Just read your post.. if the lack of Oxygen has caused the problem.. If there any way that you can have your water return back to the pond have a small splash or even a wave effect..
Were you get some form of action at water lvl..
I think that should help in the case of lack of oxygen..
Juergen
Hi Juergen, I used to have a waterfall return but the noise got on my nerves, I couldn't relax.
Ive since remembered something which might point to the cause of death. Ill try to give you the quick history leading up to now.
My main pond pump broke down maybe a year ago, and on investigation of new pumps I realised how much in energy costs, it was costing me. I fixed up the pump which I use for the skimmer, to feed the bead filter, which is my main filter. I simply hung the pump, on flexi tube half way down the ponds depth and took the water from there. This meant I wasnt using the bottom drain. The cost of running the skimmer pump was a 5 times less than running the main pump. My intention was to get a new pump for the bead filter, but after all my dithering on which pump to get, weeks had passed. After these weeks which had passed I realised the temorary small pump was working amply for the pond. Water parameters were fine a clarity was pretty good. So I left it like that for over a year. That takes us up until now.
A couple of days before the fish died I decided to put the pump into the bottom of my vortex which comes from the bottom drain. I hadn't been flushing the bottom drain up until now. When I did flush the bottom drain quite a few bubbles came popping up in the vortex. With the water parameters being all ok I think this gas must be the reason for the deaths!
The fish at the moment are ok but Ive have had a couple jump, and they are acting a little bit odd.
I want to get into the pond and clean out the bottom drain properly but now think this could be deadly to the fish. Please could you give some advice on how to do this and wether you think my ideas on the deaths could be correct.
Many thanks, Matt
Matt, If you are getting hydrogen sulfide (smells like rotten eggs) from the bottom of your pond, do not clean out with the fish still in there. Get a show tank, horse trough, or something to put them in while you do your cleanout. Could very well have been the cause of your mortalities...
Matt if the Bottom drain had not been used for a far time I would suggest that you had a build up of crud in the bottom drain..
By putting a pump on the bottom drain circuit you have started to stir up the bad stuff associated with the breakdown of waste, the main and most dangerous product is H2S[hydrogen sulphide]..
At a certain lvl you cannot smell H2S as it block's the smell receptors in your nose.. At those lvls H2S can and has killed us.. So think of what it does to the fish..
The H2S will dissolve in the water and even be in saturation which does the same thing to the fish..
-> Many years ago a Crew of navy personal were cleaning an area in a Ship when they got over come by H2S, they did not smell it but they all died and even some of the crew that went into rescue them got affected as well..