Should I be concerned?

[Priscilla]

I was at my pond this afternoon and saw one of my guys flashing - now I know why its called that - rubbing his side on the pond bottom. I only saw him do it twice. He was eating and everything seemed fine. The pond is just over a month old. Its 2200 gallons.

I just did some readings at 8pm here they are:
PH - 8
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - .25
Phosphate - 0

I don't understand it really, I tested yesterday afternoon around noon, everything was in the normal range with no ammonia or nitrite. I did add two new fish yesterday (less than 5 inches each). I suppose it could be a bit of overfeeding going on - I will cut back on that starting tomorrow, but everything was testing so well, I didn't think the feeding was a problem.

My plan is to clean the filters tomorrow and perhaps do a 25% water change (I'm really not sure how people eye ball 25%). The water I use for the pond is from a well, it seems to have the perfect PH 7.5 when tested straight from the hose, so I suppose I could do a bigger change if someone thought that was better.

Anyways, back to the fish flashing - I read it could be the ammonia. I am praying its not parasites!!! The flashing fish is has been in the pond for about a week. He rubbed on the bottom twice, but then followed the other fish and ate. No one else seems affected. I may just be over reacting.

Also, one note to add: I live in the Cayman Islands, a very small island with a limited supply of pond products. My husband is currently in the US, so he can pick me up anything I might need. I read on another site there is food that is medicated (?). Please let me know what I have him pick up even if its a just in case situation.

I have not finished my waterfall yet, but I do think I will be sure to add a skippy in when I do. I have quite a plants in the pond and they are all growing and doing well, in a month there are new leaves and roots coming out of the pots, so I know they are happy.

THANKS for any input.

 

[Lisak1]

Others will be more helpful with the numbers - we haven't tested our pond for quite some time. Everything was always the same so we just found it non-productive. I would say watch your fish for another day or so to make sure you're seeing what you think you're seeing before you decide it's a problem.

However, I would suggest that you have your husband bring some medicated food, especially in your situation with pond products being difficult to obtain. We always keep medicated food, even though we've only had one occasion to use it. That way you will be ready "just in case" as you say.

Good luck! New ponds are fun!

 

[JohnHuff]

Hi: Some more information would be helpful here. How many fish/inches do you have in your pond and how much do you feed? What kind of filtration system do you have?

 

[jmajid]

lisak1: which kind of medicated food should be bought? any recommendations?
I am trying to "find" something to add to my online order with Drs F&S to get to the free shipping and this sounds like it might be the way

 

[bettasngoldfish]

This info may be helpful to you in understanding the nitrogen cycle in your pond http://www.michigankoi.com/Understanding-the-Nitrogen-Cycle-Koi-Pond-Water-Information-sc-280.html

Water quality can cause your fish to flash but also adding fish to your pond or tank without first putting them through a quarantine period can also introduce parasites and or other diseases to your pond or tank.

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

Do not over re-act at this time Koi are very active and this is probably what you are seeing. Work on that ammonia level doing small water changes.

 

[Priscilla]

Thanks for the article on the nitrogen cycle. Very helpful.

I have about 16 koi and goldfish (all less than 6 inches), plus 4 guppies (they have 11 babies in there now). I have a pressure flo with UV light and bio balls (I turned the UV light off after I saw the ammonia go up). From the pressure flo, the water goes to a waterfall bucket where I have lava rock, quilt batting, a coarse filter, more quilt batting and a bag of lava rock on top holding it will down.

Here are the two things I think are affecting my pond. In addition to the above fish, I have a pretty big tilapia (he was kind of my tester fish before I started buying fish) - he's a huge eater, so I assume he's producing a lot of waste. Even if I don't feed the fish he eats my floating plants (which I've just netted in hopes of saving them) - he's driving me crazy, but we can't catch him! Believe me we have tried but he is smart and fast.

Second issue, iguanas poop in the pond regularly, and by that I mean every day. Sometimes more than once a day if they find they a good spot above the pond they will just hang out there. We have a real problem with wild green iguanas here on the island.

The good news is, I have not seen the koi flashing today, so I think that was an over reaction after reading an article about parasites. I buy the koi from the only pet store on the island, they seem to just make one big order of koi and they all live in the same tank, so I have not been quarantining them, as they all come from the same tank with no new fish added in.

So with the information on the filters, my question is now, how do I clean them? The pressure flo is easy enough I just back wash it. The water fall bucket is not so simple. I have been taking out the quilt batting and the coarse filter and hosing them off with city water (chlorinated). I do not wash the lava rocks. Is this the correct way to clean the waterfall filter? I do that about once a week.

Thanks,
Priscilla

 

[Catfishnut]

Priscilla,

Just a comment or two.

First one is in using chlorinated city water to rinse out the fitler media. That in itself is probably not a bad idea as that will kill some of the unwanted bacteria and algae that it has filtered out, but I would not put the media directly back into the pond after cleaning it with chlorinated water. I would place the media into a barrel or bucket of appropriate size with dechlor for several hours or more before returning it to use in the pond system.

Second comment is regarding the iguanas. I love iguanas. I had one as a pet when I was in high school and he was really a hoot. I named him Saint Ignatious. He was house trained and would run around free. He grew to be about four feet long or better.

He would lay out on the back (top) of the couch while we watched TV and occasionally, if he was hungry, he would tilt his head to the right angle and grab the lobe of my ear and bite me! Not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to damned well get my attention! So, I would trot on out to the kitchen and cut up some lettuce and bananas and such and bring it back to the TV room so that Iggy could also have a snack while watching Gunsmoke or Bonanza or whatever we were watching. I think he liked Gilligan's Island the best. Go figure!

Anyway, I bet that the iguanas are adding a lot more organics to your pond than you realize, if there are a lot of them. One or two probably not so bad.

Gordy

 

[sissy]

A pressure filters never clean very good and you may need to build your own .

 

[shakaho]

Do you quarantine new fish before adding them to the pond? Since the fish that is flashing has been in the pond for a week, it could have come with parasites or disease.

 

[Priscilla]

Thanks everyone.

Gordy, its so hard to think of these iggies as pets. There are a major problem on the island. They just made it legal to humanly kill them, as they are multiplying rapidly with no natural predators. The farmers on the island lose so many crops to them. And now I'm having problems with them hanging out in the tree above my pond - lol! Not worth killing an iguana for pooping in the pond though - I just throw a few sticks at him, he spits at me and the battle of wills begins. He normally wins, he climbs to the top of the tree and just suns himself and relieves himself in the pond.

We (Grand Cayman) do have the only blue iguana in the world and Cayman Brac has the only Rock iguana. They are a protected species, but the green iguana is considered a pest here. Google up an image of the blue iguana, they are very cool looking.

I'll give the filter media a soak in my well water before putting it back in the waterfall bucket.

How often should I clean the filters? I'm finding lots of blood worms in the quilt batting. The fish all seem happy.

Praying that the netting will keep the fish from eating the water hyacinth roots and they will be able to do their job and clean the water, keeping the algae under control.

I am thinking about building my own filter. I'm just not sure how to go about it. Guess I will you tube a few ideas and maybe come up with something that works for me.

Priscilla

 

[Priscilla]

Thanks everyone.

Gordy, its so hard to think of these iggies as pets. There are a major problem on the island. They just made it legal to humanly kill them, as they are multiplying rapidly with no natural predators. The farmers on the island lose so many crops to them. And now I'm having problems with them hanging out in the tree above my pond - lol! Not worth killing an iguana for pooping in the pond though - I just throw a few sticks at him, he spits at me and the battle of wills begins. He normally wins, he climbs to the top of the tree and just suns himself and relieves himself in the pond.

We (Grand Cayman) do have the only blue iguana in the world and Cayman Brac has the only Rock iguana. They are a protected species, but the green iguana is considered a pest here. Google up an image of the blue iguana, they are very cool looking.

I'll give the filter media a soak in my well water before putting it back in the waterfall bucket.

How often should I clean the filters? I'm finding lots of blood worms in the quilt batting. The fish all seem happy.

Praying that the netting will keep the fish from eating the water hyacinth roots and they will be able to do their job and clean the water, keeping the algae under control.

I am thinking about building my own filter. I'm just not sure how to go about it. Guess I will you tube a few ideas and maybe come up with something that works for me.

Priscilla

 

[addy1]

Look at you tube and check out the DIY section of this forum, lots of good ideas I just use a plant bog to filter my pond, keeps it nice and clean. String algae and green water free. My bog is large, but any will help, the plants suck up the nutrients the algae lives on.

 

[Catfishnut]

I'll give the filter media a soak in my well water before putting it back in the waterfall bucket.

How often should I clean the filters? I'm finding lots of blood worms in the quilt batting. The fish all seem happy.

I am thinking about building my own filter. I'm just not sure how to go about it. Guess I will you tube a few ideas and maybe come up with something that works for me.

Priscilla

A really good rinse and soak in the well water ought to dilute and flush out the chlorine well enough I think.

I would set the cleaning schedule according to a "need" versus tolerance basis. Therefore cleaning before they accumulate too much waste which begins to decay and give off toxic compounds and chemicals. Definitely long before they start to "gunk up" with a layer of slimy mass and get heavy to handle or begin to clog. But obviously you don't need to clean them daily or too frequently. That would get tedious and be a pain. Depending on your loading, you might be able to go five days or up to two weeks. Maybe not.

There are lots of great ideas for "DIY" filter systems out there on the web that you can build out of simple, inexpensive items and even free items if you are a good scrounger. And they will work pretty good, too. Some probably work better than filters you can purchase (especially considering the price).

I did look up the blue iguanas, they are definitely a very vivid blue (most specimens I saw) and they can grow pretty large, too.

Gordy

 

[Priscilla]

One more question my friends. I added some barley pellets to the pond yesterday (they are in a mesh bag under the waterfall), today the pond is quite brown, like the barley is giving off a tea color to the water. YIKES! Sucks, I'm having some visitors today and was hoping the pond would look nice, but its like tea now. Crap!

Is this normal and will it settle down? Or I have I received bad information from the pet store here? Argggggg! I think moving forward I will leave good enough alone! I feel like people less interested than me have successful ponds and they do little or nothing other than throw some fish in. Here I am going mad making extra work for myself. ARG!