Tiny Fish - Uninvited Please Help

13 years ago

My pond is lined and enclosed in a screened lanai. It's about 600 gal. 2 feet deep at the middle and a 10 inch shelf around about 4/5 of the pond. There's a trickling waterfall in the shelf opening. No fish.

I've just taken over the maintenance due to my husband's illness. No filter. The water was brown. Has a few lily plants. Don't know if they're hardy or tropical.
I used clairifier and some blue pond dye. Now bluish green. Not unattractive. A lot of brown mucky sludge on the bottom. I've removed some with a wet vac and scooped some with a strainer.
Tiny little fish (barely visible) We didn't put them there. Haven't seen any frogs. Something is eating edges of lily leaves. Also have natural snails in landscaped area of lanai as well as little salamanders or lizards.

Questions:

Should I keep trying to remove muck?
Never had a filter. Need one?
How should I get rid of fish or should I?
Sides are a little slippery. Should I use an algaecide?

Thanks so much!

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Comments (5)

gypsywanab
Original Author
13 years ago
I meant the fish were uninvited.
sleeplessinftwayne
13 years ago
Are you sure they are fish? You might want to take a closer look. There are lots of things that like to live in as pond with no fish to threaten, especially mosquitoes.

A filter can certainly make things easier. It will help clear the water. Running the water through folded up quilt batting will help get rid of the muck and suspended stuff which probably comes from the soil in the plant pots. We can give instructions if you like. Get rid of the brown and you don't need the dye or the clarifier. Water changes can help too.

Snails can eat on your plants and multiply beyond reason. They need to be controlled. Turn over a pad and see what is there.Transparent gel with tiny "grains" will likely be snail eggs. There are also other things that can chew on the plants. We need more info there. Also the size of the pump and anything else you think of.
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gypsywanab
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks.
Haven't seen "fish" in last few days.
Pump is too strong at 1350 so it's adjusted with a ball valve to keep the waterfall at a trickle which we like.
I put slug/snail bait around the perimeter and the are no longer any nibbles on the leaves.
Am putting some Anacharis on the bottom.
If I get a filter what kind would you recommend. I would like instruction on using the quilt batting. Does it need a filter?
darla84
13 years ago
I wrap the quilt batting around my pump intake and change it every couple of days until the water is clearer... You do need to keep an eye on it because if it gets to mucked up the pump won't work well.. I use a heavier filter material that you can get at pond places for regular use and the quilt batting for when the water gets very nasty.
frankielynnsie
13 years ago
Since you have the pump turned down you could just 'y' off and have part of the water go to a pot filter as described below.

For a quick fix filter I have an extra pump and I wrap quilt batting around the end of the hose from the pump, put it in a flower pot that has no holes in the bottom, put some rocks on top of the batting/hose to hold everything in place and set the flower pot elevated in the pond so that the water that overflows out of the pot has been filtered. This has worked better than using the intake of the pump because it doesn't slow the pump.

I also have a filter made from a big plastic? pot that has a hole cut in the bottom/side where the hose from the pump attaches. The pot has batting in it and big rocks on the batting. I have the pot tipped so water pours out and this filters the pond. The batting soon becomes a brown/green color and blends in with the rocks. I have also planted plants in the pot (they get big and flower a lot) but it is more work to change out the batting.