Hi from Southern California

[SCCathy]

I recently moved to Thousand Oaks, CA and added a small pond with a black plastic liner in the back yard. Added a filter with a small fountain and a bamboo "deer chaser", then added plants (water hyacinths, water lettuce, a couple of tall grasses and a water lily.) I have stocked the pond twice with small feeder goldfish and both times the fish died. Now the floating plants are turning brown and slowly dying and the water lily has not grown. Our water is heavily chlorinated and I always added dechlorinator when adding water to the pond. I had a small pond at our previous house in West LA and the plants grew and the fish thrived. What could be wrong with my current setup? Any suggestions would be welcome

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group


How big is your filter? Have you tested your water i.e. a test kit?

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the Forum!
Post some photos when you can and I would like to see a detailed picture of the deer chaser. I have been wanting to make one.

 

[SCCathy]

Why has my introductory post dropped off the list? What am I doing wrong? I've only received this single response and I see that other postings have many replies.

 

[j.w]

SCCathy

Nice to have you here and I see your post loud and clear. Maybe we can help you w/ a bit more info

 

[johnnyi]

Your introductory post is still visable here. Anyway, welcome!

John

 

[fishin4cars]

Welcome aboard,
What is your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH levels? How long has the pond been set up? what is the temp? The more information and pics you can supply the more likely we can make suggestions to what might be going on.

 

[SCCathy]

Thanks to all who replied - I'm off to find a water testing kit so I can "give you more info".

 

[sissy]

welcome sccathy and could be you need to put the water in buckets and dechlorinate and wait then add it to the water .I have been seeing a lot about water quality these days and they keep adding more stuff to city water .I read about water that was showing traces of medicines that people are throwing out .You may need to test to make sure

 

[SCCathy]

OK, I took a cup of water to the pond store and they analyzed it - said there was nothing wrong with the water and that my plants could be reacting to the ick treatment we used to try to save the fish. They said I should drain the pond and start over. Our tap water is highly chlorinated, and we have been having some really strange weather - super hot one day and overcast and cool the next. All these things could contribute to my problems, but I'm not adding more fish until I'm sure the problems are solved. Does anyone know if the filtration and water softening system that I have on the house water would make it a better source of water?

 

[SCCathy]

I have been filling a large bin with water, adding the dechlorinator, then waiting for a day before adding it to the pond. Is that what you're sugggesting?

 

[addy1]

That will help your fish. Another thing that will help is post in one of the sub forums, start a thread on the issues you are having, a lot of people don't look at the intro thread once they have responded and said Hi to you.

I answered right under your first post so your intro thread was seen.

sissy keeps barrels of water sitting to add to her fish when needed. I am on a well, so no worries about dechlor, but I have acidic well water.

 

[sissy]

You never want to empty your pond and start over all you need is some salt maybe .I use solar salt they sell it at lowes for around 6 dollars a big bag ,I have koi so they seem to need it .I have well water but don't like to add it straight from the well .Did they give you an idea or printout on your water quality .I had one place that I don;t think were even testing my water and just told me they were .

 

[fishin4cars]

I highly recommend against starting over. As addy said, some of us may over look this being in intro's, start a new thread and try and get all the info of your pond down and what you have done. If your water is checking ok, and you have water that has been set out for longer than 48 hours I would start by changing enough to use that water. starting over your never going to get the pond to balance, but a large water change will get the slate clean enough to try a different approach ( IF ) needed.

 

[addy1]

It takes time to balance out a pond. A mistake people make is .......yuck it is green cloudy whatever, drain, clean and refill, now they are starting that pond over again.