***The Pond Discussion Thread****

Well popped out to see the folks this weekend and returned to find Sushi (our largest/oldest) Koi had jumped out of the pond.

So obvious things first - water test...

I've put off putting some fluksol in on Friday/sat morning due to the predicted thunder storms.
 
NickK said:
I've put off putting some fluksol in on Friday/sat morning due to the predicted thunder storms.
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No need to hold off on fluke treatments, they dont effect the water chemistry/o2 in any impactful way.

Would also suggest doing a full dose day 1, half dose day 2 and half dose day 3. Assuming your ponjd is ~20 degrees C, repeat 5 and then 10 days after the first treatment went it, ideally with something using a different active ingredient. (So if you use flubendazole on day 1, use praziquantel on day 5 and then flubendazole again on day 10).

I also over treat by ~10% as flukes are absolutely ruthless if they get a resistance to treatment, which is unforutnately what happens a lot of time as people underestimate / dont know the gallonage of their ponds.
 
kindai said:
No need to hold off on fluke treatments, they dont effect the water chemistry/o2 in any impactful way.

Would also suggest doing a full dose day 1, half dose day 2 and half dose day 3. Assuming your ponjd is ~20 degrees C, repeat 5 and then 10 days after the first treatment went it, ideally with something using a different active ingredient. (So if you use flubendazole on day 1, use praziquantel on day 5 and then flubendazole again on day 10).

I also over treat by ~10% as flukes are absolutely ruthless if they get a resistance to treatment, which is unforutnately what happens a lot of time as people underestimate / dont know the gallonage of their ponds.
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Hmm the treatment says don’t use in thunderstorms.

Water test showed no ammonia, some nitrite, some nitrate and a lower hardness value than ideal so in went a KH buffer.

I put 25 capfuls of 38 as that’s all i had. I’m have more next weekend, will then be able to fully treat. If that doesn’t work I can opt for aomething stronger.
 
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NickK said:
Hmm the treatment says don’t use in thunderstorms.
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Stuff that strips oxygen from the water in a large way yea, can cause issues with low oxygen saturation and thunderstorms, so formalin, potassium, chloramine T from memory.

Other treatments are fine unless you have realy low oxygen saturation, but given you use an air lift thats highly unlikely.
 
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The buffer has increased the KH and GH to acceptable levels. It was only a drop short on KH and two on GH, now correct after retesting. The pH has remained about the same.
 
Hello fish people. I inherited my pond when my Dad died, I went pretty anal on it from 18-23 and then my brother went 10x anal. I was up at the weekend, still going strong. Unfortunately that killer of a summer we had in 2018(?) saw off almost the entire pond (pump failure), but there is one chap in here who is at least 40+.

 
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father-ted said:
Some very nice fish there, hope you keep enjoying them, must bring back some great memories of your dad :)
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It is bittersweet, as "gin clear" was always his ambition but funds never allowed it. Would have been great for him to see this, but it has taken us almost 15 years of trial and error :D
 
Was watching the fish basking in the early morning sun today and saw a couple flashing.

Bowled one up and lovely, costia. Sigh.


Fortunately an easy to eliminate parasite but annoying none the less. Unfortunately dont have any malachite on hand tonight to mix up some malachite and acriflavine so will have to pop out tomorrow and grab some. Unusual as I normally wonder why I have so many bottles of the stuff lying around :cry: :cry:
 
While checking them over got a couple of quick snaps. For an idea of size the bowl is roughly 70 cm in diameter.

The black and gold koi isnt anything "special" but hes our oldest fish, probably around 20 years old or so now, maybe a little older.

IMG-20230626-181852.jpg


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IMG-20230626-204153.jpg
 
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Well the two big boys are moping around together, they’re missing big gal they used to follow/hound.

The water is clearing nicely. I noted little wally in the main pond sits in the blanket weed looking out, then tries to avoid the big boys. Not that they could eat wally, there’s just a big difference in size. Poor thing as I’m tempted to put him in the back of section but ai dont think I could net him/her. The ones in the back are getting bigger and they’re needing a littlw more before they get shifted into the main pond.
Reduced the food amount whilst the pond sorts itself out. Also the blanket weed is dying off too (I’m extracting it to prevent it from decomposing in the main pond).
Currently have the drum in bypass so the flukesolv solution isn’t filtered out.
 
So the concrete was poured 10 days ago and has been kept wet the entire time under some soaked cloth and plastic sheet. By now it should be about 70 percent or so towards its maximum strength and well bonded to all the surfaces it touches, can start on the next 2 or 3 layers of blocks.

IMG-20230626-181308.jpg
 
So treated the pond yesterday afternoon with Malachite and Acriflavine to deal with the costia.

Almost immediately all the fish started behaving in a way that suggests they were being irritated, which is good as it means the parasites are being killed off, but kept an eye until midnight, and nothing out of the ordinary.

Came down this morning and cack, a fish on the lawn. Dry to the touch, not responsive, eyes glazed over, not sure how long hed been out the water. Checking the gill fillaments however they were still a deep red, and given koi can last a few hours out of water, gave it a shot of dexamethasone, cleared the gills of any mucus by holding open its mouth and pushing it through the water then suspending it in a net over the air ring.

Stupid thing is now swimming around like nothing happened....
 
NickK said:
Almost need to put a net over when treating.
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Yea, usually after the initial hit though they calm down and everything is fine, plus anything that would jump hopefully the jump guard stops.... but nah this one decided to pole vault over it apparently.

They all seem much calmer today, so all going well the costia has been erradicated. Will give it another day or two and re-scrape some fish to check.
 
Little ones, the pond is clearer but the UV has been off with the fluke medication. 4K video may still be processing..
 
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Noted the fish flicking, so this time they've got NTlabs FMG.. so the next step up, so I have a blue pond now. and he pond has a few bubbles on top so I'm thinking the treatment is irritating the parasites that irritate the fish that produce mucus. The blue should go in a couple of days but it will be a surprise for the fat pidgeon that bathes by flying across it with it's belly in the water.. should be rather blue after that.
 
NickK said:
Noted the fish flicking, so this time they've got NTlabs FMG.. so the next step up, so I have a blue pond now. and he pond has a few bubbles on top so I'm thinking the treatment is irritating the parasites that irritate the fish that produce mucus. The blue should go in a couple of days but it will be a surprise for the fat pidgeon that bathes by flying across it with it's belly in the water.. should be rather blue after that.
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The fish seemed to go nuts initially (not surprising) and stayed quite deep. However watching this morning, they've calmed down (except one attempting to steal the other's food and almost pushing them out of the water to get to whatever). They do seem less interested in the food at the moment but will see in the next couple of days. Little ones are still busy eating everything and put on an inch. So I think the treatment is working, and that the fish seem less irritated. This weekend I'll have to change some of the water but the treatment has seemed todo its job.
 
So this is the general plan for the new bio chamber.

Since I am limited on space, build up instead. So rather than pumping from the filter back to the pond directly, I will pump from the filter into the bio chamber, and "overflow" it into the skimmer which then connects to the existing return pipework.

My only concern is will 2x 1.5inch return pipes be able to return 10,000 litres an hour via gravity.

filter.jpg
 
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