Pond is like pea soup

[solaria5505]

My pond is like pea soup right now with a crazy algae bloom. Found one fish floating this morning. I have good aeration, but I’m worried about the rest of the fish. Should I try to do something about it now or wait it out until officially opening my pond? Do you wait for air temps to be in the 50’s during the day or do you go by water temps? This is my second spring with this pond so I’m still a novice and I believe I waited until early April to open last year. Advice is most welcome! Thank you!

[TheFishGuy]

I go by water temperature as the fish simply cant feel the air! I don't know what the cause of fish death is, and that would help me out on advising you a course of action to take. It would help to know pond size, how many fish, what type of fish, and if you are able to do water tests those would be very helpful too!

[brokensword]

>>>pea soup means lots of nutrients in the water, hence higher parameter numbers. If you don't already, get the pumps/filters going. Did you lose this fish AFTER you saw it okay and swimming or is this just from the winter? If the latter, hard to say what killed it, but usually, fish loss over winter is from O2 deficiency (if you have the larger ones dying and/or many) I lose a fish or two periodically over winter and no outward reason. If you don't have one, consider a bog as it really helps because of all it's SSA for the bacteria to colonize, but realize, this time of year, they too will be just waking up and bacteria colonization lags fish waste production. Don't feed, this will only make it worse. If you have a liquid test kit that is current, take readings and post your numbers, NOT 'within normal ranges' as the numbers matter. Don't use the test strips as they tend to be inaccurate. Is there a lot of decaying leaves/debris in the pond? This too can contribute to both high nutrients and low O2.

[j.w]

I get pea soup in mine at times also but then I don't have the greatest filter system and did have too many fish, some died and now pond has much less fish. Sorry for the fish. I will have to watch the fish load now and not feed as much. I try not to but they love to see me coming w/their little wide mouths open.

@TheFishGuy asks some good questions so hope you can let us know more.

@brokensword has some good advise and I agree a bog is great on a remedy for this situation.
I don't have one and try to do the best I can w/my homemade pot edge filter. Think it is doing better now and soon I will hook up my other underwater filter to help even more. Hard to haul that one in and out for cleaning but I have a rope on it to pull it out which makes it a bit easier.

[solaria5505]

I go by water temperature as the fish simply cant feel the air! I don't know what the cause of fish death is, and that would help me out on advising you a course of action to take. It would help to know pond size, how many fish, what type of fish, and if you are able to do water tests those would be very helpful too!

My pond is about 1200 gallons and I have 8 goldies that are full grown. I tested with a liquid kit and got .25 for ammonia, 0 (I think) for nitrites and 25 for nitrates. The other fish when I see them are doing okay so far. We get up and down temperatures this time of year. I'll see my better half starts up the pump and hope that helps. Thanks for the help

[solaria5505]

>>>pea soup means lots of nutrients in the water, hence higher parameter numbers. If you don't already, get the pumps/filters going. Did you lose this fish AFTER you saw it okay and swimming or is this just from the winter? If the latter, hard to say what killed it, but usually, fish loss over winter is from O2 deficiency (if you have the larger ones dying and/or many) I lose a fish or two periodically over winter and no outward reason. If you don't have one, consider a bog as it really helps because of all it's SSA for the bacteria to colonize, but realize, this time of year, they too will be just waking up and bacteria colonization lags fish waste production. Don't feed, this will only make it worse. If you have a liquid test kit that is current, take readings and post your numbers, NOT 'within normal ranges' as the numbers matter. Don't use the test strips as they tend to be inaccurate. Is there a lot of decaying leaves/debris in the pond? This too can contribute to both high nutrients and low O2.

Thank you. There's a lot to learn about ponds, I see. I'll search here for more information on bogs and see if I have room for one. My water readings were ammonia .25, nitrite almost 0 and nnitrates 25. I won't feed until the water temperature stays above 50 then. There are probably some leaves from the fall, I'll put a cleaning on the to-do list.Thanks.

[solaria5505]

I get pea soup in mine at times also but then I don't have the greatest filter system and did have too many fish, some died and now pond has much less fish. Sorry for the fish. I will have to watch the fish load now and not feed as much. I try not to but they love to see me coming w/their little wide mouths open.

@TheFishGuy asks some good questions so hope you can let us know more.

@brokensword has some good advise and I agree a bog is great on a remedy for this situation.
I don't have one and try to do the best I can w/my homemade pot edge filter. Think it is doing better now and soon I will hook up my other underwater filter to help even more. Hard to haul that one in and out for cleaning but I have a rope on it to pull it out which makes it a bit easier.

I don't think I have too many fish, yet! but I'll keep an eye on them because I don't want them all dying. I feed once a day once I start in the spring, usually in April sometime. I saw your homemade filter pot, it looks great! Mine is store-bought, cannister type.

[j.w]

I get pea soup in mine at times also but then I don't have the greatest filter system and did have too many fish, some died and now pond has much less fish. Sorry for the fish. I will have to watch the fish load now and not feed as much. I try not to but they love to see me coming w/their little wide mouths open.

@TheFishGuy asks some good questions so hope you can let us know more.

@brokensword has some good advise and I agree a bog is great on a remedy for this situation.
I don't have one and try to do the best I can w/my homemade pot edge filter. Think it is doing better now and soon I will hook up my other underwater filter to help even more. Hard to haul that one in and out for cleaning but I have a rope on it to pull it out which makes it a bit easier.

I don't think I have too many fish, yet! but I'll keep an eye on them because I don't want them all dying. I feed once a day once I start in the spring, usually in April sometime. I saw your homemade filter pot, it looks great! Mine is store-bought, cannister type.

Good your fish load is low and best to keep it that way as the more fish the more poo and then you end up cleaning the filter all the time. Not my favorite job! Did you say you have koi or goldfish? Koi are much heavier pooers. I only have goldfish so makes it a bit better. Thanks on the nice comment on my pot.
Tried to make it a nicer looking one as it sits right out there in plain site :twisted:

[TheFishGuy]

your pond isnt overstocked, so that is a great thing! The nitrates are a bit high in the pond, so consider adding some plants, a bog, or just doing a partial water change. Those nitrates are most likely why you have the pea soup going on. The other thing that concerns me is ammonia, any amount of ammonia is pretty toxic for fish, however a small amount of ammonia buildup in the spring is normal as the bacteria haven't had a chance to recolonize. point being, just keep an eye on the ammonia and make sure it goes down over time!

[darkmuse]

your pond isnt overstocked, so that is a great thing! The nitrates are a bit high in the pond, so consider adding some plants, a bog, or just doing a partial water change. Those nitrates are most likely why you have the pea soup going on. The other thing that concerns me is ammonia, any amount of ammonia is pretty toxic for fish, however a small amount of ammonia buildup in the spring is normal as the bacteria haven't had a chance to recolonize. point being, just keep an eye on the ammonia and make sure it goes down over time!

what amount of ammonia hurts the fish? I've never actually checked my water because the fish always look fine.

[darkmuse]

I get pea soup in mine at times also but then I don't have the greatest filter system and did have too many fish, some died and now pond has much less fish. Sorry for the fish. I will have to watch the fish load now and not feed as much. I try not to but they love to see me coming w/their little wide mouths open.

@TheFishGuy asks some good questions so hope you can let us know more.

@brokensword has some good advise and I agree a bog is great on a remedy for this situation.
I don't have one and try to do the best I can w/my homemade pot edge filter. Think it is doing better now and soon I will hook up my other underwater filter to help even more. Hard to haul that one in and out for cleaning but I have a rope on it to pull it out which makes it a bit easier.

I don't think I have too many fish, yet! but I'll keep an eye on them because I don't want them all dying. I feed once a day once I start in the spring, usually in April sometime. I saw your homemade filter pot, it looks great! Mine is store-bought, cannister type.

Good your fish load is low and best to keep it that way as the more fish the more poo and then you end up cleaning the filter all the time. Not my favorite job! Did you say you have koi or goldfish? Koi are much heavier pooers. I only have goldfish so makes it a bit better. Thanks on the nice comment on my pot.
Tried to make it a nicer looking one as it sits right out there in plain site :twisted:

How many and what kind of fish do you have, j.w? How long have you had a pond?

[j.w]

@darkmuse I have about 30 goldfish in a 2400 gal pond now and have had it going for over 15 yrs. Just had too many fish from them breeding too much and finally think the filters couldn't keep up w/the mess they made. At the time I lost those fish there must have been 75 to 100 fish in there. Now I will keep the numbers down even if I have to give some away now and then.