Disgusted with water

[Angie]

I have a problem that I hope someone can help me with. My pond has been reasonably clear with a hint of brown, until yesterday. When I went out there, I couldn't see anything in my pond except black muck. Some of my plants, such as irises have fallen branches lying on the water, and you can tell that they are blackened with this stuff It rinses off when you swish them around. I tested my water today, and everything seems to be ok, with PH up just a little. I'm very new to this and don't know if it's some type of algae or what. My pond is approx. 800 gal. with a 4200 gph submersible pump in the skimmer, with a 35 gal barrel filter holding sponges and scrubbers. My water looks clear coming out of the filter, but the pond looks terrible. Please help! Thanks :neutral:

 

[addy1]

Can you post a picture of what it looks like?

 

[sissy]

sounds like aphids .I had them on my lotus leaves

I think this pic shows them best

 

[sissy]

They will suck the life out of the plants .You will have to remove your plants and wash them in warm soapy water and rinse them good .They have an insecticidal soap that is supposed to be safe it is called Natria .it works pretty good and safe for people and pets .

 

[don't ask]

that really sucks Angie, hope sissy's prognosis and remedy will take care of the problem

 

[Angie]

Thanks Sissy! I will give this a try..

 

[j.w]

Yuck I had them on my lily's and plants really bad one year and I was told to keep spraying them off the plants w/ a hose into the water. The fish ate them when they went in the water but the bugs that survived the fish still came back every time. It was quite annoying. Finally they were gone when fall came and all the plants were done for the winter. Haven't seen an infestation like that since. That soap stuff sounds like it might do the trick!

 

[JohnHuff]

If you just spray the aphids off the lily pads they just climb back on again, but I taught my fish to eat them.

I sprayed the aphids off the lily pads and towards a corner, then I sprinkled a little fish food among them. The fish ate the food and then the aphids. I did that a few days in a row and after that the aphids were gone. But every season you have to teach the fish to do it again. It's mostly the smaller fish that will eat them.

But I've never had so many aphids in the pond that it turned the water dirty, I thought the OP was a water quality problem.

 

[buckry]

What about the aphids is making the water dirty? I don't understand. The water just looks like it has clay floating in it, is this some sort of plant material or aphid waste instead?

 

[sissy]

My plants there are in a stock tank so no filter but there are lots of taddies that eat the aphids and this is the first time I have ever gotten them also .My koi would destroy these plants and only way to grow them is in a stock tank .I have been hearing and seeing aphids real bad in a couple of my neighbors ponds and wonder if it is due to the warm winter .They say there are supposed to be more bugs this year .My neighbors roses got attacked by them and i bought the natria stuff for my roses just in case they decide to taste test mine .The other stuff is called fairy moss It can be green or brown ,it grows great in the stock tank but in the pond the fish just eat it up .That is my 150 gallon stock tank

 

[SE18]

aphids or something have been munching on my alberta spruce near the canal; I know there are remedies but letting nature take its course and will plant something native instead; lady bugs eat aphids, I think

 

[Neo]

I have the same problem with brown tinted water in one of my ponds also. It looks like watered down coffee or tea. I suspect my problem is sandstone in the waterfall though.

 

[buckry]

Is that stock tank in your pond or off to the side somewhere?

I don't know Neo, sand is heavy as hell, if you're erroding sandstone into your pond I would think that would sink straight to the bottom. Even when I was trying to make my own sand filter and throwing handfulls of sand into the water 90% of it sunk immediatley and just some dust that was in the sand clouded up the water, but then the filter took care of this in under an hour.

 

[Neo]

I don't know Neo, sand is heavy as hell, if you're erroding sandstone into your pond I would think that would sink straight to the bottom. Even when I was trying to make my own sand filter and throwing handfulls of sand into the water 90% of it sunk immediatley and just some dust that was in the sand clouded up the water, but then the filter took care of this in under an hour.

True and it does clear up from time to time so I just assume the koi are stirring it up a lot. I haven't really investigated the bottom yet to see.

 

[sissy]

my stock tank is next to my pond at least one of them is the 300 gallon one is out in the back yard.I built my pond so I could view it from up on my covered front porch .The stock tank came with a built in heater