Plants dying

[Bluerooster]

My lettuce, and water hyacinth took off like gangbusters. Now the WH is turning black, the lettuce is yellowing. (as though we had a freeze)
I grabbed my handy dandy API test kit, and found the PH to be where it allways is, the ammonia has spiked to .5ppm, and the nitrite has fallen to zero. The fish don't seem to care. The lilies are blooming, and what other plants I have seem to be doing ok considering that they're still getting over the shock of being transplanted.
Allways, the ammonia levels have been zero, and nitrite, and nitrate have been in acceptable levels. (usually zero as well)
I guess I'll quit feeding, untill I get this sussed.
It's almost as if something has killed off all the nitrifying bacteria.

The only aeration I have is the skimmer, falls, stream, and more falls. Main pump is moving 4500gph, for a 3000 gallon pond, Plus skimmer on seperate pump, and a slippy filter on yet another pump ~3000gph. The only other pump I have I can't use, it's about 300gpM, I'm afraid it will suck the fish up the intake.

 

[GBBUDD]

Heat ????

 

[Chumley]

Granddaughter snapped a quick photo of our new brood

 

[Bluerooster]

Heat ????

could be.

 

[GBBUDD]

could be.

Whats the temp of your pond ? is your pond shallow or is it deeper. does it see full sun or part shade?

 

[bagsmom]

I'm in 7b and had no luck with either of those plants. Everything else is doing great, though. I think WH and WL are just that kind of plant. Either they love where they are and go crazy -- or they are picky and don't do well at all.

 

[GBBUDD]

I'm in 6 b and they both have gone crazy

 

[bfull1478]

Same problem here. Mine did great at first now black wh and yellow wl.

 

[Mmathis]

This is the first year I haven’t had either WL or WH. But when I have had (mostly) WH, some years it did great and some years it didn’t. I never paid enough attention to what the weather was doing, though.

 

[CometKeith]

Bluerooster what kind of fish do you have? Generally goldfish leave wl and wh alone. Koi like to munch on their roots.

 

[Lisak1]

I've had the same experience - I kind of gave up on them in the pond. I can grow them in my patio pond and pondless waterfall with no problem - in the pond they are hit or miss.

 

[Tula]

@sissy keep a separate tub with Miracle Grow added to the water and totes her WH between it and her pond. Guess they need some extra nutrients?

 

[sissy]

they always need more nutrients to keep them going and true fertilizing them in another tote or what ever works

 

[Bluerooster]

To answer the Temp question; It runs between 68 and 92 or so, depending on ambient temp. It's not very deep, about 2 feet, with a large surface area.
The Kind of fish are four fair sized goldfish, and one big minnow. Plus various frogs, and tadpoles.

Just tested for ammonia, and nitrite a few minutes ago. ammonia-0, nitrite above zero, but lower than .25ppm
leaning toward zero. Now I'm wondering if I'd tested the very spot where a fish, or frog had just relieved him/her self. Fish were swimming around that area as I was pulling the sample.

I pulled a few of each WH and WL and dropped them in a container of miracle-gro just to see what happens.

Also in answer to sun/shade question; Full sun from sun-up to about 5:00 in the evening, pretty much 12 hours of full sun with a bit of shade in late afternoon/evening.

Also my lilies aren't doing as well as I would like.

 

[mrsclem]

Guessing your plants may be cooked from the heat. Water lettuce doesn't do well in full sun.