crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
joesandy1822 said:
1) Should I also test my tap water and post those results? I will need help knowing what are "normal" limits. I know what normal is in an aquarium (did not have to know GH or KH for that), and I know what was "normal" for a swimming pool, but not for a pond. Does it all depend on pH?
Goldfish and koi carp are very hardy. They can survive and thrive in pHs ranging from 6~9. Again, only thing important is that the pH is stable and steady within this range. Ultimately, "normal" will be determined by your source water. If the source water lacks the appropriate attributes to provide a stable, steady, and healthy pH environment, then particular ingredients will need to added, such as those I have explained in the hyperlinks that I have shared.
2) We have been getting a LOT of rain. The pond turned cloudy again. I've read that it's common, but I want to know why? I do not believe it is due to runoff, so that option can be eliminated. So what other phenomenon causes ponds to cloud up after rain? The water is still cloudy, but it has been raining off and on for the past 4 days.
Don't know. If you are absolutely positive that there is zero runoff, then I suspect it might be from the dust particulates in the rain itself or blown in by the wind.
There are cases of bacterial blooms causing cloudiness and significantly increased calcium carbonate precipitation from reducing a high pH, but I do not know how a heavy rain, that is the rain itself, how it could remotely cause either of these issues.
3) Also, my pond is 3,000 gallons. If I want to stabilize the pH, how many oyster shells do I put in, where do I put them, and where do you get them cheap? Is it just chicken grit? How do you contain that? I've raised chickens. That stuff is very tiny, and no bag I know of would keep it from falling out unless I used very tightly woven tulle from the fabric store.
I have never used the stuff, but many folk here do. I am currently using a different product, kind of like it, but this particular product, that is lithaqua, has a much bigger particulate size. So, hopefully, someone will chime in and, if ya don't get an answer, don't be afraid of creating a new thread to ask it.
4) Another unrelated question: My son swears he saw a baby fish! It was about 1/2" to 3/4" long, and black. But we just put smallish comets in when we stocked the pond, and then some 3" shubunkins a couple weeks ago. Is this even possible, or are we seeing things? Where can I get some decent info on the lifecycle of goldfish, spawning, etc? I've searched, but I don't find a lot of credible info like I could when I had aquariums. Do I need to provide some type of spawning mop or something? If there are baby fish, evidentally I have to do NOTHING.
How often do goldfish lay eggs, breed, or spawn. This is one particular article I have kept in my library. I have never researched the subject to any extent so I can not verify the credibility of the article. Although, from reading folk's experiences, a spawning mop helps if you are wanting to collect the eggs so to relocate them to another tank so that the other fish do not eat them.
Fish love to eat caviar. :goldfish:
