sekororo said:Hi all, I need advice. I'm adding a algea killer solution to my pond every 2 weeks. If not, all turns green. Do you think is bad for the environment and what other options are there?
Thank you for the advice. One more thing, I have hordes of tadpoles swimming around in black clouds. Should I fish them out or just leave them?Isurus said:Sorry for the delay responding but yes its bad for the environment and please stop. Basically the green appears because there is two much nutrient in the water. You can reduce this effect by planting other plants in the pond whcih will take up the nutrients instead and by adding shade providing floating plants which reduce the sunlight penetration into the water thereby limiting algae growth. If you haven't already got some I'd add some waterlilies or similar local species to start this off.
Some algae is natural and its fairly unusual for ponds to be gin clear. By killing the algae all you do is keep the nutrient in the water (in the form of dead algae) and prevent the build up of a valid food chain in the pond as one of the places where it would start is with animals eating the single cell algae.
Hope this helps.
Seems to me that's a good thing. Birds will eat them, some will survive so you'll have some insect eating toads about, and then you've got yourself a little ecosystem...just what we're after I think.sekororo said:Thank you for the advice. One more thing, I have hordes of tadpoles swimming around in black clouds. Should I fish them out or just leave them?
Don't know what happened. I topped up the pond last night and this morning found all the fish dead, floating!! I think I'll just leave the pond empty, this is getting to complicated.cavan wood said:Seems to me that's a good thing. Birds will eat them, some will survive so you'll have some insect eating toads about, and then you've got yourself a little ecosystem...just what we're after I think.
Scott
sekororo said:Don't know what happened. I topped up the pond last night and this morning found all the fish dead, floating!! I think I'll just leave the pond empty, this is getting to complicated.
I live in rural south africa and we have a small water treatment plant which treat the water from the local dam. I think they may have over chlorinated or something, I don't know what else the put in the water. Well, I have resorted to catching indigenous fish in the dam and I've put them in my pond yesterday, maybe they are more resilient than the koi and gold fish, we'll see.David FG said:Finding all the fish dead that suddenly sounds like poisoning of some sort to me. Is there any chance that the water could have been contaminated in some way?
sekororo said:I live in rural south africa and we have a small water treatment plant which treat the water from the local dam. I think they may have over chlorinated or something, I don't know what else the put in the water. Well, I have resorted to catching indigenous fish in the dam and I've put them in my pond yesterday, maybe they are more resilient than the koi and gold fish, we'll see.
Isurus said:overchlorination would do it, as could any number of other treatments. Where possible its best to "age" tapwater (eg by storing it in a waterbutt for a little while) before adding it to a fishpond. this lets some chemical treatments disperse into the air before adding to the pond.
Your local fish may prove better suited to the pond than koi and goldfish anyway (but its obviously gutting to lose your koi - I know).
Another possibility is an oxygen deprivation kill caused by bacteria eating the dead algae you mentioned above causing a eutropifcation cycle (spelling anyone?).
sekororo said:Thank you for the reply! Since the incident of the dead fish the pond has been crystal clear and the dead algea is slowly dissapearing on the floor of the pond. Maybe it's the algea eating bacteria you mentioned that is at work.
The water is pumped up into a little cement bowl and then tumble down some steps back into the pond, that should provide enough oxygen. New algea is growing on the sides of the pond, maybe things are finally getting into an equilibrium. The fish still look happy as long as we feed them earthworms.