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Cool - they have bacterial boosters for ponds!!! .

I'm sorry - I just get excited when it comes to good bacteria

The filter is 540 GPH.

Just putting the possibility out there for you. Most Ponds are 2ft deep min, and then more depending on your area and length of Winter Seasons. How about your Filtration, GPH ??

No we didnt have plans. The pond once belonged to our friends in PA and they never had a problem with it freezing and its much colder there then on Long island

Water Changes really depend on the Type of Filtration you have in your pond.....(Dont see this mentioned) Weekly Water Changes for a Pond is not necessary unless you have just Really Poor Filtration. Your Pond Should Cycle its water once every hour, 2 would be pushing it....What type of Filtration system do you have, how many GPH ? I think with this you will be able to determine how often to do a water change....Also, 18" deep isnt very deep and could cause problems in the Winter time with your Fish Freezing. Do you have plans to bring them in during the Winter?

Thanks so much... yes i have Water hyacinths aldready...they grow like crazy, we started with 3 and within weeks we have almost 20

What types of plants would help the bio-waste and when doing a water change or when it rains could the difference in temp affect the fish's behavior

The biggest helper plant right now would be one that grows rapidly and uptakes rapdily from your pond. Water hyacinths would be my first choice for a rapid growing plant.

Fish do indeed change behavoir when the water temp id dropped rapidly. I was gonna describe the change but you did it for me:

Ok, my fish suddenly huddled together and became unsocial...

That is what happens when you do sudden drastic water temp changes with goldfish in an outdoor pond. They'll come around when the shock wears off. If you have been getting enough rain please keep in mind that without scheduled water changes the PH of your enclosed pond system is dropping. So it isn't just water temp but PH shock, especially if you use frigid cold water from your garden hose during water changes; and such changes are a majority of the pond volume.

I would do a 25% water change bi-monthly until plants are established and then switch to a monthly schedule.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Ok, my fish suddenly huddled together and became unsocial...

I am going to get the ppm as soon as possible THANKS

I would think any rapid shift in temp - up or down, by a large amount could affect their behavior. When I first started my tank, I accidentally dropped the temp almost 5 degrees in a few minutes with a water change. All of my fish got hyperactive. My guppy started swimming in circles along the glass. I just know that with fish tanks, the best guideline I've seen written, by a professor of aquatic medicine, Dr. Edward J. Noga, was 1-2F daily in temp change. Obviously, outdoors they are probably subjected to swings between night and day. Goldies are probably more hardy. However, it is different to experience a 5 or 7 degree drop over a period of 10-12 hours versus mere minutes.

Typically, in a new setup, nitrates can tell us where in the nitrogen cycle you are at.

If you have higher levels of ammonia on your chart, and low levels of nitrite with no nitrates, then you are just entering the 2nd phase or the nitrite phase. If you have low nitrites and your nitrates are up there like around 10-15ppm or greater, then you are nearing the end of your cycle, provided your filtration is doing the job. This process can be 30 days in a tank with no bacterial starters or seeded media (filter cartridges or gravel from established tanks).

How about you post what numbers you have? You can always take a bag of water to a fish store and ask them to test it for what you don't have. We basically need ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to tell where you are at. The combination of all three helps us see this.

As far as water changes, I'll let the pond experts help with that. Maybe we can get Koi_Keeper in here

[span class="edited"][Edited by Cory_Di 2004-07-13 21:41][/span]

Thanks everyone...

Do you think that behavoir can change from a decrease in water temperature??

If there is any sign of nitrates in my water does that mean that the amount of ammonia is minimum?

Do you suggest for my pond of 780 gallons that we don't do water changes? We just got the pond a few months ago and are still figuring things out. Please any tips on how often I should change the water...thanks again

That's one of the biggest factors, aside from not overcrowding and poor water quality, to preventing ich, velvet and other parasitic infestations. Never subject them to temp shock. This can happen when replacement water rapidly drops the temp of the tank. Fish don't self regulate their body temps. Rather it is based on their environment. Consider what shock they go through when their environment dips by 5 or 10 degrees within minutes. Rains will typically cool off a body of water. However, icy water running from a hose, refilling 20-25% in a few minutes is another matter. This is where some rubbermaid garbage cans can come in handy. For a pond that size, a 10% change would likely require two cans. This may be impractical. Maybe others have ideas on how they allow the water to equalize in temp or come close, anyway.

Every kind of aquatic plant will use nitrates as fertiliser.
If you replace water with colder or hotter water, sometimes ich (white spot) will breakout (possibly other diseases also). It is better to use same temp waters, less stressful for the fish.

What types of plants would help the bio-waste and when doing a water change or when it rains could the difference in temp affect the fish's behavior

Hey....is there any products or techniques that can be used to reduce the amount of ammonia in our pond?

If you bacteria colony is good, you sound have no problem with ammonia. I guess that would also be determined by how much water circulation you have.

What kind of fish and how big? What is on the bottom of the pond? do you vaccum?

I just find it hard to beleive that you would have to do a water change on a 780 gal pond weekly. If you vaccum, that would get rid of a lot of the waste right there. You can probably find one that connects to your filter. Then you just clean the filter out. If you have plants (and the right ones) they should do the rest. As for parasites, I think some people use UV filters.

I don't have a pond. I am just a little confuse about the care. I thought it would be much more simple.

here:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=26785;category_id=3149;pcid1=2153;pcid2=

and they have plenty of pond stuff here:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/parent_category.xml?category_id=2153;pcid1=

the shark looks kinda funny I know, but the prices are good.

They have waste eliminators and bio-add to help bacteria as well as plant care products.

ammonia (and therefore nitrite) spikes may occur if your bacteria colony cannot keep up with the waste your fish are producing. This can be caused by adding more fish to your tank of destroying (weakening) your bacteria colony or maybe even feeding the fish more (more waste). Sudden changes in the amonunt of waste.

So does that mean that just by running a filter and by having the "good" bacteria form nitrate that the nitrogen cycle is complete?

Sorta. You have to have a source of ammonia to start the whoel thign going first (some people use fish, others use pure ammonia...). The nitrogen cycle is complete when nitrates appear, and when theres no more nitrites or ammonia.

Not quite.

Many pumps are 3-stage filtration. This means they have something to do mechanical filtration, something for chemical filtration like activated carbon, and something for biological filtration. It takes time for these "good bacteria" to develop. Typically, you will see a rise in ammonia for a good week, followed by a nitrite spike after the ammonia goes down. Fish losses can occur at any time during such spikes. In fish tanks we use products like Stress Zyme or New and Improved Cycle. However, it would probably take several bottles of these bacterial starters to get what you need.

Another thing we often do is to start with fewer fish. For example, if you had started with just three or four fish, it will take longer to cycle, but the levels of natural toxins won't spike as high.

Are these goldfish or koi or other? Are they the long bodied goldfish like comets or more hunched up fancies? Definitely don't add any more fish.

Hopefully, pond people will have ideas on how you can speed up the process and help the fish.

So does that mean that just by running a filter and by having the "good" bacteria form nitrate that the nitrogen cycle is complete?

My pond is 7 feet by 9 feet and its 18 inches deep. I have fish that are about 2-5 inches. I have only 9 fish as of now and my pond is 780 gallons. Yes I do weekly water changes of about 25%

Plants are probably pretty good to keep in a pond to help cut down on bio-wastes.

A good way to prevent ich and other parasites is to make sure water changes don't "chill" the fish. If the pond is small, you can store some water, with conditioner to remove chloramine in a new, plastic trashcan with a mesh over it outdoors. When you do the water changes you can use this water. All it would take is a powerhead with a hose running to the bottom of the barrel and another leading to the pond.

I don't have a pond, so don't take it from me.

Just curious - how many people out there do water changes on their ponds? I would imagine for large ponds rains help, but smaller ponds, especially if well stocked may need some help, no?