Might have to drain and refill

[haver79]

My pond water is a total mess. I dont know if it were all the toads I had in there for a couple weeks for what. It is so murkey I can hardly make out I have fish in there. Before the toads came it was pretty clear so I don't know what the cause other than to blame the toad invasion.
The other possibility is I have been loosing water and I think I may have a leak in my water fall. I did not have epdm in that area. Hubby bought a piece of liner from box store for that area and I may have a puncher or something. Maybe so soaked under the falls that I am getting some mud leaking into the pond. I'm not sure. Water is not even green. More brownish. I have a new piece of 45ml on the way.
Going to rip out the water fall area and redo it. Hopefully that is where my problem is and I can fix it.
Fish are not acting normal either. Staying huddled together and not swimming around much.
I did test the water and all tested ok which surprised me.
Debating on a complete drain and refill knowing I will then go through a new pond syndrome again. Ugggg

 

[Lisak1]

Try scooping out some water into a glass container and let it sit. If it's dirt it will settle out. At least you could eliminate that as a possibility.

 

[tbendl]

Don't drain it, especially if your water test is good. Any chance you're going through the spring cycle? Mine got really green when it started warming up but is now clearing up nicely.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

[QUOTE="haver79, post: 269061, member: 5751".
Debating on a complete drain and refill knowing I will then go through a new pond syndrome again. Ugggg[/QUOTE]

Changing the water isn't going to make your pond go through "new pond syndrome" again. Your filter, rocks, sides of the pond etc. all hold the beneficial bacteria needed to keep your pond healthy.

Last winter I had dirt get in the pond from the edges not being done right. It mucked up my water bad after a heavy rain (turned it brown) Anyway I ended up changing most all of the water and refilled it with the garden hose (using Aquasafe to treat for chlorine, chloramine, etc) I had no issues with water quality after doing so. Also, When I do water changes on my fancy goldfish tanks I regularly change 50-75% of the water weekly and it doesn't affect my filters, cycle or fish.

I say go for it if the brown water is bothering you.

 

[sissy]

I use liquid peat and barley but if yours is dirt that has gathered a partial clean out to filter and clean out dirt may help some .You may need to invest in a uv to keep green water from happening and they can be bought on ebay cheap .It really depends on heat and sun on your pond to know what happens after you clean it .I know here we have been going through some pretty weird swings in weather .Day time temps in high 80's and nights down to 50 degrees .Now today it has been cloudy and has stayed at 60 degrees since early this morning .

 

[haver79]

Don't drain it, especially if your water test is good. Any chance you're going through the spring cycle? Mine got really green when it started warming up but is now clearing up nicely.

Don't think this is the normal spring green. Kinda went through that for a short while then it cleared up. This looks very murky and rather brownish. I do always have some green tinge but normally can see all pots etc on the bottom. Pond is in full sun.
Betta If I almost drain and refill it will prob drop my water temp quite a bit so concerned for the fish. But need to do something. Would have to try and refill slowly I guess.
We are suppose to have cooler temps next week for a few days so maybe will be ok. Meaning it may take awhile for the water to warm back up.
Lisak good idea about the water in a jar test. I will try that tomorrow.
I also have been getting a little foam on the surface. Thought my nitrate test might be high but it was normal.

 

[addy1]

Rather than drain and refill, how about a slow trickle water change? Put the hose in opposite of where the over flow is, let it ran at xx rate swap out the water slowly for a day or days.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

@addy1 Is that basically changing pond water by overflowing the pond?

I have heard of trickle water change but don't really understand how it's done. How would you treat water for chlorine, chloramine, etc?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

@haver79 I have my pond close enough to my house that I can use hot and cold water to adjust the temperature going into the pond. So I wasn't thinking about that....

What about doing several smaller water changes for 2 or 3 days in a row? That might clear the water and should help keep the temperature more stable.

Or try addys trickle change

 

[addy1]

If the flow in is slow, chlorine is not a worry. (per what I have read on koi forums) We are on a well here, in arizona my pond was on city, I had a constant in flow to replace lost water, never treated for chlorine. The water loss was like a slow hose run 24/7

 

[addy1]

Is that basically changing pond water by overflowing the pond?

It is like a water change over, new coming in old flowing out, now it does get mixed with the old via the pumps but you are adding water constantly, so the mixed water is flowing out.

 

[haver79]

Well going to do the water test in a jar and see if I have some soil in there.
I really would like to know whats on the bottom. Wondering if any dead toads in there. Did pull out one big dead one over a week ago.
I could do a 50% change the do the trickle.