Continued from rust in pond

Man what a day. We eventually removed the Vase and the rusted base 1. [img]
The base is over 2 meters long and had tons of rust, of which some unfortunately was dissolved in the water. The plan was to remove 50% of the water as per the recommendations in the previous topic.

Upon removing the base we noticed that part of the floor which was covered by the base now was bare in that it was not covered by and waterproofing. 2 [/img]

I now have to remove all the water in order to paint the floor.

?'s
1. How long do i need to let in dry before painting and repainting
2. When backwashing the water out it stops at a point where the water is below an outlet pipe in the settlement chamber. This outlet pipe feeds the pump. There is another at the bottom of the settlement which i assume is the drain (and another in the pond itself. ) How do i empty the pond with this issue.
3. My bacteria is dead. how do I get this sorted considering the filter will be switched of for another two days.
4. btw I have a pressurized ultrazap filter with alfagrog. I have been given another (Ultrazap gravity fitler with biomedia). Would I be able to attach the two together.
5. When I add the new water, what do i add with this. This will obviously be 100% tap water.

FIsh are stressed. Added some salt. Going to catch and remove remaining tomorrow. Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

I would buy a porta pool (approximately 5000 liters @ R 1200) and submersible pump( R 400) and pump the remaining water into the new pool (with the new pump because of your problem with the outlet) and add extra water and then salt (3kg/100 liters) and move the fish there with the submersible running. No food.

Wait until the pond is properly dry (at least 4 days) paint and wait again at least 4 days but in accordance with the specifications of the paint/sealer supplier. Let it run for at least 7 days, add salt and bio boost or add a bit of mature bio media from a friends pond (if available) to your filter, check water parameters and put fish back.

Start feeding small quantities until your beneficial bacteria has developed again.

The pool can then be stored away and be used to quarantine new fish or to hospitalise sick fish, or even raise fry if your spawn.

Thanks, managed to get a 3500 l one from game and it seems to do the trick. Water being removed as we speak.

How do you know that your bacteria are back. Is there any way to check

ubhaga wrote:

Thanks, managed to get a 3500 l one from game and it seems to do the trick. Water being removed as we speak.

How do you know that your bacteria are back. Is there any way to check

It might take up to 12 months for a pond to mature properly again but the bacteria comes back gradually from day one. It normally takes at least three weeks to have suffiecient bacteria depending on your stocking level and feeding.

It is important to check your ammonia and Nitrite levels and feed accordingly and increase feeding as the bacteria develops. It is also necessary to do more water changes the first three weeks.

After setting up the pool and putting all the fish inside, we lost 5 fish over 2 days. It is definitely a bacterial infection and I think it was when we were trying to remove all the water we may have filtered the pond after it stood still for a while thereby releasing all the bad bacterai back in the existing water.

Anywayz, I have put in potassium this morning and the water has gone brown after five hours. I will repeat the dose after 3 days. My worry is that the fish seem very lethargic and are gasping for air. They are all around the waterfall at present and seem to be still. They do move if you go for them though. I have removed some of the fish to another tank as i am not unsure as to there well being. There are at least 3 fish that have ulcers in the pond, but they seem to be swimming around. The others that died did not make it this long.

Is the fish movement normal or am i right ot get worried a bit. Also is it right to leave the fish as is and only change after 3 days (do a 20% water change and second dose).

Last ?. If a fish seems healthy, can i assume that it was not affected, or is it naturally affected because it was in the same water.

http://pet-bliss.com/blog/?p=28

Your fish have either gill flukes or Costia in the gills, bacterial infection is ofter cause by a fluke infestation.
The postasium will only irritate the gills more.
Treat for flukes and costia.
Good Luck on saving them.

Thanks for the info gents. The article was brilliant, Marius.

I now have a new problem. The Nitrites have shot up to .5
I know this is toxic. I did a 20% water change and have quite a bit of salt in the tank. Any other suggestions. Seen 2 fish flicking, which i assume is a result of the nitrites.

PS Nitrites have shot up probably because of 2 dead fish in pond this morning. (correct me if i am wrong).

I found the following info for ammonia and nitrite in my Sera test kit:

Nitrite:



Ammonia will be harmful at high pH levels as you can see on the following chart:





Your fish went through a lot of stress with the iron in old pond; the new porta pool, medicine, different pH levels and the like. Maybe you can increase the salt to 3kg for every 1000L of water. From what I understand this will help with the nitrite.
I hope they will make it and recover soon

I have completed 2 Potassium treatments 3 days apart. Most of the infected fish seem ok now. there is 1 or 2 that still have ulcer type wounds and 1 with dropsy. They are all small (5-10cm koi). Water is now perfect on all accounts.

Should I continue with another treatment. The infected fish are still dying. Got 1 death this morning and 1 yesterday. I treated one today with Bao Bio wound med, but I have not had any luck previously.

Thanks in advance

hi ubhaga,

How many fish in your pond, their sizes and the amount of water do you have?

Wayne

still using the porta pond of 3800 litres while the main pond is drying. (from new paint)

about 50 5-10cm and four 10-20cm. I know it is over stocked and the filter was only switched back on Monday (2 days ago). I also started re feeding and the water tests are all good.

ubhaga wrote:

about 50 5-10cm and four 10-20cm.

Wow!! 60 fish.

I thought you only had 6.

Quote :

My worry is that the fish seem very lethargic and are gasping for air. They are all around the waterfall at present and seem to be still. They do move if you go for them though. I have removed some of the fish to another tank as i am not unsure as to there well being. There are at least 3 fish that have ulcers in the pond, but they seem to be swimming around. The others that died did not make it this long.

Your extremely high stocking rate is propably causing the general illness in your pond. Nature finds a way to balance things out in the end.

In 12 000 liters i would say you can keep maximum and this is really pushing it 20 koi. The general rule is 1 fish for every 1000 liters. The real serious koi hobbists take it up even higher and i have heard of people having 1 koi for every 4500 liters of pond water.

But you are on the right track. Get the pond sorted out and once that is ready try and get rid of some of the fish. Remember they are not going to stay 10cm long for long...they will all be atleast 30-40cm this time next year.