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water tests
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Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
water tests
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14 Jun 2011 10:31 #1
by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
Hi guys did a water test today and the ph was 9.0 on my out door pond. could this be from the heavey rain on sunday?I tested my tap water (which comes from my own well) and the ph is 7.0 , so i started doing small water changes 10-15% daily for the next few days. this is what my test kit suggested. is this the right way to go to bring down ph?
Also when i tested for nitrite and nitrate the colour the test sample's went didn't match anything on the test chart, they both just stayed a very cloudy brown colour.
Any advice is most welcome ,
Stuart.
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14 Jun 2011 12:21 #2
by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Is the pond concrete?
Is your water from the pond murky, and possibly interfering with you seeing the colour changes?
The effect of the water changes on pH would depend on what is raising and possibly buffering the pH to 9 (presuming your test is correct).
If your water has zero buffering, then a change of 50% would only drop the pH by 0.3 (from 9 to 8.7). If the water has a good pH buffer, then a 50% change may drop the pH even less.
On the otherhand, 10% per day will work towards making a healthier pond no matter what.
I would re-check your measurements before doing anything drastic......maybe find is someone in the are has an electronic pH as that doesn't rely on seeing a colour change in what could be murky water.
ian
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14 Jun 2011 13:13 #3
by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I should have said if you did a 50% water change with pure water it would only drop by 0.3.....if your water were not pure then you can't really estimate.
Another question.....are there any new concrete constructions near-by? you mentioned heavy rain....fresh concrete will raise the pH.
And another......what is the plant life like in the pond, and which plants?
certain plants can have a very high photosynthesis turn-over, and if the water starts to lack carbon dioxide then they attempt to extract the carbon dioxide from dissolved carbonates/bi-carbonates.
(You may notice a chalk-like deposit on the leaves).
If the water is on the soft side then the plants will extract what they can from the carbonates and produce calcium hydroxide....which will make the pH rocket somewhat.
(to cut a long story short that is).
ian
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14 Jun 2011 16:42 #4
by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
Thanks for the reply ,
The pond is plastic it's not that big and there are no new concrete stuctures near by that could have caused it. It's my first attempt at keeping fish and the pond is only a few months old. i had some plants in there from the start cant remember the name exactly but pond weed is what it looks like. i recently added some new plants a (barred horsetail, rosette water lettuce and a frogbit) these were all recomended to me by my LFS as being safe to use for my pond.
On the part about the water being murky, before i add the catalyst for the tests the water looks clear, but as i look into the pond the water does look quite murky. I thought this was just the pond matureing.should i get a better testing kit? better filters ? make a bigger pond ? lol im open to any suggestions atm that will save my lovely fish.
Thanks
Stuart.
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14 Jun 2011 17:41 #5
by igmillichip (ian millichip)
As most tests rely on a indentifying a change in colour, the colour of the water might (to differing degrees) affect the ability to read a result accurately.
After heavy rain, or in cases where there is a green tinge to the water, the water may be fine in quality but may cause test-kit reading problems.
ian
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15 Jun 2011 08:18 #6
by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
Ok thanks very much Ian I'll carry on with the water changes for a bit and keep testing to see if it's helping.
Are any of the plants i listed a danger to the pond? My LFS recomended them but some people just wanna sell stuff instead of give you good advice.
Thanks
Stuart.
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15 Jun 2011 09:35 #7
by igmillichip (ian millichip)
It's not that a plant (unless it is toxic to fish) itself is dangerous. I may have confused you there.
What is a possibility is that if the water is already unstable (eg too soft) then normal safe functions (eg fish breathing, plants photosynthesising etc) within the the water can tip the unstable water to a hazardous level.
It's like feeding the fish......there is nothing danegerous unless you overfeed big messy fish in a brand new fish tank, in which case the danger is caused by the tank being new rather than by the food (although there is a cyclic argument there
)
Don't worry about the plants too much, they are fine. It is either the test kit results or the water itself that is potentially the problem.
ian
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16 Jun 2011 15:20 #8
by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
Ok need some quick advice here, i just checked in on them and my tench was floating on top of the pond with big red swolen gill's. I removed him right away , should i quarantine the other fish to a hospital tank and change the water or will they be ok?
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16 Jun 2011 16:21 #9
by igmillichip (ian millichip)
You've got serious problems.
You need to act fast, but not too fast as to kill the fish with stress.
If I were in that situation, I would remove the fish. Place them in a shallowish amount of there pond water in a large container, aerate it vigourously and at the same time slowly trickle siphon some fresh properly conditioned water (using air-line) into that large container. Making sure that the new water was the same temp as the pond water to minimise stress.
That may not be totally feasible if the fish are large or are numerous.
In a fish tank, I would change the water BUT i would also run the water through a high efficiency ammonia-trapping resin during the water change (I always keep some around in case I have an emergency).
If non of that is feasible, then your main option is to do a large water change....using properly conditioned water.
I am thinking that you have some form ammonia problem going on as well (or a nitite problem even).....ie you have double trouble.
ps. Is your well water treated?
ian
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16 Jun 2011 16:43 #10
by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
Thanks ian alot of that was way to technical for me but it seems my best option is to do a large water change. No my well water is not treated in anyway and i have done water tests on the water b 4 i added it to the pond and everything seemed fine with it. this fish that died was only added to the pond in the last week or two and hasn't been eating, is it probable that he was sick before i bought him ? and if so would this definatly infect the water? thanks for your help im gonna brave the weather and go change that water.
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