Update on pond

[Whitbywoof]

My pond is thriving well so far this year. I'm pleased that I had no 'spring malaise' deaths this year and the fish are now active and feeding regularly. We have also just 'inherited' six more goldfish and a whole load of newts from next-door's leaking pond.

The important point about this post is that I made a decision this year not to add any chemicals or medecines to the pond. The only 'teatment' it's had is extract of barleystraw which really seems to be working. The water is still clear (although a little green in colour) and judging by the amount of blanketweed caught in the filter each week it really is working to kill the stuff off.

Blanket weed is a curse. This liquid extract of barleystraw is working far better than the straw bales that I've tried before - the downside is that the filter needs to be cleaned more often than usual.

If you have a blanketweed (and other algae) problem, I recommend you try this treatment.

[BjornTobyStomped]

Well I've had to use some chemicals this year, Mediczn P & Myxazin P because there were a few fish that looked a bit peeky.

But apart from that no other chemicals have been used and I haven't even checked the water quality as so far the fish seem to be doing fine.

We've had one casualty though, the smallest goldfish perished and we're not sure how.

My theory is that we had some rats that were living in the back garden ( Now deceased ) and that one might have had it. There's no room for Heron to land in the garden so that rules them out and there was no sign of the fish on the surface of the pond, so it remains a mystery.

Said fish has been replaced by an white goldfish which is quite large already, PMT chose it and it complements the others already in the pond.

[Whitbywoof]

Here I am three days after that post and even the green tint has gone from the water now that the algae are dead. The water is crystal clear and I can see right to the bottom of the pond - about 5ft at its deepest. I'm so pleased with the results - the pond usually only looks this good in mid winter when it gets no sunlight to stimulate plant and algae growth.

I have learned that Iffy has also used barley straw extract also with good results.