A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Water Gardens Continuing Lynne's pond experience!

That's so cool, Lynne! I'm glad you got to see the little fishies.

I was telling my sister about your pond the other day. She's about to start from scratch(she had a pre-fab molded pond at the old house) and I sent her the links to your threads since you give such great descriptions and have done a fabulous job with the "step-by-step" progress.

Since I had to look up all the old threads, I thought I would put them all here for you or the hostesses for reference. I think I've got them all;
//www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/37014#Post37014

//www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/98086#Post98086

//www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/122062#Post122062

//www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/201773#Post201773

//www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/207992#Post207992

Thanks so much, Mel and Jiffy! I was trying to close the last one, but my keyboard jammed and I had to shut my computer down.

Mel - I hope your sister can get some good ideas from our successes and failures both. Might she join us here and post her progress too?

Your welcome, Lynne. I didn't even realize we were at the end of that thread, I thought the links would be buried somewhere in the middle. This works out great for reference, thanks so much for moving it Jiffy!

[font:verdana] Well I'm happy to report that I definitely saw 5 of the six fish today, and maybe the 6th as well - couldn't tell from the distance. Don saw them too! They are coming up to eat now and stick around for about 20 minutes or so - fun fun fun!!!

Loz - what kind of food did you say you use? Sorry I can't remember. [/font]

lynne, i'm happy for you. i lost 2 of my 5 when i re-vamped my pond a couple of weeks ago. so last week, i put 5 more feeders (all mine are feeders, from walmart) and 3 of the 5 new ones have gone belly up but one is going to make it i'm almost sure, he's hanging out and running with the big fish. the 5th i don't know if it's even still in there.

That's great Lynne....everyday it's a little pleasure to sit outside and watch the fish feed.

I use the floating pellets for the bigger fish, the 2 BIG ones can eat 5 at a time.

The mosquito fish get flake food....one good thing about mosquito fish is that the water dances with them all the time. They are surface swimmers so even when you don't see the Goldfish you see them.

This fall when it cools back down I could send you some if you want. Jiffy I can give you some if you make it up.

Lynne, do you have snails in your pond?

I don't have snails, loz - but there was 1 tiny one on one of the plants I got at the pond store so I let him go in. After the awful time I had with snails taking over my 10 gallon fishtank in the computer room they are not one of my favorite animals.

Do you have them? Why do you ask?

I was just curious, my aquarium is full of a gazillion teeny snail babies and I've been putting them out in the pond. They are good for a large pond though, they'll help keep it clean. And they won't live thru the winter so they just have a big explosion in the summer and that's it.

I am so very happy to report this morning that the pond is so much clearer now that I can see the bottom drain from up here on the bedroom level, and I also see 3 of the fish swimming around down below today - YIPPEE!!!

I know I have said a few times that "people" have said if you name your fish you are sending them to certain doom, but I couldn't help it! So... here are their names...

The first baby koi I got is now about 5-6 inches long. When I got him, his top fin was very black and reminded me of a mohawk, and in turn reminded me of the Gremlin, "Spike" so that's his name.

There is an orange and white koi - "Creamsicle"
An all white koi which Amy named last night - "Marshmallow"
An all yellow koi - "Sunny"
A black, white and red koi with a red nose which Amy named - "Rudolph"
And lastly a large bright dark orange goldfish which Amy named "Clementine"

What are your fish's names?


Loz - when your snails have an explosion do you see them everywhere in the pond? I was thinking of getting a couple, but am just not sure I want to have to deal with that again...

I just cannot contain my excitement!!!
The water is so clear today I could see all the way down to every speck of dirt on the bottom!!! And I got to see all 6 fish playing and eating earlier this morning - this is what I've been waiting for - finally!!!

I can still see them from up here - I need to get some more things for them to swim in and out of on the bottom of the pond - any suggestions???

So Lynne, it was the batting that worked?

I don't see my snails everywhere at all---but they lay lots of egg sacs around the place...I do see a few come up for oxygen each evening.

Nice fishy names Lynne! Mine are easy....I have Faye and Mo--they are the 2 big Shubunkins that mom and dad bought for me.....the two biggest in fish in the pond. I have a white goldfish called Marky......3 fancy tail orange fishes, Loz, Athena, and Kristen. And 2 regular goldfish named Bill and Cindy. I had a 3rd but it died.... Jiffy says that was probably her.

I'm so glad that you can see your pond so well! I need to get to work and make an Adams filter and quit talking about it.....

You know what, loz?

Don is in such disbelief that simply cleaning the filters cleared up the pond - well DUH!!! Since he cleaned them on Saturday, and then again rinsed them on Monday it has cleared up dramatically!!! There is still a greenish tinge to the water, but as I wrote above, we can see clearly down to the dirt grains in the bottom!!! And I can still see the fish swimming around from up here!

Do you have a filter at all now? I don't remember...

I do, I have an all in one filter/pump thing with the biological balls in the bottom of it....I think I might work on an additional filter soon though, maybe this weekend.....

I clean mine often enough now, maybe not as much as I should---but it's so darn heavy to pull out of the pond everyday.

Thankfully our pond is crystal clear now - FINALLY!

Thought I'd post a picture of my pond "hoop" as Loz did in her thread.
The water hyacinths aren't doing all that well, and I cut them back yesterday. The water lettuces are doing pretty well, and I think I will get some more soon. Although I did just see the goldfish nibbling at the roots!

OH Lynne--so very happy to hear your pond is finally clear-- --

now you can sit in your pretty blue chair, in your pretty garden and watch your beautiful fish---happy restful times ahead for Lynne---

but hey do not fall asleep out there---

and of course your hula-hoop is blue---what other color would they sell to you, right???

How fabulous!! I want one!! But my entire backyard is field line for the septic tank and the front yard isn't big enough. sigh....

my fish nibbled my water lettuce and it still grew like a weed.

looks good.

Well there is good news and bad news today.
The good news is that the pond is once again clearing after Don put more Algae Fix in it the other day. I went out and bought the last 2 64oz. bottles that I could find anywhere here or in northern NJ - our Petsmart told us they are not making that size anymore - wonder if that's true?

The bad news is that my yellow baby koi is not doing well. Last evening he was swimming near the surface for a few minutes and then was just floating sideways all of a sudden. We took him out of the pond and put him in a plastic bucket with some stress coat. It seemed to help a bit right away. I put the bucket in the garage last night to keep the critters away from him, and thought he was dead when I went to look this morning.

I changed the water and he is still hanging on after more stress coat. I hope he makes it - he's the only all yellow baby koi I've found so far and I really wanted one!


Oh... and one of the fish in the large tank indoors was floating dead today too all of a sudden. What is going on???

weather? low pressure system? i hate that lynne. i hate losing even gold fish, let alone koi. i couldn't handle that.

Oh Lynne I am so sorry to hear about the little koi not doing well yet. I will hope tomorrow brings better news

Thanks Jiffy and Carol!

He is hanging in there, in the bucket. He just ate a little bit of dinner, though he seems to be swimming right towards the sides of the bucket and bumping into them as if he cannot see?

Oh, and the crystal clear water this morning is once again all cloudy due to the heavy rains we had a couple of times today! Back and forth and back and forth...

Praying for that little koi, yep I am---I love fish and I hope it makes it Lynne. Koi are pretty finicky fish aren't they? I don't know too much about them.

Thanks so much, Loz! I haven't gone outside yet today to see how he's doing. We had some pretty heavy rain once again early this morning, but he's in the bucket under the deck.

The pond water is pretty cloudy again, and the other fish haven't been coming up to eat like they had been.

Ohhhhhhhh - I learned something interesting the other day at the pond store - they had a sign up that said that water lilies do not grow until the water reaches a temperature of 70 degrees, and that the time to put them in is NOW! I checked our temp. when I got home and it was 75, and guess what? The two pads that are left are turning green - YIPPEE!!!

Algefix can be toxic to fish. Even used as directed. Use it sparingly go to koivet forum and read to discusion on algefix. I use it myself but I am very careful and us it "as need only", not as directed. just mt thoughts on the stuff.

How's the little fishy doing?

Thanks for that info, waterwise!!!
I will go read there as soon as I come in from feeding the fish.

Tamara - I'm going out now to take a look - will let you know soon.

Well... Sunny is now swimming in that big pond in the sky.
He didn't make it through the night...
And the other fish are not coming up to the top to eat anymore - it's been about 2-3 days now... it seems like they are frightened. I hope an animal didn't try to get them when we weren't out there.

I'm so sorry Lynne.....I was soooo hoping to read that he'd lived.

When I have a floater in the pond all the other fish sort of disappear for a while....as if they know and don't want to come up anywhere near it. Usually after I take it out they start acting normal again. Hopefully yours will too.

What do you think would be trying to get the fish? Herons? Or a ground animals of some kind? Cat?

Loz - we took him out of the pond 2 days ago, so they didn't really see him floating...

I'm not sure what/if an animal was trying to get to them... just guessing?

So sorry to hear about Sunny.---I too have hoping tht he would get well---

Something is terribly wrong with our pond. It has gotten very green and murky once again, after being clear earlier this week.

And around 8 tonight we noticed 3 of the koi babies were hanging out in front of the skimmer just not looking right. One in particular would not even swim away when I put my hand in the water right near it several times. I even splashed water at him and he would not swim away like they all usually do. He wasn't dead, but not really moving about either. Then 2 of the others started just hanging around nearby too.

And a few minutes ago Don informed me that Rudolph the Red Nosed koi is now dead. He was one of the 3 acting strangely, so I expect that when I look tomorrow the other 2, if not all 4, will be dead as well. We just don't know what is going on. Don tested the water tonight with his kit and it all came out fine!

I knew I should not have named the fish.
But really... what is happening with the pond?

Ohhh No Lynne I'm so sorry you're having problems with the pond,
I wish I could tell you something to do, but as you know I don't know anything about fish and ponds,, I hope what ever it is you find the answer quickly

i'm wondering if there is some contaminate getting into the pond in the waterfall process?

Thanks Diane and Jiffy

One of the problems could be with the Algaefix we've been using to try and clear up the water. I just read up where waterwise suggested, and it says there that when the algaefix kills the algae, the dead algae depletes much of the oxygen in the pond. That is what we've been thinking is hurting the fish - not enough oxygen - and is why Don set up a generator with a bubbler in the pond.

But it also says if you have a waterfall, especially one that you can hear at least 8 feet away - ours is MUCH stronger - it should be enough oxygen generating. So it is still a puzzle, but thankfully so far from the windows up here I don't see any more dead fish. Don't actually see any fish right now, but they could be hiding under the pot in the bottom. At least they are not up by the surface like last night.

ALL my fish are now dead.

We went to the pond store this morning, and the owner suggested a few things. He said it could be chloramine in the water from our hose filling it every so often, or even toxicity from oak leaves having gotten in it last year. They also tested the water for us and it was perfect as far as the other chemicals are concerned. He suggested putting charcoal in the waterfall filter, like one would do in an aquarium filter so we bought all that there, and then went to PetSmart to buy some other things he suggested that I knew would be cheaper there.

I got a new koi and 2 baby goldfish but put them in the large tank in the basement til we can establish the water in the pond. Made a few more stops on the way home and when we got here around 3, one of the fish was dead by the skimmer. The owner had said that if another one dies to bring it in for him to look at. We had to race back over there - it was 3:40 and they close at 4 and it's a 1/2 hour ride. Thankfully the owner was still there - he took a good look at the fish's gills and said it was definitely a respiratory problem because the gills were all white and they should be red!!!

We came home and Don put the charcoal and other stuff in the pond and then it began to pour outside. It was a very shortlived storm, but right when it was over, the remaining 3 fish were dead by the skimmer!!! Don tested the water to see if it might be acid rain or something, but all the numbers came out fine again. We don't know if they were already dead and the heavy rain caused them to float up to the top, or what??? But we are both extremely frustrated and very sad right now...

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Lynne I feel soooo bad for you,, I know how you looked forward to this summer with the pond,, I sure hope the Charcoal works in the filter Sounds like a good idea,, I've always used charcoaled filters when I had aquariums,, only for you now on a bigger scale,, , it makes sense anyway,

I hope you can feel the virtual hug I'm giving you! {{{{{HHHHHHHHUG}}}}}}

Oh no Lynne. I am very sad for you and the fishies, and I am frustrated for you. It makes no sense when your water levels are good. I sure hope that something can be figured out. I just don't get it. You have a nice big pond with drains, and skimmers and great aeration from a waterfall. I just have a hole in the ground with roofing rubber and a small ($100) pump/filter combo. I just don't understand why you'd have so many problems with the pond. I am praying that it gets worked out because you have so much stress already, you don't need this too!

Is your pond on all night? I know it's a dumb question but plants put oxygen in the pond in the day and steal it at night......if there is no aeration at night it would be very hard on the fish.

I'm just trying to think of things.

Lynne--I know absolutely nothing about ponds--and othert than the usual aqurium filter I know nothing aobut that either---I am so hoping tah between Don and the pool guy a resolution for this problem is found.----it is such a beautiful pond--I hope everything gets straightened out.

Thanks Diane, Loz, and Carol.

Yes, Loz, we leave everything on 24/7. We're hoping that the pond guy is correct and it's just a chloramine problem, or poison from the oak leaves, because that can be fixed with additives. Hopefully...

Don did put some Algaefix in, after he took out the last dead fish, to try and clear the water some, and I won't be putting any more fish in for a few days to give the water a chance to improve with the charcoal and dechlorinator too.

I have lost a total of 8 baby koi, a large goldfish, and a few small goldfish.
Not only is it heartbreaking, but it's costing a lot of money!