milky looking water.

[alit]

I have a pond about 2 meters wide by 7 metres long.  It is nice and deep and we have a big filter and a new UV filter to cope.  they work well, but the water is a little milky looking, just slightly, does anyone know what this is and how i can stop it?
 

[Margaret]

Hi there.If you have only just installed the UV it will take time to clear.Have you treated the pond with anything,as this can also change it's colour ? or have you recently put in fresh plants that the fish are nosing about in? Make sure you clean the filter regularly,but only ever with pond water.Sounds like a nice big pond to me!!

[Roy Bham UK]

That is a nice size for a fish pond I guesstimate over 3,000 gallons.

1. How many fish?
2. What average size are they?
3. Have they been there long or have you recently added any?
4. Are there plants?
5. Have they been there long or have you recently added any?
6. Are there any rotting plants?
7. How much do you feed them and how often?
8. Have you added any medium like gravel to the water?
9. Is the pond in a shady or sunny position?
If you can answer the above questions it may give a clue as to what may be causing it, but the list is endless, and looking on the bright side, I wouldn’t think it is a serious problem.

I agree with Margaret that chemicals being added could be a cause particularly if you have been treating the water for green algae or blanket weed as some of these products are designed to make the water go milky to block out the sun.
Roy

[alit]

thank you both of you for your comments.  I'll answer the questions.

1.  Pond is about 5,000 gallons I think.
2.  There are about 25 fish all between3 - 6 inches one or two at 7 inches
3.  All shubunkins and goldfish been in for 2 years and golden orfe 1 year.
4.  5 waterlillies only 1 fairly mature i.e. 5 years old, all the others are small still.  Lots of oxghenating weeds, 3 types (don't know names)
5.  Fish have small amount of koi food twice a day.  All they can eat in first flush of them going mad and excited for it.  None left after say 1 minute or so.
6.  No rotting plants as far as I know. - only the odd faded water lilly flower.
7.  No gravel or plants added to the pond since April when new water lillys went in.
8.  Sunny part of day, shady part of day.
9.  There was a small amount of chemical bio starter stuff but only enough for 1,000 litre pond.  That was put in 1 week ago.

the uv was amazing.  For 2 years i have hardly seen my fish and within 24 hours, i could see down to a couple of feet, now even further but with slightly cloudy water.  It is amazing though and so fantastic to see the fish at last.  It is wonderful.
How on earth do you know when the bulb has gone?

thank you for your help.  It is much appreciated.

[Margaret]

Hi again.

Wow what I wouldn't give for a pond that size.I have over 100 fish ,spread between two ponds,one 1200 galls and the other 800.I could not manage without a uv on both.Yes it is wonderful watching it clear for the first time.You may of course now suffer from the dreaded blanketweed once it is really clear!!A tip then is to turn the uv off for a short while,or else have more surface plants to keep the light out.

In any case,in order to prolong the life of the bulb,i always turn mine off over the winter,when the sun is not so strong.If the pond then goes green i put it back on for a while.you will get to know just what you need.Generally my bulbs last about a year.You will know when to change it because the pond will go green whilst the bulb is on.It does not diminish in the light it throws out.

One tip for you......vary the food you give your fish.eg for one feed give them ordinary fish pellets,or floating food sticks.They like variation as much as we do.

The bio starter will not have made the water a milky colour.I think you will find it will clear along with the green water.However,it may be the excess of dead algae that is being produced so do make sure you keep the sponges well rinsed out or it will leech back into the pond again.

[Roy Bham UK]

Well it isn’t due to over feeding, that was my first thought, rotting plants could have upset the balance, so that’s out, dirt getting into the pond water by upturned plants either in or out of the pond could set off bacterial bloom that causes milky water but is not serious and will clear in time as I said earlier. I wouldn’t worry about it.

I would be very tempted to grow Koi in a pond that size, have you not been tempted to put one or two small ones in to see how they fare? You have plenty of room and they would grow fast in the right conditions, then if you get hooked you may have to get even bigger filters.

I have a work colleague who has a 5000 gallon pond with a string of filters, it came with the house that he bought (lucky devil) He has since filled it with some prize winning Koi.
Roy

[alit]

Thanks guys, you're a mind of information to a new pond person.  

I will get a different type of food for them to feed alternatively.

I already had a problem with blanket weed so hoped the uv and magnetic field filter would sort it out.  Apparantly the magnetic filter kills the blanket weed filaments.  I like to keep on top of removing it from the pond, but have discovered fry in amongst it so have to be careful at the mo.

Yes, i have been tempted with koi, they are so beautiful and graceful, but i have an inquisitive killer girl thingy cat(not in the evenings when he is curled up purring on my lap!! - cheeky cat).  He has caught a couple of fish in the past, so when he does, and if we catch him, we throw him in the pond.  That seems to do the trick and he stays well away from it for a few months until his memory fades.  Seems wicked, but i dont want to start all this netting and wires etc.  It would be devastating to lose a big graceful koi - too upsetting. Its bad enough when he caught the biggest goldfish. Wires and nets would defeat the object of the pond for me.  So I just stick to plain old goldfish, orfe and shubunkins.  They are lovely enough for me.  

It is so fantastic to be able to see them doing what they do at depths now.  One or two will even come and eat out of my son's hand.  

I will take on board what you say and let you know how we get on.

thanks again for all the advice.