Algae hieroglyphs what to do?

[GBBUDD]

beneficial bacteria which is necessary

Bacteria is generally seen by the hobby as needed and as the pond ages it finds it's own balance. I have noticed when i did add beneficial bacteria to the pond particularly in the high flow areas where string algae thrives. Well the results are it most certainly helped. it took the hair algae and transformed it to a weakened and thinned version of it's self. Now the plants have only just begun to grow so the heavily dosed beneficial bacteria gets my vote in breaking up the algae.

 

[addy1]

In addition I was having low ph issues (around 6). Added baking soda and now ph is over 9! I’m not putting more fish in until I get things stabilized. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

My ph sat around 5.7 or so, when I filled the pond, our well is 5.3. Also our water is very soft. I tried baking soda, the ph bounced. I added crushed oyster shells (chicken grit) 100 lbs each year for a few summers. That brought the ph up to a stable 7.6 and the hardness to right around 100. Since then have done nothing and it is stable.

I never do water changes/pond drain clean out since our ph is so low. And I never have with any pond, drained and cleaned out.

 

[Dbarr1575]

So I just found out that the hieroglyphs above have been caused by snails. I just finished a clean out (no scrubbing just removed pea gravel and replaced with a bit larger gravel that my pond vac has a chance of cleaning around) and am getting ready to put the feeder fish I quarantined in the pond, but saw that there are several of these snails. Should I be concerned about this? The pond is only about 250 gallons and these gold fish are about 2 inches long. I have other fish going in next week some that are 6 inches that I'm hoping will eat the snails. Do I need to take them out? I have a clown loach in my aquarium, would it be good to take some out and put them in there for him? Some of the snails are the size of a dime.

FYI the ph has stabilized at 7.5 (well today it tested at 8). Everything else is testing well, even after the torrential rain we had yesterday. I did add a good amount of beneficial bacteria and add more each week.

 

[GBBUDD]

sounds like if you remove then they will just comeback. like frogs snails make a jurney to there next home . some may start eating your plants and or the roots so it depends if they are not then they will nibble on microbiology

 

[Dbarr1575]

So does that mean they are not bad, but not good either? I guess I could use them as a source of treats for my loaches I just want to make sure they won't hurt the fish.

 

[Jhn]

So does that mean they are not bad, but not good either? I guess I could use them as a source of treats for my loaches I just want to make sure they won't hurt the fish.

No the snails won’t bother the fish, most snails we find in our ponds are feeding on decaying plant matter, detritus, algae etc. Some will munch on live aquatic plants, but I've never had an issue with any snails wiping out plants, they tend to find their own balance in the pond. I have never come across a fish eating snail in ponds, the only ones I know of are the marine variety that will eat fish.

 

[GBBUDD]

No they will not hurt the fish unless you have salt water and your snails are conch

 

[Dbarr1575]

Thanks so much for the reply.

 

[Lisak1]

And snails are weird - one day I'll look and there are hundreds... the next day they're gone. Like they had a mass migration!