I'm so upset! Two dead Koi! l

[Lisak1]

My water is always super clear when the ice melts. Here's a picture I took today from a second story window. The arrow is pointing to fish that are 31/2 feet down inside the tunnel. They are easy to see because of their bright colors, but you can make out every rock and stone on the bottom. I have some leaves that need to come out, but if I stir things up, the water is clear again within minutes. It shouldn't take days to clear up the murkiness.

 

[AngelaM]

My water is always super clear when the ice melts. Here's a picture I took today from a second story window. The arrow is pointing to fish that are 31/2 feet down inside the tunnel. They are easy to see because of their bright colors, but you can make out every rock and stone on the bottom. I have some leaves that need to come out, but if I stir things up, the water is clear again within minutes. It shouldn't take days to clear up the murkiness. View attachment 108577

Yours is much clearer than mine! I don't have rocks in mine, just the black liner at the bottom. Plus my water lillies are in black pots on the deep end too.

 

[MitchM]

AngelaM your pond doesn’t seem to have much of a berm.
Is it possible you could have surface water running into it?

 

[Jhn]

Fish are probably hugging up against the plant pots and other hiding spots in the deep end this time of year.They are pretty good at hiding in places you wouldn't think a fish could hide even larger ones.

Agree, with Mitch, if there isn't much of a berm you could get surface run off into the pond, which could lead to the water being murky. Also, I would watch doing to much cleaning of leaves etc. in the pond this time of year. Let the fish come out of their torpor, for a bit before doing a spring cleaning. Don't want to stress them when they are still in hibernation mode.

 

[AngelaM]

AngelaM your pond doesn’t seem to have much of a berm.
Is it possible you could have surface water running into it?

I don't think I'm getting any surface runoff. Since the previous photo I built the edge up under the liner so it does have a decent sized edge that slopes away from the pond.

 

[MitchM]

A recent picture of the pond might help us with further suggestions.

 

[Lisak1]

A picture would be great help - especially in it's current condition. Are you running your filtration or is the pond still shut down?

 

[AngelaM]

A picture would be great help - especially in it's current condition. Are you running your filtration or is the pond still shut down?

It's still shut down.

 

[AngelaM]

It's still shut down.

We have ice again this morning.

 

[AngelaM]

Here's a current photo. I can see about 2 feet down. I only have rocks on the 18" steps but not the rest of the pond. It looks like the dirt has settled a bit which I was expecting. That's why I held off on putting the slate around the pond. I'm definitely going to be adding more dirt around the edge.

 

[MitchM]

That water doesn't look too bad to me, I think the tea colour is from the leaves that fell in and the tannins/humic substances that are released.
Humic substances are a good thing.
It would be a good idea to build up the berm some more, I'm not sure how much precipitation you usually get.

 

[Lisak1]

Yup - the water appears to be clear, just stained. That's not a problem. But I bet you did get a significant amount of dirt in the pond from your unfinished edges. Are you planning for an overhang with your slate edge?

You'll get there - spring is coming!

 

[MitchM]

Also, those humic substances will eventually get broken down by bacteria, which will consume some alkalinity (KH)
Make sure to get that KH/GH kit and test!

 

[Gemma]

@AngelaM I know it's depressing right now with the loss of your fish and all the questions unanswered, but don't get discouraged, a pond is not just problems and hard work, it gives many rewards as well and if you don't give up you'll get there soon and forget all about this dark time
hang in there

 

[GBBUDD]

I see at few on here use solar pool covers and all you need is to make a hoop house and ly the solar cover over it .The hoop house does not need to be big just sturdy enough to hold u under a snow load

Being new to ponds make me have to question the use of a solar POOL cover . As adding O2 to the water is crucial in the winter so is providing a means of gas exchange. isn't a solar cover plastic and not designed to allow for air exchange?