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robin1916

Twilight Zone

robin1916
10 years ago

If The Twilight Zone were still being shown, they would be filming in our backyard.

Background:

We had a pool.
Dh converted it to a 17,000 gallon pond.
He added two aeration bubbler thingies.
He put in some "test" fish last fall, but it seemed they all died. He decided to wait until spring and started anew.

Spring comes and he gets the water balanced.
He added some plants. 2 days later he saw 3 of the fish he thought died.
The water was green (could hardly see an inch into it) but since it was balanced he added more fish.
The plants grew, the water lettuce spread (I think they are the botanical equivalent of hamsters) and the fish seem happy.
Still can't see more than an inch into the water so we can only see them when they are at the surface eating.

Dh tries lots of things from barley to coagulant to a shaman (ok, I made that up).
Time passes between each thing and. Still can't see into the water.
Dh finally adds a HUGE UV light.
Time passes. Still can't see into the water.
Time passes.

Dh does research and decides the water flow past the UV light needs to be better. 3" PVC vs 2" that was there. That is a lot of work.

Dh decides to add these packets of "good bacteria" that eat algae and are safe for fish. A little time passes. It SEEMS we can almost see the first step.
Yes, yes. Yes, we can. It continues to get a smidge better.

Time passes and it seems to "stagnate" in its improvement.
Dh addes another packet. It gets even better (not great, just better) and stops getting better again.
Dh also looses a fish here and there. Usually they are in the filter.

Dh adds another packet. Time passes. Wow, things are looking up!
We actually start to faintly see the bottom of the pond at the shallow end. Algae on the sides is disappearing.
We see a hawk sitting on a tiki torch one morning, just sitting there. Hmmm. He flies away.

Here's where it starts to get weird.
When dh adds fish, he adds fish that he can identify (big orange blob on head, two orange spots on tail) and he now has about 15-20 fish in there. We don't really know because we can't see all of the pond.

Dh adds an identifiable koi 2 weeks ago. The next morning we find that very same koi at the other end of the pond ... on the deck a foot from the edge. Doo, doo, doo-doo, doo, doo, doo-doo.

Last Monday dh's pump went out. He wasn't surprised since he said pool pumps weren't designed to run all day, every day. No way he can fix it until Saturday.
Dh decides it will be a good test to see if he actually needs the pump. It doesn't aerate, it just kind of circulates the water past his biological filter.

Tuesday, where are the fish? We hear and see some flipping of the tail in the water lettuce, but no fish come to eat.

Wednesday we see no fish. No live fish. no dead fish.

Yesterday, dh sees one dead fish floating amongst the water lettuce.
Dh "fishes" it out, turns it over and there is a perfectly circular concave hole in the side.

We see no other fish. Dh uses his net to dredge the bottom for bodies. No fish. None. zip.

I can't believe some lone hawk managed to get 15-20 fish overnight when he didn't all the months before.

Anyone have any idea about what happened?

Comments (10)

  • rosiebeaglemom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What kind of filter system do you have? Is the uv submersible in-line?

  • robin1916
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Waterwoman!

    Until the pump broke Monday, he used the pool pump. It circulated and filtered the water. He also converted it to include a biological filter (changed out the DE fins to PVC filled with holey lava rock type things. That has been working for months.

    The pump also runs the water past a tube with the UV light in ti. Not sure if that is before the bio filter or after.

    We did see one lone tiny fish this morning but that was after watching for quite some time. He has/had some huge fish. The one koi that survived the winter under horrible water conditions is/was a good 18" or more long now. You can't miss him when he is the shallow water. Dh wonders if they are stressed and hanging out in the deep end where we can't see yet.

  • rosiebeaglemom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Buy a proper pond pump. Most of the pond store websites have them on sale this time of year. (You might want to stay away from the Aquascape brand. From what I've read on various forums, they break down after only a year or two.) Also Google Skippy Filter. You need much more than lava rocks, no matter how many gallons your pond is. Continue to use the uv; that's the best thing you've done so far.
    I have an Alpine submersible pump, an in-line Pondmaster uv and a Skippy filter. My pond if 4,500-5,000 gallons and if I dropped a newspaper to the bottom, I could read every word. Once you have the right equipment and filter in place, the water will clear up. Good luck.

  • frankielynnsie
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When the water is clear the hawk will come back to visit. I have to net my pond because our resident hawk and feral cat like sushi.

  • robin1916
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just can't believe that the hawk ate all the fish in one or two nights. Especially when he could have done that before. And the pond is deep enough that they don't have to swim, and don't swim, close to the surface except when eating fish food. The pond is 3 feet at one end (covered with water lettuce) and 6 feet at the other end. We were just out there and did not see a single fish, although we heard what might have been a tail flip.

    The water was perfectly balanced according to dh's strips. I know because he is color blind and I check it after he dips it. There were at least 15-20 fish in the pond on Monday. According to the strips the water is STILL balanced. They are also new strips.

    Other than the fish on the deck (NO WAY it could have flipped itself out the distance it was from the water) and the fish with the perfectly circular concave hole in its side, everything has been good except for the algae.

    A few months ago, dh also ordered a test to see if the water had any other stuff in there that shouldn't (chemicals, metals, other toxins, etc.) All tests were negative except bacteria which he knew would be positive because of the good bacteria.

    Things are getting curiosier and curioser.

  • catherinet
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    raccoons? A heron? Are you near a stream/river?.....beavers?

  • diggery
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not seeing anything curious or mysterious (twilight-zone-ish) here. I am, however, confused as to why you think 15-20 fish disappeared overnight when you plainly state you cannot see them unless they venture to the shallows (?) Perhaps the hawk made dinner of the koi but that's the least of your concerns at present.

    Your best course of action is to stop treating *symptoms* and start correcting the root of the issue (unless you don't mind pouring a constant stream of $ into your pool cum pond).

    Just for starters, what is your ratio of plant coverage to surface area? It's not clear how your dh converted the pool pump to include a bio filter. (I maintained a pool for many years & I just can't make sense of this - do you mean he's routed the flow through a filter?) In any event, IF it was working there would be no need to add packet after packet of 'good bacteria' as the filter would be serving this function without ANY help from you. You say "things are looking up" after adding (how many?) packets of bacteria? Bleh!

    It's not unusual to experience a spring algae bloom (green water) but it's nearing the end of Aug now and you should not be experiencing green water. I'd suggest you go take a look at cliff_and_joann 's filter system. They've shared detailed schematics of their setup which you will find helpful.

    I say again, stop treating symptoms and start correcting the underlying issues. Not only will your fish enjoy good health but your wallet will too,

    blessings,
    ~digger

    p.s. one last thought...toss the lava rock.

  • Debbie Downer
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Duplicate post

    This post was edited by kashka_kat on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 13:41

  • Debbie Downer
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, same as what above posters have written. I suspect "two aeration bubbler thingies" are inadequate for proper aeration, oxygenation, and circulation of a 17,000 gallon pond... which is quite large and may require significant $$$ or some ingenuity to build a DIY system. The water circulation & oxygenation needs of a swimming pool (treated with chemicals) arent as critical as a pond which is meant to support plant and animal life.

    Once you get mechanicals in place that can handle that volume of water and whatever degree of filtration is needed (based on no. of gallons, fish and bio load) then the rest kinda falls into place. You can add the "good" bacteria but they do need adequate oxygenation to survive and thrive.

    Koi are known to jump out esp when stressed (such as a recent move) - no mystery there. The wound in fish could be a wound or ulceration from disease but as Digger stated you would want to look at the big picture and not the symptoms.

    This post was edited by kashka_kat on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 13:38

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey there. I would suggest you try a better test system than strips. Due to many factors they can be misleading. A decent liquid test kit can be around $25-30.

    Running more water through a UV system is not particularly productive. The water(and algae) exposed should have as long a dwell time as possible under the light. Perhaps the manufacturer should be contacted to determine the exact flow rate they recommend.

    With such a large pond, it should be fairly easy to teach the fish to come to a certain place to be fed. How are you feeding them? Mine seem to be able to tell time.

    Quilt batting is an excellent material for filtering out algae. I have mine in the Skippy filter along with an assortment of Scrubbies and crumpled up plastic netting that provides a home for beneficial bacteria.

    We really could use more info on water movement in your pond.