We just had a pond built its a half acre pond should be 10 feet deep when full its about half that now. We hit a couple of springs when we dug so its filling pretty fast we have had it for 13 days. After the pond was built the builder told us to seed and fertilize with 12-12-12 fertilizer so we did. We also got some fat head minnows the first week. It has rained a couple of times since the seed and fertilizer was put down and now the pond has an ugly green mucus looking stuff on it and the minnows are dying what can we do to fix this? Thanks for any suggestions will be appreciated

Othel,
Welcome to Pond Boss. lots of good info and helpful folks here.

Thanks I appreciate it. We are new at this pond thing but my wife has wanted one for 30 years at least .Now she has it and it turned green and her minnows are dying.

Othel
Welcome to the forum. Someone with brains will be along to help you sort this out. You will get past this. I would think don't add any more fertilizer for a while. Have you had your water analyzed? That probably should be done soon.

Pat

Othel,

I know you are excited about the new pond, but some wise person coined the phrase "patience is a virtue" for a reason.

Minnows are cheap, so I would probably write them off and work on the grass and groundcover. A big rain on freshly disturbed ground can cut a lot of erosion channels in your banks and even your dam. This can be expensive to fix, and could even lead to the loss of your dam. Your first priority should be to stabilize your slopes and any bare soil that is in your watershed.

If you really want to save your FHM, then my guess would be to add aeration. This may cost more than your minnows, but if you were contemplating adding aeration in the future, then now may be the time to do it.

Best of luck!

Hi thanks for the help. My wife bought a pond water tester kit and checked her pond water a couple of days ago. The PH was at 9.Amonia was at zero and Nitrate o.25.She was concerned about the high PH reading. These tests were done after the seeding and fertilizer. The grass is just beginning to grow on the dam and around the sides of the pond and more rain is coming this weekend. So far we have had an inch and a half of rain since we built it. The rest is coming from the spring. So far no leaks. Everyday it just keeps rising. We check the dam daily everything fine with that the Good Lord has smiled on us in that respect. We just bought 2000 minnows so its not a big loss we just were not sure when we were suppose to add fish. And were trying to get some food started for those wonderful bass she's been looking so forward to. I'm sure she will be happy with just the frogs this year if that's all she can have.

Something isn't right because fatheads are pretty tough and can tolerate dang near anything. Could you have over fertilized?

Is there any way to test the spring water? There could be an issue there that might be a show stopper until the springs are plugged.

What is the alkilinity reading?

I believe, since fish are dying, that I would send a water sample to a lab for further testing.

PH of 9 ???????

What could cause that? Something with the fertilizer? Hopefully somebody with water expertise will see this and help you out to get it under control.

Hi Thanks so much for helping ,I think it might have been the fertilizer because the minnows were doing good before that happened, they were in there about a week before the seeding and were fine. I just don't know what to do from here. Can I get rid of this green stuff or just have to wait it out? I haven't had the water tested yet. but have several spring fed ponds in the area that have fish. We do have a lot of lime in the water in this area so we didn't lime the pond. The wife is wanting to plant some water plants buy the pond and I really don't want her to.is it necessary?

You got to get that PH under control or the only thing you will be putting in that pond is African Cichlids!! Thats waaaaaaaaay to high for LMB! Your PH needs to be closer to 6.5. to 8 tops. Wish you would have taken a PH test before you put down the fertilizer! I bet the green is from the fert. running off into the pond after the rain. To much rain to fast!! I would continue to test water and make sure that PH get down to around 7 to 7.8 before I put anything else in that pond and then try again with the FHMs.

RC

If they were FHM they only live something like 18 months average. So if you bought adult minnows and some of them were close to spawning age, some might have actually died of old age. Being a brand new pond with no predators, there might have been little around to eat the dead minnows so you noticed them. That is just one possibility. Also, with the pond only being a week old when you put them in, there likely was little to nothing for them to eat.

I'm no expert but the Ph will likely come down normally as the pond fills and ages. Your groundwater may be high pH if it goes through limestone and rain water is usually a little acidic. Give it a little bit of time. It takes a while for nature to provide the web of life for everything to grow and prosper.

No expert, just my opinion.

Othel,
I expanded a pre-existing pond (1/2+ acre) and finished with the project the end of August, last summer. The smartest thing that I did was listen to these guys here and get my water quality in order first. Nothing that I've done worthwhile was done in a hurry. My pond has been a lesson in patience for me. I get frustrated because it all has not happened quick enough. I've still got clay washing in from the watershed after it rains keeping the water somewhat cloudy. I've planted rye last winter and bermuda this spring in an effort to keep the bank soil in place, but have refrained from using fertilizers because of my huge aggressive watershed. Everything takes time. Pond vegetation takes time. With all that said, one thing to remember is, that there is a repercussion for everything that you do or don't do with regards to your pond. There are even repercussions for doing nothing. If you can....sit back and enjoy the ride.

Wow You all are great! Thanks for all the advice! My wife checked the ph again yesterday its still reading high ammonia and nitrate still fine. She saw one minnow that was alive but had his head buried in the mud(not sure what that was all about). There is a whole bunch of tadpoles and under water bugs. I didn't lime the pond as we live in an area with real hard water. Should I have limed it some anyway? And if it needs it how long do I wait now that it has fertilizer in it? Or is there a better way to get the ph down. I've heard baking soda, I also was told to get some drift wood for it. Again thanks for helping me through this. Also I have another question how long is a test vial test good for? My wife was getting ready to take another test and the test from yesterday still in vial,the test showed a perfect7-7.5 today not quite 24 hrs later.

Also I have another question on the ph test. My wife was getting ready to go get another sample to test and she still had the last test water in the vials. The ph vial was a beautiful 7-7.5 color, is this test still good or does it have to be read immedially after being taken?

I think others here have mentioned that PH goes up and down at different times of the day. I could be wrong on this. I would get a new water sample each time.

Sorry about that last post it said the post button had been disabled so I tried to edit last post,in my excitement about my ph find.I know that it is suppose to go up and down, so your suppose to test several times a day, and she usually checks 2 or three times and her test always is read immediately after she adds the liquid. this is the first time she has let it sit.And after sitting all night it was reading 7-7.5.same water same test just sat in chemicals longer the other tests for nitrate,amonia and salt all stayed the same

FWIW I read a long time ago that ph samples need to be measured as soon after collection as possible. The ph of the sample will change as the sample interacts with air. If you can't test it right away, make sure there is no head space in the sample bottle.

FHM lay eggs on the under side of things. The minnow may have found a rock or something and was trying to excavate a place to spawn. If you will put some material in the pond that has underside available for them to spawn they will multiply rapidly.

FHM will readily eat commercial catfish food. They are fun to watch pushing the pellets around the pond till they get them consumed.

Othel I have added and subtracted things to my pond over 20 years and the quote from stickem is really true. I was going to add crayfish to my pond for some weed control, and since I don't have any predators to control the crayfish, I was warned by one of the pond experts that the crayfish might take out my tough spatterdock lilies that I use to draw in birds for photography. Just one mistake can change a pond, and years you have spent making it the way you want it to be.

Othel,

The high ammonia also sounds a little worrisome. Do you have a lot of cattle upstream in your watershed? Did the rains flood out a neighbor's defective septic field?