a black pond

Just got back from 6 weeks on the road. My neighbor claims that about two weeks ago my pond started to turn black. Filter is running but something happened to cause this to happen so suddenly. I put a few scoops of algae control in the pond last night. Don't know if that will help. To think I left a wonderfully clear pond in mid May and now this mess. I guess you just can't go away. It's like having a pet to take care of - except this are fishies. The koi seem fine down there.

I'll probably have to do what I resisted and that is to get some kind of UV lights to keep this under control in my absence.

Fred

Hi Fred

Glad you made it home. Did you have a good trip? Sorry to hear about the black. What do you think it is? You will love the UV light. Get one with a bulb wiper on it.

Jeri

Jeri, I looked longingly at the map as we were cruising down 75 but Louisiana was just a bit too far off.

I had a mountain of mail and other things to take care of inside the house. Tomorrow I will venture outside. The pond is not as bad as it looked the night we came home. The water is crystal clear but the sides and bottom are covered with algae. That makes everything look black. I put some algae cleaner in there but haven't touched it otherwise just yet.

Is this what one uses the pond vac for to suck up the algae on the floor and sides?

I'm still not sure how to integrate this bulb thing with my filter setup but I need to really investigate the situation.

Fred

There is a good algae that grows on the sides and rocks and I don't think you can get rid of it. The cloudy pea green water string algae is the problem algae that UV lights take care of.

I sure wish you could have swung by. We were home. Maybe next time!!!

Jeri

they make a copper solution for ponds to keep them clear of algae and doesn't harm anything. i'm not sure if it's copper sulphate or what. i know our local sutherlands lumber has it. maybe lowe's homedepot or hardware store

I thought we read not to buy any copper water toys for the fish because the koi couldn't handle it well.... don't know that for sure, though...

Fred... did you see this thread? I've only dealt with green murky water so far, not black, but maybe you had a lot of leaves fall in and cause the discoloration (???).

Here's some good info on general pond stuff, see the most recent post with may tips....

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/743965/


Brenda

edited to say: I'm referring to the post from rylaff. We don't get too many leaves in the pond here in AZ...

This message was edited Jul 6, 2007 8:43 PM

oh thz bsavage didn't know that

I don't think my water itself is discolored but with sides and bottom black it seems to be black also. At least when I remove some water in a bucket it looks clear.

As an aside, I have lots of little fish in my upper water flow thru where I have the water hyacinths. I guess some eggs got sucked into the pump and out through the bio-filter where they then hatched. There are lots of little koi in the pond itself.

Today I'm going in there to do some cleanup of the string algae.

Fred