It's summertime and garden fish pond water warms up
Most pond fish and this certainly applies to goldfish and koi love warm water. You will have noticed that the fish swim a lot more, eat a lot more and generally seem happy. Your pond plants will be blooming and also growing rapidly.
You will probably have noticed that algae growth has speeded up as well. You will be cleaning the pump strainer more often, and pulling your hair out about the persistent green water if you do not have an UV sterilizer installed in your fish pond. If you suffer from the curse of string algae it will be growing at an incredible rate. remember algae are all types are plants ... yes just like a water lily is a plant.
Later in this Gazette I will once again discuss blanketweed or string algae and what you can do to lessen the problem.
Why do these things all happen in summer ... well the common denominator is higher temperature. Virtually everything around us speeds up as temperature increases. Even rusting of steel gets worse quicker. Metabolism in fish increases and that is why they eat more to sustain their body mass as activity increases and they use up more calories. Plants grow faster because of higher sunlight hours as well as increased temperatures since they depend upon sunlight for photosynthetic conversion.
On still summer days in overstocked ponds and especially if you have a green pond oxygen depletion within the pond can take place with lethal results. Under the same conditions ammonia poisoning can occur with equally disastrous results. The reasons for these potential calamities has been explained on more than one occasion. To avoid these problems you have the dire need to do the following if you have not already done so:
Install a biofilter even a simple home made one. Make sure your pump runs 24 hrs per day ... do have at least a fountain sprinkling and maybe a waterfall too in order to increase oxygen levels in the pond water. If you have an air blower use it to its full advantage. Blow air into the water inside the filer as well as in the pond or in the waterfall system. You cannot overdo this. Install an UV light system to prevent green pea soup water and prevent high pH problems which in turn cause ammonia problemsIn this regard read this from a reader in Florida .....
I wanted to touch base and let you know that it has been 8 days since I have installed the Ultra Violet light and my pond is crystal clear. I have never in the 6 years of having my fish pond seen clear water except for when a complete water change has been done and then that only lasted a few days before turning completely green again. I am so glad that I found your book on the Internet.
There should be more people out there like you that are not trying to make a killing off of people. In the past 6 years I have spoken to numerous "pond experts" and they have sold me every chemical on the market to clear up the water. Needless to say I still had green water and I have spent hundreds of dollars buying these products because I did not know any different. The day before I found your book on the Internet I was out of state and passed by a nursery and stopped. They had many ponds on their grounds. I spent an hour talking to the owner about my green water problem and at the end of the conversation he sold me 2 products to put in my pond that guaranteed clear water within 3 days of treatment. Needless to say 3 days later my water was still green.
Thank you so much more the information that really helps. It cost me $99 for an 8 watt UV light and I won't have to spend any other money.
ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE HELPFUL INFORMATION YOU HAVE SUPPLIED TO ME.
DEBBIE FROM FLORIDA