[Ponds-Koi] Foam and clear Water

June 11, 2008 @ 9:19 am · Filed under Philippines Internet Koi Society

You should probably sell or give away all of your babies. Five goldfish is pushing the limits on a 250G pond…. or maybe it’s time to make a bigger pond.
If all you have is 12 or so fry, then that is likely the cause of your foam. Dozens of them were eaten as little protein snacks… which was subsequently passed through the goldfish and lots of protein came out in the poop or possibly some died and were not eaten so they decomposed causing excess proteins as well.
I know you mentioned Lily’s in your first post. Is your pond dug in or sitting above ground? For Texas heat/sun, it would be best to be dug in to take advantage of the geo-thermal cooling/heating that would be provided by being 16″ deep but if you are above ground, then you should get enough floating plants (lily’s, hyacinths, etc.) to cover 50-75% of the surface. This will help in many ways… blocking some of the sun from over-heating your pond, helping the ecology of the pond by sucking up the nitrogenous wastes of the fish thus helping to beat back the algae, sucking up CO2 and providing O2 via photosynthesis and last but not least, helping to protect the fish from predatory birds.
If lily’s or hyacinths are not readily available, you can get bunches of Anacharis and allow it to float instead of planting it. As it gets long enough, you could plant the stems and the stalks will still reach the surface and float across the top of the pond. Anacharis is one of my favorites for mini-ponds and it also provides an easy snack if the goldfish get hungry between meals and the plant matter is good for their digestion.
Since you have so many new fish, until you get rid of the extras, keep up with testing and doing PWC’s.
Since this pond is above ground, you could add a second pond and dig it in and have your current pond flow into the lower pond via a small stream or bog which will give you lots of decorating options and allow you to keep some of the babies. During the hottest and coldest months, keep the fish in the lower pond so they’ll benefit from a more stable water temperature all year round. Even though the fish will all be in one pond, you would be doubling/tripling your water volume by having the second pond to help dilute the wastes of the fish between PWC’s. You could also have a lot more plants in the second pond to help filter the water without blocking your view of the fish as much. But then you would need to keep an umbrella open over the deck pond during the hot/sunny summer months.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com