Hi Bobss, esshup RStringer and anthropic
Great to hear from you. I hope everyone was able to enjoy Christmas wherever you were and whatever you were doing.
So the restoration of our ponds was kind of in hand until recently when the problems we thought we had turned out to be most likely something nobody probably really ever wants. And we think we could do with some advice.
We had dissolved oxygen level issues and purple sulphur bacterium and thought it was just a case of excess leaf matter build up creating anaerobic conditions.
But to our horror it looks like what we thought was a redundant cesspool 120metres away and about 25’ higher up, is still in use. Moreover it’s potentially serving x4 the number of dwellings it was designed to cater for originally about 150 years ago too
Knowing this is useful in so far as it explains why the fishery we bought has been gradually failing since the use of the cesspool increased (2007). But very worrying in so far as the owner of the cesspool is not exactly the exemplary neighbour type.
Once I figure out how to post images I can show you what the possible impacts look like. I’m pretty sure there is a correlation between the two places (our pond and the neighbouring cesspool). There’s a smell of sulphur very often. The pond goes pink, or grey blue, or green and there’s swirls or blooms of black water appearing. And this is restricted to just the one pond with the spring.
About 3 weeks ago I emptied two 132g tubs of fluorescein into the cesspool together with about 200 litres of water.
I’m hoping this will make its way down to our pond and give us the hard evidence we need to take to our neighbour and to a Court if need be. Then I came across a post on this forum about cloudy pools in a Finnish hillside pond and I was hooked!
I’m desperate to be my ponds boss but maybe there’s something else we can be doing? Or what if the dye doesn’t come through? Could it change colour maybe? etc etc...
My mind is racing trying to work out how to put this place back on the rails!!!
Sorry to load you up with my problems without anything to offer.
Our goal was to have angling, fish conservation (crucian carp) and aquaponics but that’s all in serious jeopardy.
Anything you good folk think I might need to know or do please feel free to share. We’re willing to consider anything. Right now we feel like we’re up a bit of a creek!
There’s very few if any fish. We were meant to have taken on x1000 crucians early next year but that’s on hold.
Thanks
