learned
and have gone on to run successful ponds.




kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html