STEVE'S POND

Winter in Littleton, Colorado

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Building Our Pond

We started out with a .045 mil EDPM liner bought at a local garden supply center, Arapahoe Acres. The hole was dug in about one day. The larger end is 35" deep and the other end is about 24" deep. I had some clean-up and a little more digging to do on the second day. We began filling the liner about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 29th, 1996. I let the water sit for three or four days and then we added some plants. Mainly, water Hyacinths & submergibles. I did not ask for any help at the garden centers, which I now regret. I put in a Tetra Brillant G Filter and Luft Pump. The packaging said it could handle an 8' X 13' pond with about 750 gallons of water. We then added 6 tadpoles to see how they would do. After a few more days, we added our first fish. Three small goldfish, one large goldfish and two Koi.

Everything looked good. The pond did get murky. In about two weeks it cleared and we could see the pump and fish at the deep end. We did lose one Koi in just about 4 days. The others seemd fine. At about four weeks, I noticed a second Koi missing some of its tail and it seemed to isolate itself from the other fish.

I took the fish to Highlands Nursery, the place I purchased the fish, and they told me it had fin rot due to fungus. They suggested a salt bath and the use of Paracide Green. I followed both instructions and lost the second Koi and the three small Goldfish.

At this point, I returned to the Highlands Nursery and asked for help. By asking numerous questions, it was determined that the high tempetutures and the use of salt and Paracide Green had depleted the oxygen in the pond. The other fish were now listless and not actively eating. They told me that the luft pump could not produce anywhere near the oxygen that I needed for the pond. I then purchased a 1200 gallon Little Giant Pump and added a fountain nozzle. The fish responded immediately.

Two months after we first added water to the pond, the pond stabilized and the earlier problems appeared over. We have added 4 water lillys, water lettuce, fairy moss, parrot feather, more Koi and goldfish, and six more tadpoles. Four of the original tadpoles are now frogs. They seem very good at hiding from me in the day, but I can find them easily at night with a flashlight.

We learned a great deal in just two months. I want to thank the many Water Garden enthusiasts on the Newsgroup, rec.ponds, who have responded to my questions since we first put water into our pond.

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