Pond construction begins

[D@z]

Do you monitor the Ph of your green water, particularly late afternoon?

[koifishgirl]

Dont have green water, we have had so much rain that I can not keep a bloom in the pond. I will get some water test done today, but did not think that was the problem. I did notice a whole lot of bugs when I pulled the pond and tons of drangonfly young. I used screen wire the very soft stuff to make a seine and it works good, pulls out all kinds of critters from the water, I cant seem to keep green water for they fry with all the rain that we are having, so I am having to feed more than what I wanted to. Im scared I have messed up the water or the parasites are so bad with this spring time weather that this may be what the problem is with the koi. My main pond at home I have done several complete clean outs because of this to keep the parasites down , but I can do that with a mud pond.

Wish I had some good pics of the fry but I cant take good pics, got to learn. I had to cull more than half of the fry Im sure, but what I do have left I think are going to be some pretty colored koi, may not be anything of great value but I can sell as pond grade, if I can get my problem under control. I noticed some bad places on them also.

[MikeM]

No, KFG, it is not normal for koi in a pond to have the problems you describe. You need to test all water parameters, scope & scrape, etc. The pond may be murky from suspended clay or algae, but the water parameters should be excellent. If not, you need to determine why. I would suggest you include a test for dissolved oxygen levels and take the test reading at sunrise and at 3pm after a long hot day in the sun. I cannot be of further help.

[koifishgirl]

Thanks Mike, as I need all the help I can get, I will check the water to make sure everything is ok in that area, but how in the world do you check the o2 in the water? Can you but a kit to do this? I think since your asking about o2 I will add some extra as this might be part of the problem. Right now I just wish koi could talk. Sometime when problem arise for me I run scared and forget what I need to do, sometimes I know and sometimes I dont, mud ponds are a new experience for me and I still have a great deal to learn.

[koifishgirl]

Found the problem a major ph swing, 9.0 bad, very bad, I dont understand this because of the fresh water going into the pond 24/7, why would I have a spike like this and what do I need to do. I can put baking soda in the pond but how much. 40 x 80 is the size of the pond 4 foot deep . They are still eating well but I need to do something fast before I get into major trouble.

[dick benbow]

been a fun thread to monitor. i might add that in building ponds for babies you can always dig them deeper and add water depth (fill them in ) deeper as the babies grow. Then if you decide after draining to grow on a crop of nisai you can
refill the pond deeper so that one pond might be useful for many year classes.

[D@z]

Quote: Originally Posted by koifishgirl Found the problem a major ph swing, 9.0 bad, very bad, I dont understand this because of the fresh water going into the pond 24/7, why would I have a spike like this and what do I need to do. I can put baking soda in the pond but how much. 40 x 80 is the size of the pond 4 foot deep . They are still eating well but I need to do something fast before I get into major trouble.

I suspect it will get higher than that at some time during the day as 9.0 on its own is not high enough to do what you describe unless maybe it is a huge spike up to 9.0 from a lot lower.

[bekko]

Diurnal pH swings are normal in mud ponds. I think you need to keep looking for the root cause of your problem and agree with MikeM that it is probably oxygen. My guess is that you had severe oxygen depletion a week or so ago. You were lucky that the fish were not killed out-right by the low oxygen, but they were stressed enough to bring on the bacterial infections you are seeing now. If you had looked at the pond at dawn on the day after the first seining, I bet you would have found the fish piping at the surface.

You need to check the pH and the dissolved oxygen at dawn. The pH may be high in the afternoon because of the green water. The algae strips the CO2 out of the water causing the pH to rise in the afternoon but it should be back to normal levels in the morning.

That algae also has a large respiration demand for oxygen during the night when it is not producing oxygen. By dawn, the oxygen may be nearly depleted.

You can buy a kit to test oxygen (Lamotte Chemical Company), but they are cumbersome to use (modified Winkler titration) and a better long-term investment is a Pinpoint oxygen meter.

You will invest in aeration equipment and a D.O. meter eventually. The only question is whether or not you do it before having a major fish kill. In Georgia, even natural bass/bream ponds can experience dissolved oxygen kills during Dog Days and or when the pond "turns over" in the spring. Heavily fertilized and fed ponds will have dissolved oxygen kills on an much more frequent basis.

Your immediate response (while you get the meter and aeration equipment together) should be to quit feeding and set up a small pump to spray water into the air 24/7. That inlet water is not providing much agitation/aeration and is pumping in groundwater which is devoid of oxygen. Aeration equipment sizing and schematics of the piping were discussed somewhere above.

-steve hopkins

[koifishgirl]

Thanks guys, I have a large pump I will set up in the morning it will keep enough o2 in the water, I put this pump in the pond after moving the koi to the other pond and the water surface has a good ripple all over the pond, I will set it up high to make a good splash in the pond, now the question is what do I do about the infection, is there something I can treat the pond with or will it correct itself without meds.

The pond the fish were in I drained into the pond next to it, I have a few koi left in a small amount of water in that pond, with the pump that is pumping a good amount of o2 in that pond so the few remaining koi in that pond are in good shape. I moved the pump to that pond and should have left it in the pond with the most koi. I have a smaller pump in this pond, but I like you believe now that you guys are right, I have experience a fish kill in one of Jacks mothers fish ponds due to o2 level and heavy rains. I guess Im lucky that it did not kill all of my koi.
I will look for a pinpoint meter, and also get another large pump for the o2 levels. I cant goany further with my pipe work construction untill a bridge is fixed to get equipment out to the ponds, the county were the ponds are located are poor as a bag lady, its ben out all summer and I dont know when they will get it fixed. I have everything ready to put in the ground, but I have not purchase the sweetwater air pump yet because of waiting on the bridge to be fixed.

[koifishgirl]

Dick, that is a great idea, and I think I will just do that , makes more sence to me and will save a lot of space for me, I dont know why I did not do this to start with. What depth do you think I need to dig the ponds I can do three ponds this way as one I have a good liner already paid for and I dont want to waste that money. I can alway use this pond to house my brood stock as I dont want that many pairs. I dont know what I would do without you guys, I am thinking major trouble.


Have a great one,
Judy