3 Fish Missing

[jfaulconer]

Hello,

I am new to the forum today, my name is Jodi and I have a small garden pond (145 gallon), which my fish have gotten lost in
due to the fact it is totally green. I am hoping I can find some answers here to my problems with the pond. I do enjoy having it
but it would be so much nicer if it were clear and I could see my fish. I can see my fish when they surface but I do feel so sorry
for them that they are living that way. I want to make them a happy place to live.

We live in the country and there are no stores around us that no much about ponds. We have a Lowe's and Home Depot fairly close
but they don't have any answers to how to keep my pond clean. The nearest pond store is about 2 hours away, makes it hard to find
things for it. But I guess there is the world wide web......... :cheerful:

I am hoping that you all will be able to steer me in the right direction, and I hope you will bare with me as I try to learn more about
the pond.

I have had my pond almost 5 years with the same 3 fish. Every year it is green. I clean it with a pressure washer and shop vac,
then fill it withh nice clean water and within a week its green again. It does get full sun most of the day with shade in the evening.
I have some snails in the pond along with several frogs. The frogs came on their own, the snails I bought thinking they would clean
the pond. I keep some plants in the pond but I am not buying any this year until I get it cleaned out again for the season.

I have enclosed a pic. Please excuse how messy it looks, I usually plant lot of plants around it but its not time for that. It needs cleaned out
first.

 

[HTH]

Feed floating food and they will come up and feed so you can count them.

Most of us fight with some green water or algae in the spring.

A shop vac is ok to remove gunk. Pressure washing is going to strip off the biobugs and your pond will have to cycle again. That would help turn it green.

Is there a filter or air to the pond ?

 

[jfaulconer]

HowardTheHumble:

I guess maybe I shouldn't use the pressure washer then, great to know since I am going to clean the pond in a few days.
Waiting for the temps to get a little more stable before I clean and add plants.

I guess I don't have a filter like I should. I just have a little pond fountain that circulates the water, and cleans a little bit of stuff from
the bottom. I friend of mine said I should look into a small UV filter to use. But I don't know enough about them to know what I need
to purchase one or even a good filter. Do you have any advice? I feel silly asking since I just have this little dinky pond and you all
have these huge wonderful ponds with huge fish...... :cheerful:

I did see my fish this afternoon. They are there along with a huge snail that came up closer to the side of the pond.

Jodi

 

[HTH]

A lot of us started with small ponds. I started with aquariums, indoor stock tanks, and then started digging holes. It is contagious.

I would not go with a UV just yet. They make nice little in pond box filters, often a sponge and some plastic media, that should be just about perfect for your pond. Clean weekly or as needed. Most of us put up with some green in the spring. Get the filter and give it a month. I was thinkng a small water lilie would look nice. Thinking a Helvola.

 

[sissy]

easy quilt batting and a dollar store basket WELCOME
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[jfaulconer]

HTH: What a cute lily. I have never had lilys, just water lettuce and some hyacinths. I will try a lily this time.
I will see about the filter and try it. We just bought a gazebo and my son wants to put a large pond around it, but
with the trouble I have with a small one, I don't want to deal with something over my head. Just asking for more
trouble. Looking for the lily now..

Sissy: Thanks for the advice on how to make a filter. I will see what I can come up with.

Thank you both for your advice. I will see how this all works out.

 

[HTH]

DIY'ing the filter is not that hard. Given that you had a preformed pond I was not sure if it was a good idea to introduce the DY route.

Small ponds can be more difficult to keep the larger ones. But play with the small one first and read here to get some ideas so you can plan adequate filtration etc.

Have fun.

AH most water lilies would be either to big or dominate that little pond. You need a small one that is why I suggested Helvola.

 

[jfaulconer]

Thanks. I was thinking maybe I should do some more research on the filter thing.

I have looked up the Helvola lily already, I will order the lily.

Jodi

 

[HTH]

If you are into crafting etc do not underestimate what you do with DIY.

 

[jfaulconer]

Ha Ha HTH: I am a crafter, my husband is always amazed at what I come up with sometimes.
I have been looking in my closet for quilt batting and I have a dollar store basket I am thinking about
rigging up the extra pump in the garage..( to told my husband about it and it thinks it will work )..I will have to read some more on the subject. I will keep
you posted on the outcome. I guess it won't hurt to try. I am going to clean the pond before doing this,
there is black muck on the bottom I want to get out of there.

thanks for all your help HTH:

Jodi

 

[HTH]

If you have any of the larger #7 plastic canvas or #5 latch hook base you can build input screens for the pump. My wife makes these for me,

This is based on a 2 inch PVC pipe. Ones sized to fine your pond and pump would be smaller Each takes 3 plastic canvas circles. Use synthetic yarn to keep it from rotting.
As you can see the pipe does not come to the end so you need to make it friction fit the plastic canvas. You could also big holes in the pipe and let it touch the plastic canvas. Both work The more surface area they have the slower the water enters the mesh and the less apt it is to plug up.

 

[gardengimp]

Jodi, something I did with my first pond (which was well under 300 gallons); I made a filter cage for the fountain pump. I bought a kids black plastic lunchbox and drilled a bunch of 1/2" holes in the plastic. I also drilled holes the size for the tubing for the fountain and the size for the electrical cord. I bought a bunch of pot scrubbies and stuffed inside the lunchbox with the pump in the very middle. If I wanted to do a special cleaning job, I could wrap 'by the yard' quilt batting around the outside of the lunchbox and tie it with string; sort of like wrapping a box with paper and ribbon.

 

[addy1]

hth I like your cover, that would work great on my set up. Where do you get the plastic canvas?

 

[HTH]

hth I like your cover, that would work great on my set up. Where do you get the plastic canvas?

Anyplace that sells craft supplies. We have a local variety store that sells it, Michel's, Hobby Lobby etc.

I am running a RIO 2500 pump with a five foot head. The screen clogged once when I first installed it and then ran the rest of the summer without problem in a stock tank with 4 water lilies in it. Actually I had 4 tanks cascading into each other each with one of these on the output side.

 

[sissy]

any craft store carries it addy .Geeze when mom in law passed she had lots of it and there is a box of it in my closet and there are even round circle and heart and square shaped ones she bought .Even walmart has plastic canvas .I would look at the hole count because some i have the holes are bigger .