How do i control Ammonia in my pond?

Question

I have a (approx) 1000 gallon pond with 4 goldfish, 1 koi, 3 orfs. 3 of my fish died, apparantley due to high Ammonia levels. My filtration system is only 2 weeks old. what ways can i control the ammonia level without a fully operational filter, to prevent more fish dieing? Please help. Thanks.

Answer 1

just like swimming pools, you can buy water kits at the pet store that come with the chemicals to correct the ph balance, bacteria, etc. you need to filter the water better. if your system is 2 weeks old, why isn't it working right? was the pond built by you, already existing or done by a company recently? without a properly functioning filtering system, you will wind up with a mess in your water with algae, bacteria and fungus. some plants you can put in the pond help with some and oxygenate the water better, but you still need to filter it.

Answer 2

Filter needed more time to seed. Plants - plants love ammonia products - it's fertilizer. Should add animals one or two at a time to let the biofilter (if that's what you have) cycle before adding more. If you don't have a biofilter, try the plants. I would only use ammonia neutralizers as a last resort, because they interfere with a normal bilogical filter cycle and are not a substitute for an effective filter long term.

Short term, to save existing fish, do a series of 20 - 25% water changes with dechlorinated, deaminated, ammonia-neutralized water. Best if you do this in a separate container (say a kiddie pool or two) to allow full mixing before introducing into the tank.

Answer 3

i don't think you have an ammonia problem, i think you just had three sick fish, i've set up many a pond, turned on the filtration and added a full load of fish with no disasters, no filtration system removes the ammonia, just try to balance your pond with
correct number of fish, correct amount of plants (cover 80% surface) make sure you quarantine any new fish
good luck

Answer 4

They make products you can buy to reduce ammonia levels. Also start with simple inexpensive fish to establish your pond first. The natural ecosystem must build and fish will help that, but go cheap to start off with for a couple of months. It takes time to balance a pond or aquarium. There are many pond and aquarium sites on-line that you can search also. Good luck.

Answer 5

Either you can add chemicals that reduce the ammonia to non toxic chemicals or you can wait. The pond is too new to have that many fish but over time it will be fine. Also, you could add live plants that would use the ammonia.

Answer 6

adding water or gravels from other ponds might also help, but then you run the rish of cross contamination and giving your fish diseases. ammonia treatment at pond or pet stores is probably the best bet. You may also have too many fish for your pond they may need more water volume or another (additional) filter