please help me with my fish pond?

Question

I have a garden pond about seven feet by five feet and about 2 feet deep. During the hot summer the water turned green. I used an expensive remedy to remove the algae but it didn't work. (This is not a newly establised pond.) I have oxygenating plants and marginals as well. There are about 20 goldfish in there. I also took out a huge water lily whose roots covered the whole of the pond and so exposed the pond to sunlight. However, I changed the whole water in the pond about a month ago, bought another lily and the water is still murky green and the weed which I keep putting in does not seem to thrive. The fish do not seem active any more like they did. What can I do to get the water clearish again. I cannot have a pump and I don't need it as this pond worked well for 15 years without.one..

Answer 1

Patience, and a lot more oxygenating plants such as elodea crispea. Bite the bullet, and go and get a good £10 or even £15 worth of it, better yet, find someone who has an overstocked pond, and is throwing it out! And stop feeding the fish with any food you are giving them, the algae are over-present because there are too many nutrients for them not to thrive. Your lilly should be effecting around 2/3rds coverage of the water surface, it's getting into the Autumn, so the fish will start geting lazier than they were in the Summer, their activity falls with the temperature. The mistake you made was to change the water! Persevere with what is in there, it takes a while for the biotope to form.
Also, get some daphnia (water-fleas) from a fish-shop or garden centre, and put them in. They eat algae, and fish eat them!
I also hope you are not using ANY type of soil in the pond, ALL pond plants will thrive on being set into some washed gravel. The plants roots are what you are relying on to suck all the nutrients out of the water, giving the algae very little to feed on.

Plants, and patience!

Answer 2

By exposing your pond to sunlight,and changing the water,your pond WILL go green. The sunlight will encourage Algae.Once the water goes green, it will take time to settle.Changing the water will also turn it green untill it finds its balance!! Green pond water algae are single cell plants that can make the pond look like “pea soup”. These plants are so tiny that they can pass right through a pond filter. Consequently additional forms of control have to be used. Algaecides are not a good choice in the garden pond or water garden, because they will also harm pond and aquatic plants.
It is very important to balance the pH in the pond (it should be between 6.8 and 7.4). Nothing in the pond will be very successful until this first step is taken. Easy to use test kits are available to measure the pH.
Once the pH is balanced one can introduce beneficial bacteria and lots of aquatic plants to compete with the algae for nutrients in the pond and hopefully starve the green water algae. (It is important not to clean the pond filter with chlorinated tap water - this will kill the beneficial bacteria).
Flocculants are available that are harmless to pond fish and pond plants, but make the algae clump together so it can be picked up by the pond filter. It is advisable to clean the pond filter more regularly after using the product, so the green water algae can be efficiently eliminated.
Ultra-Violet-Clarifiers are modern mechanical devices that eliminate green water algae for good. These UV lights are used in conjunction with a good pond filter to kill and then remove the algae from the water.
String algae (or Blanket Weed or Hair Algae) often grows in water with high pH values. The pH must be lowered to 6.8 - 7.4 to slow the growth of this type of algae. There are just a few products available to eliminate existing string algae safely without harming the aquatic plants in the pond.
You really need to get the water moving,it will help to clear your pond.Have you a filtration system?? This also will aid with the clearing of the water. Try an Ultra Violet light Clarifier.

Answer 3

Hi, my next door neighbour has a fish pond and her pump also has an ultra violet light or something in it, even though she has this installed she still gets problems with alge etc,
One day though, I was visiting a bungalowv as I was interested in buying it, the back garden was amazing it was like a Chinese/ Japanese minature garden. He had a large pond which was covered with a tent like item, I looked at his pond and the water was as clear as anything. He has the usual pumps but by blocking out the suns harmful rays this did the job for him, give it a try, especially if you have expensive koi carp in your pond like my neighbour. Don't forget to tie it down otherwise someone a few streets away will get a free tent delivered by airmail for them.
I hope this helps you. please let me know if you try it and if it works. Jimmy

Answer 4

chlorine might want to have finished it. Chlorine in a lot of circumstances would not difficulty the snails as a lot because the fish. i'm sorry to take heed to that your fish died. i might want to get dechorinator and restart. yet before you restart. sparkling the pond fairly nicely. Get some water cycling in it and examine the PH before you get any new fish. Hoses consistently have a micro organism in them. no count number how a lot the water runs. yet I easily have consistently topped of my pond with a hose too and it under no circumstances looked as if it would do something. I actually were given some PONDCARE eco restoration at my interior reach fish save and that stuff did miracles.

Answer 5

the giant lily that you pulled out was what was balancing your pond, you must block the sunlight to stop the green water, you should have at least 75% of the surface covered to protect the water, meanwhile you could plant small trees or shrubs to block sunlight, build gazebo over pond, put some sort of canopy over it
good luck

Answer 6

Cant give you a good answer myself as I do indoor aquarium's but there is a fab website "koko's goldfish world" which has some great forums and fantastic people on it who know their stuff, including a forum for outdoor ponds - someone might be able to answer your question better on there

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/forum/index.php?s=0175547c47c9cd22fa3ff113470836ca&showforum=63

Answer 7

Try a solar fountain to get the water moving, and add a wedge of barley straw in a netting bag to reduce the nitrogen levels.

Answer 8

Try buying barley balls/mats which will remove the greenwater and keep it clear for up to three years. Most pet stores/garden centers with pond supply sections sell them.
A

Answer 9

maybe you need snails to eat the algae, sound like an oxygen problem also might take more than a month for the lily to clear the water

Answer 10

i would blame the hot summer we have had . im no expert but algae in the heat seems to thrive more and it has been a very electrifying(in the air) summer.
i would start over again