Algae bloom will it dissipate on its own?

[SEKCOBRA]

Thanks Lisa. The cattails and lilies are in the gravel as well as a few plants in the stream. Others are in pots. Problem is most of the plants I find locally are 1/2 in depth meaning shallow plants. My bog area is about a foot deep. I need some plants that I can plant that deep. Having a hard time finding any in local pond stores. I would love to put more lilies in but they are $40 a pop. Thinking about getting more water hyacinth and water lettuce today.

I thought the sludge away might have decomposed the nutrients in the stream bed and helped kill off the string algae there. Just crazy how it disappeared. The stream and waterfall rocks are as clean as the first week. Just checked my water this am. PH 8.8 everything else 0. temp 68. Fish are deep so I cant see them. They seem to get more active and come up late in the day and as the sun goes down since the water turned green.

 

[qclabrat]

Thanks Lisa. The cattails and lilies are in the gravel as well as a few plants in the stream. Others are in pots. Problem is most of the plants I find locally are 1/2 in depth meaning shallow plants. My bog area is about a foot deep. I need some plants that I can plant that deep. Having a hard time finding any in local pond stores. I would love to put more lilies in but they are $40 a pop. Thinking about getting more water hyacinth and water lettuce today.

check Craigslist for people looking to get rid of pond plants, I've gotten free and $5 lilies this spring
This is my first spring having started the pond in summer last year. Still have a lot of string algae though the water is clear. Hoping the plants start to grow more and starve out the algae.

 

[MitchM]

Can you just clarify that your salinity was at 0.8% and not 0.08%?
0.8% is very high, higher than medication level. In your original posts you started out at 0.3%, if I'm not mistaken.
Any plants that are subject to 0.8% will die. You'll have to start over with new plants, other than lilies. Lilies are not great at reducing the level of nutrients in the pond.

(@Lisak1 , I'm sure you mean to stop the water changes once the salt level is down below 0.1%?)

Also, without mechanical filtration, or substantial plant filtration, you'll see an increase of phosphate and nitrate levels. Bacteria alone will not filter a pond. Have you measured nitrates yet?

I'm a little puzzled at whoever set up your pond and wonder what they were thinking. (no mechanical filtration plus salt...?)

 

[Lisak1]

@MitchM - absolutely!

And I'm not positive, but I get the feeling @SEKCOBRA is getting pond maintenance advice from someone other than the original builder - since he's been told the gravel bottom is a problem, for example. The advice sounds like it's coming from a koi-keeping person as opposed to an eco-pond person. Just a guess, though. He has lost confidence in his pond's ability to function as it was designed.

 

[Tula]

So, you've lost three fish in total? Some fish had redness / ulcers, torn/ missing tails and mouth rot...two that died had no obvious problems.

You've treated the pond twice for flukes? With what and was salt in the pond when you treated?

It seems the filtration design of your pond is plants growing in a gravel flow through bog....however your plants are not thriving ( probably because of salinity ) , so for now gravel is the primary filtration?

You're changing out about 10 % of water volume per week?

I'm asking these question to make sure I understand what's going on

 

[Jhn]

Get your salinity down as MitchM suggested, then get more plants.

Some bog plants that will do well in a foot of water....pickerel rush, Thalia, arrow arum, parrot feather. With a foot of water over the bog you could add hornwort or anacharis in there as well.

Also, you can plant a lot of marginals in between the rocks at the edge of your pond like creeping Jenny or water forget me not. Just wedge them in there so there roots are at least wet.

 

[Bluerooster]

I'm about as "Noob" as you can get when it comes to ponds. I had the same green water problem. Fish didn't seem to care though. Then about a week ago I stepped out and it was crystal clear. Seemingly overnight.
What really suprized me was the lack of detritus on the bottom of the pond when it cleared. I'd expected to find an inch of sludge and other debris. All there is, is a few gravels that had washed in from the sides, and some cat litter that had been spilled when I planted a lily. Mabe a handful of pine needles at the deepest point.
I was pleasantly surprized.

 

[SEKCOBRA]

So, you've lost three fish in total? Some fish had redness / ulcers, torn/ missing tails and mouth rot...two that died had no obvious problems.

You've treated the pond twice for flukes? With what and was salt in the pond when you treated?

It seems the filtration design of your pond is plants growing in a gravel flow through bog....however your plants are not thriving ( probably because of salinity ) , so for now gravel is the primary filtration?

You're changing out about 10 % of water volume per week?

I'm asking these question to make sure I understand what's going on

Ok guys
Sorry I did not see the response till today. Lisa your correct. Koi guy hates my pond. I take his advice knowing he wants my fish in a sterile pool. Salinity is 0.5. Pond is clearing the last two days. I had or suspected flukes so I did two doses of prazi. I removed three fish before the treatment that were in bad shape. No way they were going to make a recovery. After the treatment I lost two that had no obvious signs on them. Looked fine when I found them dead. Its been about two weeks since last dead fish and no problems. Water parameters are always good except for high PH. 8.8 today. Im letting things run. All im doing now is adding plants. Still would like to get the salinity down so I have to do water changes. is 0.5 not good for plants? some of my plants seem to do well and some seem like they are just ok. I know some are more tolerant to salt then others. Also concerned they wont do well with the high PH but nothing I can do about that.

 

[Lisak1]

Also concerned they wont do well with the high PH but nothing I can do about that.

Correct. Keep working on getting the salt out of the water. While some plants may TOLERATE it, none of them NEED it. Salt can be useful for treating wounds on fish, but the recommendation is to put the affected fish into a salt bath, rather than treating the whole pond.

Again - your plants may not look great the first year. They need time to settle in and your pond water needs time to mature. If they seem to be struggling like they may die, you can fertilize them locally without affecting the pond. I'd say add more fish, but until you get your fish concerns under control I don't think I'd recommend that right now.

Stay the course. Pond will continue to clear. Fish will begin to thrive. Plants will start to grow. ALL WILL BE WELL!

 

[Lisak1]

I meant to add - you mentioned the green water as one of your major problems. It's not. It's not what you want to see eventually, but for right now it's not a problem you should concern yourself with. It doesn't bother the fish - in fact, it's helping them by keeping your water healthy for them. Remember how we keep saying "add plants add plants add plants"? In the meantime, the algae is doing what the plants will do eventually - eating up those nutrients that would otherwise be harmful to the fish. Same with the string algae - it's just a sign of what's going on with your water. Accept that the pond will be green until it's ready to not be green anymore!

 

[sissy]

dollar store toilet bowl brush works great on string algae in removing it .remember some meds do not work well with a uv or activate charcoal

 

[Don Koi]

I'm going to recommend you stop the water changes, too. It's a subject of some debate, but in my experience with an eco-pond there is just no need for it. Let the water in the pond mature. Every time you add new water the process gets disrupted and the balancing act starts over. Water changes are a carry over from the aquarium hobby and are done regularly by folks who have DKPs (dedicated koi ponds) but those are not eco-ponds. You want your pond to become mostly self-sufficient - you feed the fish, the fish feed the plants, the plants clean the water. The only "you" in that equation is the fun and relaxation of feeding your fish!

Again - others will disagree with that advice, but we're in our seventh year with our pond and we've never done an intentional water change. We top off when we lose water due to evaporation and get fresh water when it rains, but that's it.

As for the Sludge Away, I think that's another bacterial type product that is supposed to speed decomposition. It shouldn't actively kill anything that's living though.

I know you said you added a bunch of plants, but your pond is large and those plants are tiny! Give them time to grow, KEEP ADDING MORE and you'll see the magic happen. Are those plants still in pots? The effectiveness of plants increase dramatically when they are planted directly in the pond. I would focus on getting your bog area planted - that will help a lot.

Patience, patience, patience! Year one is never an indication of how a pond will function over time. I'll keep repeating it - you have a good pond set up! Don't give up on it before it has a chance to do what it was designed to do!

100% agree.. thumbs up here

 

[Lisak1]

100% agree.. thumbs up here

Hey thanks for agreeing with me @Don Koi - this is an older thread, but I'm pretty sure @SEKCOBRA got his green water under control. We haven't seen him here in a bit.

 

[Mmathis]

Hey there, @Don Koi! Welcome! We’d love to see pictures of your pond! Why not go over to our “introductions“ topic.

 

[poconojoe]

Almost got me!
I'm not getting hooked on the old thread revival again!
@brokensword would never let me get away with that!
And I might disagree with myself!