Magical Mojo Mystery
This is more good news, but a mystery nonetheless.
Besides the loss of Keybo in June, the most anxiety producing aspect of the Buddha Pond this season was the fact that, after 7 years of relatively painless maintenance, it seemed to completely lose its Mojo.
I have an over abundance of theories as to why this happened, but most will remain just that, theories, and untested ones at that.
Was it the bizzare Winter we had in '06/'07, where frigid temperatures came in October, nearly two months ahead of schedule, then turned into an unusually warm Winter that last almost to the end of January? Was it the early hot Spring we had in March that made the trees leaf out 3 weeks ahead of schedule, followed by a killer 3 day frost in early April that killed them all, making the trees have to start over and make new leaves?
Who knows? My earliest problems did have to do with way more string algae than I'd ever had a problem with before. I blamed that on the warm Winter and then the extended lack of shade over the pond after the leaves all fell off.
Perhaps it's how I tried to deal with that problem. I used an algae control chemical, from TetraPond, that I had never used before. It's active ingredient is Poly [Oxyethylene (Dimethyliminio) Ethylene (Dimethyliminio) Ethylene Dichloride]. For years I had been using these little white cake things called PondBlock (active ingredient Copper Sulfate pentahydrate), but they don't seem to be very effective when the water is cold. Again, at that time, in the early Spring, my main problem was string algae, with no noticable suspended algae.
For the longest time it seemed that neither product was working. The string algae wouldn't budge.
Then came all the health problems and the eventual death of Keybo. When I first saw Keybo's infected eye, I panicked. I started using a Fish Treatment from TetraPond that I had never used before. It contained Formaldehyde and Quinine-Hydrochoride. Previously the closest thing to an anti-bacterial I had used was MelaFix. For several years that seemed to do everything I needed insofar as healing various fish sores, etc. But like I said, I panicked, and I started using stronger medicine.
Then came the day I tested the water and Ammonia and Nitrites were off the charts. It's been so many years since I had any problems controlling these that I can't remember the last time I saw them above zero.
Right or wrong, I came to the conclusion that I had managed to kill off too much bacteria, even the beneficial stuff. Soon after the death of Keybo things got to a point where it was as if I was starting the pond anew. There was no algae, but also, apparently, no Mojo. I was back to where I was in the first season we had fish in the pond, chasing my tail trying to manage toxicity and clarity in the water.
During the entire month of July I was making weekly water changes. The toxicity was getting under control, but then a new problem came in the way of suspended algae. I would change water and it would look great, for about a day. As the week progressed, each day the pond would get cloudier and cloudier. Within 3 days it would be nearly impossible to see the fish unless they came right up to the surface. Water changes, clarifying agents and plants seem to be doing me no good, at least not in the long run.
My last water change was on July 29. The water continued to look good a little longer than previously, maybe about 3 days, but it was obviously clouding up again, just a little slower than usual. I had to accept that as progress. It looked certain I would be doing another water change on the weekend. But the weekend came and I didn't do it on Saturday. I also blew it off on Sunday, and it was looking pretty bad. I had been monitoring for toxicity all along, and that was zero, as it should be, but the water again looked like thick, green soup. So I told myself I was going to have to deal with it by Monday for sure.
Monday morning, as if by magic, the water was clear. The clearest water I had seen since early June. You could see the gravel on the bottom of the pond, easily. Better yet, Tuesday morning, today, it's even clearer. Like sparkling clear drinking water.
Just to make sure there wasn't something wicked going on, I did the whole battery of water tests this morning and everything tested out great.
We're having a heat wave. The water this morning was 82 degrees F. Could that be it? I dunno. I'm a little weary on theory at this point.
It's a Magical Mojo Mystery.
Besides the loss of Keybo in June, the most anxiety producing aspect of the Buddha Pond this season was the fact that, after 7 years of relatively painless maintenance, it seemed to completely lose its Mojo.
I have an over abundance of theories as to why this happened, but most will remain just that, theories, and untested ones at that.
Was it the bizzare Winter we had in '06/'07, where frigid temperatures came in October, nearly two months ahead of schedule, then turned into an unusually warm Winter that last almost to the end of January? Was it the early hot Spring we had in March that made the trees leaf out 3 weeks ahead of schedule, followed by a killer 3 day frost in early April that killed them all, making the trees have to start over and make new leaves?
Who knows? My earliest problems did have to do with way more string algae than I'd ever had a problem with before. I blamed that on the warm Winter and then the extended lack of shade over the pond after the leaves all fell off.
Perhaps it's how I tried to deal with that problem. I used an algae control chemical, from TetraPond, that I had never used before. It's active ingredient is Poly [Oxyethylene (Dimethyliminio) Ethylene (Dimethyliminio) Ethylene Dichloride]. For years I had been using these little white cake things called PondBlock (active ingredient Copper Sulfate pentahydrate), but they don't seem to be very effective when the water is cold. Again, at that time, in the early Spring, my main problem was string algae, with no noticable suspended algae.
For the longest time it seemed that neither product was working. The string algae wouldn't budge.
Then came all the health problems and the eventual death of Keybo. When I first saw Keybo's infected eye, I panicked. I started using a Fish Treatment from TetraPond that I had never used before. It contained Formaldehyde and Quinine-Hydrochoride. Previously the closest thing to an anti-bacterial I had used was MelaFix. For several years that seemed to do everything I needed insofar as healing various fish sores, etc. But like I said, I panicked, and I started using stronger medicine.
Then came the day I tested the water and Ammonia and Nitrites were off the charts. It's been so many years since I had any problems controlling these that I can't remember the last time I saw them above zero.
Right or wrong, I came to the conclusion that I had managed to kill off too much bacteria, even the beneficial stuff. Soon after the death of Keybo things got to a point where it was as if I was starting the pond anew. There was no algae, but also, apparently, no Mojo. I was back to where I was in the first season we had fish in the pond, chasing my tail trying to manage toxicity and clarity in the water.
During the entire month of July I was making weekly water changes. The toxicity was getting under control, but then a new problem came in the way of suspended algae. I would change water and it would look great, for about a day. As the week progressed, each day the pond would get cloudier and cloudier. Within 3 days it would be nearly impossible to see the fish unless they came right up to the surface. Water changes, clarifying agents and plants seem to be doing me no good, at least not in the long run.
My last water change was on July 29. The water continued to look good a little longer than previously, maybe about 3 days, but it was obviously clouding up again, just a little slower than usual. I had to accept that as progress. It looked certain I would be doing another water change on the weekend. But the weekend came and I didn't do it on Saturday. I also blew it off on Sunday, and it was looking pretty bad. I had been monitoring for toxicity all along, and that was zero, as it should be, but the water again looked like thick, green soup. So I told myself I was going to have to deal with it by Monday for sure.
Monday morning, as if by magic, the water was clear. The clearest water I had seen since early June. You could see the gravel on the bottom of the pond, easily. Better yet, Tuesday morning, today, it's even clearer. Like sparkling clear drinking water.
Just to make sure there wasn't something wicked going on, I did the whole battery of water tests this morning and everything tested out great.
We're having a heat wave. The water this morning was 82 degrees F. Could that be it? I dunno. I'm a little weary on theory at this point.
It's a Magical Mojo Mystery.
Labels: Pond Mojo
posted by Bryrock at
2:26 PM
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