When things go wrong

[Fishman Dave]

As some of you may be aware from another thread, I recently had a mishap.

My indoor pond had a 3 ft area right at the back which was covered by decking and housed the filters and houseplants. However the only way to get to it is to crawl 7 ft across a builders plank over the rest of the pond.
It’s been built for 10 years and I have been doing this every 2weeks to clean the mechanical filter portion at the top of the 3ft box pond filter.
Well, after 10 years I had not realised that the 6”x 4” support beam holding the decking and filter had rotted through and just a few weeks ago whilst performing a filter change at night with a torch I had crawled to the decked area when crack!
I was suddenly in my pond fully dressed, the filter was in with me, the builders plank, the beam , the decked area, the houseplants, everything, all in the pond, and as I went in I must have hit every cactus I kept on decked area too as we all went in.
I have been pulling cactus spines out of my hands for 2 weeks. It took me a day to get everything back out of the pond with nowhere to move the stock to, and took me two days to find my glasses!

the pond after 3 days having had plants and the filter dumped into it.

The pond after filtering through a new crystal clean filter for 1week.

After cleaning all the sludge from the new filter and a further 2weeks running it and the obvious couple of water changes ( which is not easy and is expensive when the water has to come from the tap and be heated/treated and takes around 6 hrs to replace 400gal (25%).
Fish don’t seem to have noticed the event , other than it’s now a lot lighter at the far end of the pond where all the cats used to hide during the day. Although I did have to ensure aeration was increased significantly over the period the filter was being dragged out, cleaned and replaced as all the bacterial sludge that was in the bottom of it beneath the trickle section and return pipes ended up in the pond and no one could see anything. Didn’t seem to stop the black shark chasing anyone he came across!

 

[Fishman Dave]

Unfortunately though , this was not the end of the story ………………………. not even close and the reality has made me consider whether the last 40 years doing this is worth continuing.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Having set up the new filter, whilst it was doing a good job at clearing the cloudy sludge filled water, the nitrates had gone off the reading. This meant 50% water changes every two days.
The pond was ph 6.4, my hot water comes out at ph8, my cold at 7 which has me wondering how the cold can go into the boiler at 7 and come out hot at 8?
Well, that’s an issue. As doing the water changes has sent the filter into a fit of new tank syndrome, spiking ammonia and then nitrite. Even though the pond nitrates were still easily in the 160 reading ie miles higher than this.
The fish not noticing the cloudy water was no longer an issue as they soon noticed the chemical imbalance issue.
50% water changes with ph 7.4 in a pond of ph 6.4 with an immature filter, started a reaction where ph swings would occur from 6.4 to 7.4 and back again twice a day.
pure pond bombs got the filter back a little, but water at >>>160 nitrates meant many more water changes as getting nitrate remover for 1400g is not easy. All the while losing fish too big to house anywhere else many of which I had raised from tiny over the past 10 years.
The first loss were the barbs I had rehomed from Esoxlucius - a really gutting feel.
The next to die were my two 26” giraffes, followed closely by my 26” wyckii. Then the 24” giant gourami. A 16” rtcxtsn followed by the 18” rtcxtsn. Now is a waiting game to see what if anything will survive.
ph is steady at 7.4 but that worries me since it’s always previously been under 7 due to the amount of wood in there.
ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 40
Certainly not out of the woods yet as some of the remaining small fish are throwing off slime and almost choking themselves to death, such as synodontis eupterus, whereas others have not been effected at all, mystus leucosis, all making me feel there is something else in the water I cannot measure.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Wow, what an ordeal, Dave! So sorry to hear. Hang tough, please. Things like these happen to everyone. The more we do, the bigger the falls, but the bigger the rewards too. You are a doer. So this comes with the territory. I know, easy to say, but I speak too from experience.

 

[Friller2009]

So sorry for you Dave. Hopefully some of them will survive mate.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Having set up the new filter, whilst it was doing a good job at clearing the cloudy sludge filled water, the nitrates had gone off the reading. This meant 50% water changes every two days.
The pond was ph 6.4, my hot water comes out at ph8, my cold at 7 which has me wondering how the cold can go into the boiler at 7 and come out hot at 8?
Well, that’s an issue. As doing the water changes has sent the filter into a fit of new tank syndrome, spiking ammonia and then nitrite. Even though the pond nitrates were still easily in the 160 reading ie miles higher than this.
The fish not noticing the cloudy water was no longer an issue as they soon noticed the chemical imbalance issue.
50% water changes with ph 7.4 in a pond of ph 6.4 with an immature filter, started a reaction where ph swings would occur from 6.4 to 7.4 and back again twice a day.
pure pond bombs got the filter back a little, but water at >>>160 nitrates meant many more water changes as getting nitrate remover for 1400g is not easy. All the while losing fish too big to house anywhere else many of which I had raised from tiny over the past 10 years.
The first loss were the barbs I had rehomed from Esoxlucius - a really gutting feel.
The next to die were my two 26” giraffes, followed closely by my 26” wyckii. Then the 24” giant gourami. A 16” rtcxtsn followed by the 18” rtcxtsn. Now is a waiting game to see what if anything will survive.
ph is steady at 7.4 but that worries me since it’s always previously been under 7 due to the amount of wood in there.
ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 40
Certainly not out of the woods yet as some of the remaining small fish are throwing off slime and almost choking themselves to death, such as synodontis eupterus, whereas others have not been effected at all, mystus leucosis, all making me feel there is something else in the water I cannot measure.

His Cigar barbs? I loved those guys they’re so cool. I’m sorry for the losses and for the whole situation. I hope the rest of the stock survives and I hope you stay in the hobby. Good luck getting it all cleaned up, it don’t sound like a 1 man job

 

[xenacanth9]

Very sad to hear.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Thanks for all the support guys, that’s what makes this hobby and this site stand out for me.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Thanks for all the support guys, that’s what makes this hobby and this site stand out for me.

I still need confirmation. Was it the cigar barbs? Also idk if it’s a good idea or not but if there’s that much in the water you could try using a big net to scoop out some of the sludge from the filters.

 

[esoxlucius]

Dave PM'd me yesterday ensuring that I was the first to know about the fish I donated to him, which was a great gesture, and says a lot about the guy.

I was gutted, but more for Dave than my five fish. He lost a lot of his own stock too. These awful catastrophies happen from time to time.

I've met the guy, a top bloke. He has a real knowledge and enthusiasm for this hobby and he will bounce back, that I am sure of.

I told him he'd get nothing but support from the guys on here, that goes without saying, because that's the type of family we are.

And Dave, if you need any assistance from me whatsoever getting up and running again, then don't hesitate to ask, i'm only an hour and a half away.

All out thoughts are with you at this tragic time. Stay strong my friend.