Putting this on for advice or anyone who has had this problem with there fish pond.Its a shot in the dark question. Reason is that i haven t seen any wiki member who has put any post up about fish ponds or treatments. Here goes. Done a fish pond in my garden last year and it all turned out great. Then algea started to appear in the water . Looked up advice in the internet and took 2 options 1.barley bales, which i did ,and made no difference. 2.Hydra crystal solution, Worked for 2 days and the water went green again. Tried everything by emptying half the water and putting it back. The fish are healthy enough but i can only see them when they come to the top.
I used to get this in the pond in my old house. It's basically caused by the sunlight on the water. The best way to fix the problem is to fit a filter but it can be a bit expensive as it will involve wiring, a pump and a filter. Did you put enough barley in? I found it worked really well. Good luck
If the algae is so bad buy a pump with a UV light in it. There's not cheap but it will keep your water like crystal. You can get them for garden ponds and places like Europa pools use UV disinfection because the UV light kills everything including Cryptosporidium that even Chlorine won't kill.
I used to get this in the pond in my old house. It's basically caused by the sunlight on the water. The best way to fix the problem is to fit a filter but it can be a bit expensive as it will involve wiring, a pump and a filter. Did you put enough barley in? I found it worked really well. Good luck
Hi Uffda,Yes the pond has a pump and filter.I keep it well maintained 3 barley bales are in the pond now. The 28 days are up and no sign of the algea clearing.
I will try Captain Americas advice.......DD helped me look for one today. So will keep you both updated. Thanks to both of you x
I have a uv on mine and also use cloverleaf treatment which works well but unless you have a uv light on the pond this will happen all the time
Is the cloverleaf treatment in tablet or liquid? Am a bit wary of the pond water treatments in case they harm the fish. I will keep you all updated.Really gratefull for your advice.
Its been a right stubborn pond, we have tried three different chemical/biological treatments (each one at least twice) and while they show a tiny (and I mean tiny) short term improvement, the pond reverts within a couple of weeks.
UV seems to be the way to go, in the long term it will probably end up cheaper than successive biochemical treatments and hopefully actually do something.
The pond is just one year old now and even over winter the algae didn't subside, the most visibility has been about 8 inches and that was short-lived, its normally around the 2 inch mark. The filter system ensures its not physically thick, it is literally just like dark green dye. The filter captures brown stuff which I presume is dead algae.
I have taken a photo of the pond today,Water is so green,Will put a photo of the pond on this thread at a later date. Waiting on the UV kit to arrive. And fingers crossed this works.
Bit off topic but I was out in the garden today and discovered that I have tad poles in my pond. I don't have fish as I only put it in as a feature but was delighted to see I have some life in there.
Hi Dusty,had a look at them on Google images and the newt ones seem to have fins either side and mine don't. Hope you are right though but I'm happy whatever they are
Today DD helped me install the uv Filter.Thanks DD xx Here is a photo of the pond water, So fingers crossed in 2 weeks time it will be crystal clear. Thanks to everyone for there advise. Will put another photo up when or if the water clears.
Well its been nearly 2 weeks since the uv filter was fitted,here are the results. There is a big difference but water seems to be cloudy now.Am sure this will go through time as well. I can see the fish in the pond now lol.
Seems to be entering a more stable stage again. The dead/dying algae was clumping and instead of arriving at the main filter it would either block the pump grills or clog the pipes so virtually the whole system has been getting a daily clean.
I have been mulling over whether to increase the flow rate to reduce the pipe clogging but kept it at the standard rate as the slower the water passes the UV, the higher the certainty of algae kill - which seems to have paid off.
At last it has gone back to dumping brown deposits in the main filter and the pumps are starting to stay relatively clear.
Planning another water change mid-week of approximately 20% and will keep repeating this every two to three weeks.
If the clouding doesn't subside I will add some bacteria and switch the UV off for a couple of days to let the bacteria take hold and then switch the UV back on.
Hello folks. A bit off topic again, but just to let you know my taddies are still swimming around and I have seen three frogs lurking in the rocks. None of the taddies have sprouted any legs yet . The frogs are very dark coloured. Snowy and DD your pond is looking good. I have nothing in mine but a pump recirculating the water through my homemade feature. Good luck.
Hello folks. A bit off topic again, but just to let you know my taddies are still swimming around and I have seen three frogs lurking in the rocks. None of the taddies have sprouted any legs yet . The frogs are very dark coloured. Snowy and DD your pond is looking good. I have nothing in mine but a pump recirculating the water through my homemade feature. Good luck.
You got your frogs and taddies Dilly. .Is your pond deep? Thanks for the compliment by the way. There are 10 goldfish in mine all growing big and healthy. Would have loved a cpouple of carp but there too expensive.
Not too deep Snowy about 18 inches I think. It's a preformed one that ive sunken in the ground. I only wanted it to make a bit of a water feature of so the wildlife is a bonus. The birds like to drink from it even though I have a birdbath , well I hope they are drinking and not trying to eat my taddies
Its nice to wake up to the sound of running water,am tempted to do one myself, my dads had Coy Carp in his for years, he`s lost a few to the odd Heron,but he got over that by building the wall higher as they tend to step in the water and fish,its usually the first place I go when am there,I like your fish pond snowy, He has a UV filter an pump which keeps the water nice an clear,
He`s had the net also had a decoy Heron but since building wall up,he`s never had a problem also they used to jump out the water and die,you`ll have to watch out for that.
Never had that problem Van.well netted and cant jump. If you do decide to do a pond .I can help you if needed. Dilly has made his a little nature garden,with his frogs and tadpoles lol.Well done dilly
He`s had the net also had a decoy Heron but since building wall up,he`s never had a problem also they used to jump out the water and die,you`ll have to watch out for that.
I read somewhere that you`re supposed to have two decoy herons so that any flying overhead think that there`s already a breeding pair there.
Its nice to wake up to the sound of running water,am tempted to do one myself, my dads had Coy Carp in his for years, he`s lost a few to the odd Heron,but he got over that by building the wall higher as they tend to step in the water and fish,its usually the first place I go when am there,I like your fish pond snowy, He has a UV filter an pump which keeps the water nice an clear,
I`ll get some photos next time am there.
Remember to take some pics of your dads pond Van. I would love to see it.
Well folks here is the result, DD and i are well pleased with the result. It was worth investing in the UV filter. water is far clearer and the fish are happy. Here are the photos.
Yep, keeps on clearing in stages, last couple of days the filter has suddenly started collecting loads of stuff again. Still cleaning filter daily and clearing pumps most days as well.
Was going to do another water change this week but as its going through a period of improvement I'll let it progress naturally for another couple of weeks.
Visibility is about 8 inches which is pretty good.
Most of the fish you see,he`s had for must be getting on 20 yrs and we haven't cleaned the pond out since he fitted the UV filter about ten years ago its always clean
Still clearing, at last we could see to the bottom a few days ago (which was lucky as I accidentally dropped something in!) and in the last few days it is still getting clearer and we can now start seeing detail on the bottom.
Still collecting a fair bit of dead and live algae in the filter/pumps/pipes but I have been messing around with the water flow direction to help clear up all areas of the pond.
The 10 fish have been taking time to adjust to being able to see each other but now swim as one shoal most of the time which is absolutely great to see.
It is supposed to be 10 males, unfortunately it appears there is at least one female and we suspect two. There was spawning behaviour with one fish getting chased, pushed and shoved for a full day.
Good news is the water is now cleared and we can exactly see what is happening in that pond . I would guess 2 females and 8 males. Your hard work and patience paid off at last DD. Thank you xx
It is supposed to be 10 males, unfortunately it appears there is at least one female and we suspect two. There was spawning behaviour with one fish getting chased, pushed and shoved for a full day.
Good news about the improving water quality. The bad news is that by the sound of it the bearings on the water pump are squealing and well and truly buggered! (Or is it some sort of music ???)
Must be very satisfying finally getting the water clear and being able to actually see what youve got so to speak. Will they all settle down together eventually and stop the permanent chasing ,or do you have to adjust the balance between the sexes and swop a few males for females?
Must be very satisfying finally getting the water clear and being able to actually see what youve got so to speak. Will they all settle down together eventually and stop the permanent chasing ,or do you have to adjust the balance between the sexes and swop a few males for females?
That s the pond clear now . Fish did calm down yesterday and everything back to normal Venice.
It was just the spawning, female full of eggs ready to drop out, males physically agitate the female to help get the eggs out and try to be first to fertilise them when they do.
Females get a bit of bruising sometimes but this one seems unscathed.
We think the eggs have been eaten already or may have arrived in the filter which is fine as we don't want loads of goldfish arriving.