Mainecoons Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Went looking for aquatic plants this morning. Guy next to Telmex, poor quality and not very helpful. Nursery at the intersection of Libremiento and Carretera, doesn't carry them anymore. Nursery behind SuperLake, doesn't carry them. Tried some Lirio from the lake, must have been sprayed with something because it killed the fish even though the literature on ponds says it is a good pond plant. I need plants that are good at holding down algae and I need a shop that has decent ones and knows how to apply them. I have good water lilies, looking for other plants that fish like and that suppress algae. Suggestions? Any of you who are expert at ponds, would really appreciate your help here. Thanks and Feliz Año Nuevo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunFan Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 I'm a little out of date but I kept Koi in Canada for 15 years. It was a great lesson in Chemistry, Fluid Dynamics, Biology, Physics and Meditation. I'm not aware of any aquatic plants that suppress algae? Its a matter of good water quality - pH, TDS, ORP. Chlorine. SunFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 shade keeps algae down and keep the water and fish cooler Of course you must have a balance pond as well or everything can go haywaire and if you have koi..it is even worst.. Kois are very tough on aquatic plants. mine used to love pulling out the water lilies , I had to wire them in the pots. One koi would comone out half od the water to grab plnats on the side of the pond..nut MC does not have kois only goldfish to keep the mosquitoes down.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floradude Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 You can buy goldfish and KOI from the LCS ponds. They will give you the net you bring the fish container. At least I know this happened once before. You can ask in the office if you are interested. In Seattle I had a fish pond with both koi and gold fish and lilies. The Koi loved the roots of the lirio that I paid for every spring. Great place for the fish to spawn. KOI are vegetarians, or so I was told, and mine could be seen eating the agae on the side of the ponds. They did not harm the floating plants. They did dig in the water lily pots but were not a problem compared to the raccoons. I would try the lirio again and give it a good washing first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted December 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 Yes, thank you I might do that. I'm not sure it was the source of the problem. Fortunately I have a surplus stock of fish in my back pond. Yep, only common ordinary gold fish. Normally pretty indestructible but not this time. Thanks to all for the suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfguy Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 I also use lirio from the lake in my koi pond. Before introducing it to the pond I soak them in fresh water overnight. I have no algae but I use a UV light and bagged barley pellets that I bring down from up North. As far as aquatic plants, I pot callas and iris so they are only about 4" below the water and most survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 Maincoon unless you have a larger pond do not get koi and do not mix them with gold fish, they reproduce like crazy with gold fish and you end up with a bunch of not so great looking fish. The gold fish will grow as big as the size of the pond allows , koi grow and grow.. I had some for 20 years and they were 15 when I bought them and they were very large (the koi that is.).. I had 3 ponds One was all older koi another young koi and another with koi and gold fish..a mistake I also had a tank for sick fish.. Joi raising is an expensive hobbie and they have a bad habit of dying all of a sudden or the cats love to get the very expensive ones.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted December 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 As I said, I'll transplant goldfish from my back pond to the front one once I think it is straightened out. No plan to have Koi, agree with your comments on them, my brother in law had them and they were a real pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabonera Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 One thing you might try... Suggestion from an old country gal who kept a BIG pond in East Texas... When algae became an issue, I would roll in a round bale of hay... Many people also use square bales of straw, but coastal bermuda also works... I'm no scientist, but I've used this method to clarify my ponds for 30+ years. Works a treat. Also provides a bit of cover for baby fish. Size of the bale would depend on the size of the pond, of course. Best wishes for a cheap fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 This is a timely question for me, I just had a koi pond built a few weeks ago. It is 4 meters by 5 meters. I plan on stocking it in a week or so, after my algae bloom slows down. I have added lirio, lake cabbage, and the tall reed plants from the lake.. My understanding is that the plants give shade, and help to cool the water, which helps to reduce the algae population, as others have said.. I also understand that the other purpose of plants is that they are in competition with the algae for the phosphorous in the water, and that is how they reduce algae problems.. You can by chemicals to add to the water to block light, or to block phosphorous absorption, but I do not want to do that. Like you I am having trouble finding a source for water plants, particularly for my waterfall feature. I am also going to try adding some papyrus at the edge of the pond, it is abailablke locally. I have small fish that came with the water lilies, they seem to be surviving fine. Maincoons is your pond very green? In the day time, plants and algae produce oxygen, but at night they consume it. I have read that sometimes fish die in the middle of the night because the dissolved oxygen content is too low. Are you adding oxygen, or do you have too many fish for the size of your pond? I have just added an ultroviolet lamp to my pond, which is the gold standard for controlling algae without using chemicals. Two other crazy ideas I am trying, are to add a Pleco fish, the ones that grow huge, but consume large amounts of algae, most say they get along with koi, others say not to do that.. I am also going to get some clams out of the lake, and put them in a pail of sand on the bottom of the pond, and let them filter algae.. I also have a sand filter on my pond, but since algae is only 3 microns in diameter, no filter will remove it, until it has been killed by the ultroviolet light, and then eventually clumps together to be caught by the filter. I have also heard that the barley works good, because it produces an enzyme as it decomposes that hurts the algae. Anyone know of a local source for barley? This is mostly what I have read. Anyone else have more real world experience than me, that could give us more advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 You do not need to add oxigen if you have a good water feature.and run it most of the time.and Gold fish do not need the oxigen like the koi do.. There waas a place selling water plants past Ssan Juan Evangelista then past San Miguel? the village where they do molcajete then take a right at the intersection of the road that goes to Tlajamulco , it is on the right if it still exist. I have not been there for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted January 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Yes, I'm definitely having continued problems with algae. The back pond continues to have problems with the floating variety which I've been skimming off as a means of removing both it and the nutrients it traps from the pond. The front pond crashed completely and had to be totally drained, cleaned and restarted. I like the idea of the tall reed plants from the lake, how did you manage to get some and how did you put them in your pond? Also I got some water cabbage from the lake but where I looked there was no lirio. Where would I find that? I have pumps and waterfalls on my ponds, in the past that has always worked well. When I started to have problems in the front pond I started running a second aerator but that didn't help at all so it appears that dissolved oxygen was not the problem. What is weird about all this is that I had no problems with either of these ponds until I had them relined, one at a time, beginning several years ago. Where did you find a UV lamp for a fish pond? They are available NOB but I haven't found one here. That is supposed to be the best solution for cellular algae which is what attacked my front pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Mainecoons, the floating plants along the lake come and go with the wind dirrection. If there are no lirio today, wait a few days until the winds bring them back. I got all my plants along the lake shore in Riberas. I just put them in a wheelbarrow, and carried them to the garden. I added some large rocks at one corner to adjust the height of the reed plants, which are also floating, but needed some support to stay vertical. In terms of skimming off algae, are you talking about string algae?. If that is your problem, you have to remove that manually, a UV bulb will not help. I made a mistake when I talked about adding oxygen earlier. What I meant was that I added flowing water via the waterfall to add oxygen to the pond. Anytime we add fresh water to the pond, we reintroduce a source of phosphorous etc to the pond. And of course if you drain your pond, you loose a good portion of the nitrifying bacteria on the bottom and sides of the pond, and on the rocks. Those bacteria are what process the fish poop waste. Everything has to start again, and that takes time. In terms of the UV light, I just took one off my water system.. I bought a new light bulb here a few months ago, so they are available locally.. Go into one of the water system treatment places along the carretera to buy a UV light system. , Apparently it has to be sized correctly for the size of the pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted January 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Also, what have you all read about adding some salt to the pond water. Supposed to be good for the fish if you don't overdo it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 The salt added to the pond helps the fish but does not kill the algae as the concentration s too weak . SInce you have no problem with your fish I would not bother. I used to add salt to the koi pond bt I never did it for the gold fish and they did fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hensley Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 Any updates on this thread or should I go to the lake to get plants for my new turtle pond? Anyone have a turtle pond? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.