What is this??

[Malak]

My pond was a pH of 9 at the start because the well is 8 and the cinderblocks compounded it. But the minnows still did fine.

 

[vertigo72]

Indeed, even a PH of 9 by itself I dont think would kill all goldfish in a week. If at all. I heard they can actually survive PH of 10.

 

[addy1]

Low ph killed ours overnight, that is when I found out we have acidic well water. It measured at 5.5-6 when those poor lil fish were put in. And the pond had been sitting full for months, just fishless.

 

[fishin4cars]

Indeed, even a PH of 9 by itself I dont think would kill all goldfish in a week. If at all. I heard they can actually survive PH of 10.

Problem here, what did they come from and what did they go to? if they came from a tank with say 6.0 and got put in a pond with 9.0 I can understand that they would be stressed and die in that short of a period of time.
I would leave everything alone and get the water test. Don't add perch, they get mean, they could carry parasites and diseases, and they will be very hard to see and get back out.

 

[Malak]

any wild caught aquatic risk parasites FYI - do at your own risk

 

[Karen]

Problem here, what did they come from and what did they go to? if they came from a tank with say 6.0 and got put in a pond with 9.0 I can understand that they would be stressed and die in that short of a period of time.
I would leave everything alone and get the water test. Don't add perch, they get mean, they could carry parasites and diseases, and they will be very hard to see and get back out.

Good Morning.:regular_waving_emot OK....bought a simple testing kit (just to have until I find a better one) from Wally-World (Wal-mart). Tested the pond this morning in 2 different spots....one on the back side, by the skimmer and one more in the front by the waterfall. Both tested the same. It said....PH-high around 8.4 / Alkalinity -high over 180-300 / Hardness - Soft 75 / Nitrite - Safe 0 / Nitrate - Safe 0. Can the PH and Alkalinity be high, yet the Nitrite and Nitrate be 0??? Well...this is what it said. Also....Found one TURTLE and one small lil' FISH. So....I do have something still swimming around. :fish:

 

[vertigo72]

Good Morning.:regular_waving_emot OK....bought a simple testing kit (just to have until I find a better one) from Wally-World (Wal-mart). Tested the pond this morning in 2 different spots....one on the back side, by the skimmer and one more in the front by the waterfall. Both tested the same. It said....PH-high around 8.4 / Alkalinity -high over 180-300 / Hardness - Soft 75 / Nitrite - Safe 0 / Nitrate - Safe 0. Can the PH and Alkalinity be high, yet the Nitrite and Nitrate be 0??? Well...this is what it said. Also....Found one TURTLE and one small lil' FISH. So....I do have something still swimming around. :fish:

Your test cant do ammonia or did you forget to post the results? Not that I can believe you would have an ammonia problem at this stage, but you will want a test for ammonia too. Its probably the most important thing to test especially if you have a fully stocked pond. At this point however, its almost certainly not important, and likely to be as close to zero as you can measure, like your nitrites.

As for the rest of your results, they look okay. PH is high, but not off the scale. Wouldnt cause fish kill unless they had a huge shock, ie, coming from very acid water. Even then I wouldnt expect mass death of goldies, but who knows. You might want to try and get it down before ever introducing koi, but even if you dont, they should do okay.

Alkalinity is fine. Over 300 (did I read that right?) is if anything, perhaps too high, but better too high than too low. No risk of a PH crash there. Hardness is a bit lowish, but definitely not a problem for fish.

In short, nothing here suggests a major problem with the water.

I would fill a tank or barrel or baby bath or something and put one or two small goldfish or other cheap tiny fish in. Someone else may suggest ideal test fish for your region.
Cover the tank, so predators cant reach it, and keep an eye on them. If its a small container, refresh part of the water now and then, always using your current pond water. If those fish die within a week or two, or get sick, its time to have your water tested more thoroughly for toxins. You are using well water right? Was it ever tested to be drinkable?

If those test fish do fine, I suspect your problem is elsewhere entirely. You found your fish in your skimmer.. is it possible they got trapped in there and died because of the skimmer? Any predators or herons that may be causing this?

 

[Karen]

Your test cant do ammonia or did you forget to post the results? Not that I can believe you would have an ammonia problem at this stage, but you will want a test for ammonia too. Its probably the most important thing to test especially if you have a fully stocked pond. At this point however, its almost certainly not important, and likely to be as close to zero as you can measure, like your nitrites.

As for the rest of your results, they look okay. PH is high, but not off the scale. Wouldnt cause fish kill unless they had a huge shock, ie, coming from very acid water. Even then I wouldnt expect mass death of goldies, but who knows. You might want to try and get it down before ever introducing koi, but even if you dont, they should do okay.

Alkalinity is fine. Over 300 (did I read that right?) is if anything, perhaps too high, but better too high than too low. No risk of a PH crash there. Hardness is a bit lowish, but definitely not a problem for fish.

In short, nothing here suggests a major problem with the water.

I would fill a tank or barrel or baby bath or something and put one or two small goldfish or other cheap tiny fish in. Someone else may suggest ideal test fish for your region.
Cover the tank, so predators cant reach it, and keep an eye on them. If its a small container, refresh part of the water now and then, always using your current pond water. If those fish die within a week or two, or get sick, its time to have your water tested more thoroughly for toxins. You are using well water right? Was it ever tested to be drinkable?

If those test fish do fine, I suspect your problem is elsewhere entirely. You found your fish in your skimmer.. is it possible they got trapped in there and died because of the skimmer? Any predators or herons that may be causing this?

No ammonia on my test. Using "City Water". I did wonder that about the skimmer. If it could be sucking them in and too strong for them to swim out of. No predators that I've seen. Thanks you for all the information. I

 

[vertigo72]

If its tap water, then we can safely rule out toxins, except chlorine or chloramine. Did you use dechlorinator? I seem to recall you let the pond settle for a while before introducing fish, which would be sufficient to allow chlorine to evaporate, but if your city water uses chloramine, then afaik, you really need dechlorinator.

 

[Malak]

Buy bunches of watercress from the grocery store and throw them in to try and lower the pH. Otherwise, you are going to have an expensive proposition getting it below 8. I'm using Seachem's Acid Buffer sucessfully for my measly 600 gallons, but you would require 2 TBS at a time to slowly lower it. Not TOO expensive I suppose.

 

[fishin4cars]

Your test cant do ammonia or did you forget to post the results? Not that I can believe you would have an ammonia problem at this stage, but you will want a test for ammonia too. Its probably the most important thing to test especially if you have a fully stocked pond. At this point however, its almost certainly not important, and likely to be as close to zero as you can measure, like your nitrites.

As for the rest of your results, they look okay. PH is high, but not off the scale. Wouldnt cause fish kill unless they had a huge shock, ie, coming from very acid water. Even then I wouldnt expect mass death of goldies, but who knows. You might want to try and get it down before ever introducing koi, but even if you dont, they should do okay.

Alkalinity is fine. Over 300 (did I read that right?) is if anything, perhaps too high, but better too high than too low. No risk of a PH crash there. Hardness is a bit lowish, but definitely not a problem for fish.

In short, nothing here suggests a major problem with the water.

I would fill a tank or barrel or baby bath or something and put one or two small goldfish or other cheap tiny fish in. Someone else may suggest ideal test fish for your region.
Cover the tank, so predators cant reach it, and keep an eye on them. If its a small container, refresh part of the water now and then, always using your current pond water. If those fish die within a week or two, or get sick, its time to have your water tested more thoroughly for toxins. You are using well water right? Was it ever tested to be drinkable?

If those test fish do fine, I suspect your problem is elsewhere entirely. You found your fish in your skimmer.. is it possible they got trapped in there and died because of the skimmer? Any predators or herons that may be causing this?

I'm in 100% agreement. Thanks for posting, saved me some typing! Glad to hear there are still some life in the pond. This means that the pond will still continue to cycle so that's good. The skimmer could have killed the fish but I still think the problem may have been from the fish themselves from the very beginning. try what Vertigo suggested, get a couple of fish and try to keep them in something out of the pond, if all goes well you will have gotten good practice at quarantining fish, if a problem occurs in that then we can assume that there is a source water issue that needs to be addressed.