Last night the frogs were singing away......then this morning I found lots of floating batches of goo in my pond and they were filled with what looked like poppy seeds (tiny black dots) Later in the day I could even see some of the dots moving. Is this some kind of larvae maybe, or frog egg or goldfish or koi egg? My fish were really lethargic, and my water had gone from an okay clarity to soupy green. I did a 15% water replacement and cleaned the bio filter. I even boiled the filter sponges because I saw some tiny worms in them. I'm on my 10th day of treating for ich, with some melafix antibiotic thrown in for good measure.
What a day of cleaning.....this was my first time really cleaning the pond since I started it 3 months ago. There was alot of sludge on the bottom. Since mine is only a starter pond of 60 gallons, I don't have any equipment to make the job easier, so my kids got a good laugh at me out there with a turkey baster sucking up the bottom goo! It's been several hours now and the water is looking alot better. I think I should probably clean my bio filter more often - like every 5-7 days. I bought an amonia test kit today it before I started cleaning it came out in the acceptable range, so I guess something must be going right with the pond. I've had the luck of the ignorant so far, but it sure has been fun learning.
Any suggestions on keeping sludge from accumulating, or should I just keep on with the turkey baster and remember to boil it really good right before Thanksgiving?

Kellie

I'm not sure what kind of eggs you found in your pond but they were not gold fish or koi.

Soupy green is not bad for the fish, the fish love soupy green it's bad for the fish people because they can't watch the fish. I think your bio filter may have still been cycling. But do you have any shade for your pond? If not water lilies provide quick shade for the water. Fish need shade, sun also is very good for algae which will make soupy water.

Please never boil your filter pads. You've killed all the good bacteria from them. The worms in the filter pads are very good for your pond. Don't kill the worms

I'll explain the cycle to you.

Your fish produce ammonia from the gills. Ammonia is harmful to the fish. burns gills. Good bacteria in your bio filter eat the ammonia which then produces Nitrites. Nitrites are bad for your fish, they cause brown blood disease, which leads to gasping and then death. Nitrobacteria (which accumulates in your bio filter as well) eats the nitrites and turns them into nitrates. Nirtates are harmful to your fish as well. Nitrates are plant and algae food. So the plants and algae feed on them and keep the water safe for the fish. If nitrates accumulate they can cause bloody fins and weakness(lathargic fish and possibly the peachy color?) in the fish.

This is why I think your pond was cycling still, you were getting a lot of nitrates which caused the pea soup. The agae was feasting on all the nitrates. It takes 4 to 6 weeks for your pond to cycle. Once it has cycled you bio filter will take care of the waste and your water should stay clear, that is if the bio filter is doing it's job and your pond isn't over stocked.

You say you have 60 gallons? How many fish do you have? Ich is caused by stress and can also be from over stocking or poor water quality. This could lead to other problems, which may be what is going on with your koi?

Here is my suggestion. The melafix certainly isn't going to harm your fish. It does help heal wounds, I've used it myself, but it really isn't the best thing for ich. Up your salt to .3% (1 teaspoon per gallon), remember when putting salt in only up it .1% daily. With a small pond like yours you'd probably be better off just buying the pond salt (DO NOT USE TABLE SALT) at the pet store. It has the directions on the package so you have it handy. A larger pond over 1,000 gallons it's cheaper to buy water softener salt at 98.5% pure from home depot in the 20 pound bag. You'll want to mix the salt up in a bucket of pond water, make sure it's desolved before putting it in. If your water temps are around 88 degrees the ich will be gone withen three days, if the temps are cooler it could take up to 10 days. I suggest you keep your water at .3% salt for two weeks. Not only will you know the ich is gone you'll also know that your fish wont have several other bad things that can kill them. Also, if there is any way you can get more aeration to your pond this would be a good idea. Aeration helps when fish are sick.

Cleaning the bottom of your pond was a good idea. The sludge is a breader of fish disease. You want it out. Also, the ich that you have only lives about 5 days then it falls off the fish, dies at the bottom and creates hundreds of new little ichs which the fish pick up and it starts all over again. Clean pond bottom helps clear up ich.

If you have pond plants you want to make sure that the salt is not going to kill them. Hardy lilies and cat tails will not be bothered by the salt. If you have other plants they might not like the salt? You can either do a search or let me know what you have. I have a book that tells what can handle what.

You need to test your water frequently. Your cycle is starting over. Test for ammonia, nitrites, ph, and salt. The salt not only is going kill the ich but it will also help your fish defend against high ammonia. It builds up the mucos on the gills keeping them from burning in high ammonia. If you get high nitrites you'll need to do water changes to get the nitrite level down.

About the Turkey baster lol please boil it before Thanksgiving (or maybe get a new on? LOL) you know you were playing in the fish crap with it? They make siphon vacuums for aquariums, I use one to clean out my bio filter and I think it might be perfect for cleaning the bottom of your pond? Plus, you'll get your 10% water change once a week while vacuuming! I attatched a 3/4 inch peice of pvc pipe to my siphon so I would have a long handle so I wouldn't have to crouch down while cleaning the filter (I have a monster filter and it's a pain to clean).

Okay I've talked enough. I hope I haven't missed anything. Good luck


Scott

here is a good link for basics in water quality
http://www.koivet.com/html/articles/articl...Water%20Quality

I use this water test kit



it tests for ammonia, nitrite, ph, and salt.

*ouch* Scott is right, and you've now set your cycling in back. Mela fix is all fine and dany, if you know how and when to apply it. Its like useing neo-sporin. And since I already answered the other post, as did Scott, You are going to have to treat the sap first.

Most likley those are frog eggs, and no matter how many you clean out, there will be oodles......

Oh, and a nice uv light will clean up the pea soup...

She'll need a gh & kh kit as well........

I had lot of that in my pond a few weeks ago, turned out to be frog spawn. I was looking forward to having afew tadpoles to show the kids but the koi eat it all

Thanks to all for the invaluable feedback and advice - this is definitely a motivating site because all of the postings are positive and encouraging, never belittling. I've learned more since finding this message board than in any preparative reading I'd done to set up my pond. Most sites want to sell you something and don't have any real life info. That said, I've got some more basic questions that aren't so obvious to a novice like me, such as:

Why are worms in my filter pads good? They looked like parasites to me!

How often should I wash my bio filter?

I live in sunny Clearwater, Florida where it is already hot. This has caused a big algae bloom almost overnight. Will this go away, or should I just learn to live with the pea soup? I miss being able to see my fish!

I know that my pond is already overstocked (12 small fish in a 60 gal tank) and it will be about 3-4 months before I am ready to build my larger pond. Is there any extra care I need to take regarding the amonia levels in the meantime?

I will post some pics later of my little setup......kudos to Scott for your pond pics. That is exactly what I would love to have someday. How soothing to sit beside it every day. Lozbug, I enjoyed watching your pond go up. How exciting!

P.S. The turkey baster trick actually works pretty good on such a small set up as mine. I'm sure I'll buy a new one come Thanksgiving, but if not I'll just fix a little anchovy gravy this year...

Kellie

The worms are just a part of a healthy pond. They are perfectly natural and can be found in most any pond. They break down organic compounds, such as the mulm (sludge) that you took out with the turkey baster You did the right thing by taking the mulm out, it's bad for the fish.

Also, they are healthy fish food!




I clean my main filter twice a week, that's because it clogs so easily really once a week should be good enough, with a 10% water change and your good to go. When cleaning your bio filter just rinse it off, don't over clean. You want to make sure that you don't get rid of your good bacteria. Certainly you will lose some and minimal losses are the key. Always clean with dechlorinated water, if you don't dechlorinate the water you clean the filter with you'll kill most of the good bacteria. Don't worry if your filter media looks stained brown, that's fine it's most likely got a good concentration of good bacteria. Your just cleaning the bio filter so it doesn't get clogged and you get good water flow through it.



Get a hardy water lily that will help some. It'll shade the pond plus it will compete with the algae for the nitrates. When your pond is established things should start to clear up. Get something to help seed your filter such as microbe lift which has good bacteria which will help quicken the cycle process, wich your pond Microbe lift TheraP would be best. Also, koi clay works great in helping to clear a pond, it has other benifits for fish health and plant health and is pretty cheap on ebay. I would suggest a uv light but since your planning on a bigger project I'd hold off on the uv light for the larger pond.



Since you are over stocked you are right that you will need to watch your perameters more close. I'm hoping that you are upping your salt to .3% in order to rid yourself of the ich problem. The salt will help protect your fish from the ammonia in the water. Your main concern will be the nitrite spikes which occur when starting a new bio filter. You'll need to check all perameters daily for awhile and do small water changes in order to keep at least the nitrites close to zero. You could also get some ammo lock to keep the ammonia in check just to set your mind at ease on the possibility of high ammonia. You need to try and keep the pond a stress free zone for the fish. And like I mentioned before if you can get more aeration that'd be a huge plus.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures and thanks for complementing my pond. It was a lot of work I really need to update my site as some things have changed

Did you check out the site on SAP that Tam posted? Does the green look like the picture?


That site is Doc Johnsons he is a great koi vet.


Just think, your trukey baster might add extra seasoning that no one else will have with their Thanksgiving dinner! LOL

Scott

Your welcome! And a good uv steralizer light will clear that pea soup up nicely and be a greeat benefit overall for your pond!

I generally rinse my filters in a bucket of pond water, just like my AQ filters, Just a good swishing to generally unclog and keep them flowing smoothly.

Make sure you get a good base line for readings also, Ph should be checked am, late afternoon and some time up in the night. You don't want that fluctuating, two other most important kits are GH & KH. Both are supporting systems to the ph. While Kh content keeps your ph stabile and from crashing, the gh keeps the ph stable from riseing, also containing the calcium and magnesium that they need.

So in a sense, the green water can cause you grief in more way's then one,besides keeping you from seeing your fish, recent findings found a low gh can be used up asap with green water and cause your ph to rise. And also the bio filters use a certain amount of gh & kh as well as the fish. Stability is a major key with water parms and Koi.