[Petes Pond]

Where do I start.
My Problem is I cant stop the fish from Flicking and Flashing, they are also sitting on the bottom of the pond in the corner and only come up to feed.

They have been scraped and I have found nothing on them, I have treated the pond with 2 treatments of FMG early September, treated again late September with of 2 treatments PP, the latest treatment im trying is Chloromine T, to see if its more a bacterial infection in the water.
I have a 5,000 Gallon pond thats filtered with a Baki Shower, Nexus 200 and a 5 bay pod system. All systems are running independantly and the filters are cleaned weekly. I also have 2 X 55 Watt UV`s. The water tests that we have done in recent weeks show the parameters as good, Ammonium 0, PH 7.5, Nitrite 0.25, Nitrate 2.5, GH 3, KH 6 these tests have been taken with an NTLABS test kit.
I am really getting to the end of my Knowledge an looking for help.
Any ideas please?

[Davej]

Hiya

When things seem amiss and scrapes are clean then its sometimes best to sit on the fence, check the basics, practice A1 husbandy and wait; appreciate it’s so much easier said than done.

Problem comes that any medications will knock back even healthy Koi and sometimes make getting to the root cause more difficult.

But we are where we are - so lets move forward.

• How much water do you change?
• Have you checked the chlorine filter is working?
• Any overhanging trees etc?
• How confident are you with the scrape results - were these prior to treatments

?

Immediate term, providing the carbon filter was working then I would be shifting water, 10% a day for 4 to 5 days to see if things picked up and scraping to see what showed.

Please dont throw more chemicals in until you have a target.

Dave

[Petes Pond]

Hi Dave
Thanks for coming back to me.
The water changes are more like top ups from cleaning out the filters. This would be about 200 to 300 Gallons at a time.
The Water in and around Taunton is very soft and has very little chlorine. When filling the pond the hose sits on a wall and therefore drops in the pond from a height. the water isn`t filtered as it goes into the pond its streight from the tap and no carbon filter!
I`ll get a new Carbon Filter and start the 10% changes tomorrow.

Many thanks

Pete

[Davej]

Hiya Pete

After adding the chemical cocktail you have put in then changing water may just do the trick.

Dont take generic Chlorine levels for granted.. Too easy to come a cropper..

Dave

[Petes Pond]

Hi Dave
Ive started to do the water changes this evening with a new carbon pre filter. You have mentioned the Chlorine levels in the water.What do you treat your pond with to combat this?

Pete

[Doghouse Riley]

Hi Pete,

You can avoid worrying about chlorine if instead of doing "bulk changes" you trickle change direct into the pool 24/7. The merest dribble will add up to a considerable amount of water and the chlorine will dissipate quite quickly in this way.
It's easy enough to do if you've an overflow that goes to a drain. You can check the rate by dribbling it into a container of known volume timing it and doing the maths. In this way you can work out a weekly 10% change or whatever you want to change each week. I add mine to the return after it leaves the filter, so the flow pushes the fresh water across the pool. I've a dedicated tap in my filter room for that purpose and the fresh water dribbles into a clear funnel, so that I can always see the rate that it's going in if I choose.
Remember that must utility companies reduce the water pressure between midnight and around 6.00 am. (it's because of all their leaks) so the actual volume would be slightly less.

[Petes Pond]

That sounds like a plan. Thanks.

I have been toying with the idea of introducing salt in the coming weeks as a tonic to help boost their fluids and de-stress them after the chemical treatments.
What do you think, can it do any harm over the winter?

Pete

[Davej]

Pete

Any Chlorine going in will need something to oxidise in a similar way to that when you add PP it oxidises on organics in the water column.

If there aren’t enough organics then it will remain and fishes gills will get compromised.

So adding water through a carbon filter or adding dechlorinator is always advised when adding more than a very low trickle.

I wouldn’t be adding salt it in your situation, I’d be concentrating on changing water and rescraping.

Dave

[freddy]

Hi Dave.

Sorry to go slightly off-thread, but you touched on something I've been wondering about. How does one know if a carbon filter is still working?

Cheers...Freddy.

[Gazfish]

Hi Guys,

Yes adding water to a pond is best done with a suitable purifier as there can be all sorts in our water that will be no good for the fish.

I use a water meter (the one i filled the pond with) on a purifier as they all have a maximum gallonage that you can put through them before they are not effective and i tend to change mine early anyway.