High Nitrate level

[WaterGardener]

I'm with j.w here. Does rain in your area tend to be acidic? It is where I live and heavy rain can cause a pH crash, killing your beneficial bacteria and your fish. That would explain the high ammonia on the test. The large water change would have brought the pH back to a better level.

I'm guessing the other test results are from strips. If that is the case, they aren't reliable and tend to give false readings.

Please consider getting liquid tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and KH. They would give you a better idea of what is going on.

 

[grumpyseagull]

also i just noticed your pond is roughly 1000gal so maybe your koi/ghosts/goldfish have grown in the 11 years you have had them and you are now reaching a tipping point on your filter versus fish waste maybe time to think about a bit more filtration or move a couple of fish on, a lot of forum members use an upflow bog as there only filtration with fantastic results.

will give it ago - although i did an approx 75% water change a few weeks ago, as for the bombs yeah evolution aqua bombs and again i have used these in the past with no problems. apart from the water change is it worth getting something like blaggdon ammonia remover. will attach some photos of pond later as i only have room for a yamitus black box with a seperate uv

 

[WaterGardener]

If there was a pH crash and you have adequate filtration, the bacteria will recover fairly quickly.

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much filtration, so adding more is never a bad idea in my opinion, especially on a smaller pond.

For the ammonia, if you can get some Prime made by Seachem, it will bind the ammonia to keep it from affecting the fish. It will last for 48 hours and will then need to be dosed again. Keep that up until the ammonia disappears.

 

[grumpyseagull]

also i just noticed your pond is roughly 1000gal so maybe your koi/ghosts/goldfish have grown in the 11 years you have had them and you are now reaching a tipping point on your filter versus fish waste maybe time to think about a bit more filtration or move a couple of fish on, a lot of forum members use an upflow bog as there only filtration with fantastic results.

here are the photos as u can see under the dragon is my black box n uv....where the old green door is the underneath dry compartment where my electrics are....i had it built like that as i wanted to get a pond that looked like one of the tanks in the shops and i didnt want plants etc...but any ideas on adding other filtrations would be good

 

[grumpyseagull]

If there was a pH crash and you have adequate filtration, the bacteria will recover fairly quickly.

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much filtration, so adding more is never a bad idea in my opinion, especially on a smaller pond.

For the ammonia, if you can get some Prime made by Seachem, it will bind the ammonia to keep it from affecting the fish. It will last for 48 hours and will then need to be dosed again. Keep that up until the ammonia disappears.

thanks for the advice.....

 

[yorkshire pudding]

will give it ago - although i did an approx 75% water change a few weeks ago, as for the bombs yeah evolution aqua bombs and again i have used these in the past with no problems. apart from the water change is it worth getting something like blaggdon ammonia remover. will attach some photos of pond later as i only have room for a yamitus black box with a seperate uv

as @WaterGardener says get some seachem prime to bind the ammonia till it comes down, if it was me i would do a few water changes till the ammonia comes down, remember to re dose the prime every 48hours. the pond bombs dont really have much effect in this cold weather although EA will probably say otherwise

 

[grumpyseagull]

Thanks
just ordered some seachem from amazon

 

[GBBUDD]

A 75% water change is a lot and could shock the fish , Mainly by temp. And after such to have 2ppm if accurate your lucky you didn't loose all the fish. But rain generally is not enough to spike that badly was there a fire in the area or a large fire a ways away ? your being dead set against plants removes some of the best filtering money can buy MOTHER NATURE .

I might consider building a bog with a full length weir running down the left side of the raised pond

 

[grumpyseagull]

A 75% water change is a lot and could shock the fish , Mainly by temp. And after such to have 2ppm if accurate your lucky you didn't loose all the fish. But rain generally is not enough to spike that badly was there a fire in the area or a large fire a ways away ? your being dead set against plants removes some of the best filtering money can buy MOTHER NATURE .

I might consider building a bog with a full length weir running down the left side of the raised pond

Thanks for the advice and its nice to get different points of view - as for plants until now as never crossed my mind as the pond has been fine for 11 years as it is with no extra fish just the ones i have moved from my previous house back in 2010. one of the earlier comments suggested that maybe as the fish due to their growth might of tipped my pond over the edge. My wife has always wanted a few plants in the pond so i might have to give in and come spring will plant some

 

[GBBUDD]

The growth can certainly be a potential cause. But the water would usualy start to cloud up from over stocking. Now over stocking doesn't have to mean the number of fish it can also be the size of the fish per volume of water.
The only other suggestion is to keep a diary going forward every time you make a change such as the bomb you mentioned. Something I would probably never use. The best weapon for these ponds is not over stocking feeding and adding chemicals. Let mother nature do her thing but she is far more patient then we are

 

[grumpyseagull]

its like a silent killer that i cant see....my pond has always been crystal clear and i thought i was doing a good job - fish growing - seem to be happy but to loose 4 in about 4 weeks hence me joining the forum to get some help / ideas etc. All i can put it down to is a while back we had alot of rain ( I live on the south coast east sussex ) - water got a bot cloudy - cleaned the filters etc....weather warmish - fish very lethargic - water clearing up - then 1 by 1 they started to pop of. I felt really bad as i brought my granddaughter an orange koi ( so she could recognise it from others) . that was the 2nd one to die...

 

[WaterGardener]

As far as I'm aware, the only ways to lower nitrates are with water changes and/or plants. In your situation it seems that more and frequent water changes are needed.

Remember that the solution to pollution is dilution.

 

[yorkshire pudding]

is there a local koi club in your area ? maybe you could get in touch with someone to come and have a look at your fish/pond and do a scrape of your fish see if there are any underlying problems, it will probably be cheaper than a couple of tubs of pond bombs and you will find out whats going on, that way you are not blindly throwing chemicals in the pond that could do more harm than good. hope this helps cheers mark

 

[yorkshire pudding]

As far as I'm aware, the only way to lower nitrates is with water changes and/or plants. In your situation it seems that more and frequent water changes are needed.

Remember that the solution to pollution is dilution.

ive seen that quote before is that by manky sanke ?

 

[WaterGardener]

I don't know where it came from. Just saw it on another site and liked it so I stole it. I've seen it used for all sorts of things since, so I must not be the only one to help myself to it.