safe products for outside pond

[pipi]

Ive had my outside pond for a while and have lost fish over time .. just wondering what products I can use for Algae and other products that will keep my gold fish healthy. I recently lost a solid gold fish and don't know what I did wrong .. The only plant I have is oxygen weed and also I have a solar fountain that keep the water moving - and I clean water out at least once a month!

[alanmin4304]

Are you treating the replacement water for chlorine? Please add your location to the signature and someone local may be able to help.

[Caryl]

Hi and welcome. Yes, your location would help plus...

What do you call "a while"?

How many fish over what time period?

Tell us a bit more about the pond, what is it made of? What size and depth is it? How many fish were in it? Is it in fu sun, partial or total shade? Does it have any filtration in it or just the fountain? Some fountains have a small filter attached.

What sort of algae are you troubled with? If you do not know the type, then describe what it looks like.

A lot of questions I know but it will help us determine what the problem is. There is no use adding more fish if we do not work out why they are dying in the first place.

[pipi]

Thanks for the reponse .. sorry for the brief message, Im new !!

Ive had outside fishes for a couple of years, but unfortunately the type of fish pond changed over that time, but basically had the same issue throughout- with losing fish, and don't know why.

What I have now is a fibre glass kidney shape pond that I have sitting on top of the ground, its 210m deep, 9.5m in length and 850m width.

I loose 1 gold fish 3-6 mth approx. I have 15 now in total. The area is sunny, say it gets most of the sun during the day. I don't have a filter, only a fountain that is solar power. When I had issues with my solar power fountain I sent it away and the manufacturer advised that they tested my fountain and found I had a severe case of Algae, so I don't know what type. I was advised by them to buy a 'algae tablet' which I get from Animates, so I get one every so often, so not sure whether Im doing anything to improve the standard of water?

I clean my water out every 3-4 weeks and leave at least a bucket of the old water as well as the clean water. I just recently changed my food to Tetra Pond sticks, hoping this would improve the quality of water. Im grateful to any assistance/advice given. I live in Lower Hutt, Wellington, cheers

[ally07]

I'm not an expert on ponds, but IMO the main problem is that you have no filter.

I recommend you read through this thread and its sub-links:

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6979

Without a filter in place, the fish are essentially swimming in their own waste till you do a water change. To cure your algae problem, you can either put up some shade to reduce the sunlight OR get a filter with a built-in UV steriliser.

[Sophia]

Welcome Pipi Newbie

that's the biggest pond I've heard of, I think it's called a lake :gigl:

[Caryl]

210m deep, 9.5m in length and 850m width? Since it is a fibreglass kidney shape I think you have the measurements incorrect. I do not know of any fibreglass fish ponds deep enough to go diving in. I suspect you are missing some m's in there.

The largest preformed kidney shaped pond I could find after a quick search was 1200 x 900 x 420mm deep, capacity 220 litres.

I agree with Ira though, it needs filtration, especially if it is actually the size I think it is and not what you have stated. I fear the water quality deteriorates rapidly with 15 fish in it.