Mysterygirl's Floating-World

[mysterygirl]

September 3rd, 2013

With the ich finally eliminated I was free to tackle other normal pond chores.

I bought a previously owned 5 gallon wet-vac off craigslist. I vacuumed the mulm up off the bottom of the pond liner. A few dragonfly nymphs didn't like that idea.

I took chopsticks and rolled up the string algae hanging from the fountain.

I planted water plants.

[mysterygirl]

September 2013

Matthew - my hero - bought a 20 gallon tank/filter/heater/airstone to use as a hospital tank for parasite ridden Edo, poor little guy. He hung in there until August 18th. It was time for the fry to move to their new home inside. The tank was sparse and undecorated, so no photos.

But here is a photo of an 18 week old fry compared to his baby photo at 5 days.

5 days 18 weeks old

[mysterygirl]

September 30^th

Remember my high pH issue? I finally decided that we had outgrown our home-made bio filter/pump combination and purchased a Tetra Filter and debris handling pump. I liked the self cleaning feature, but haven’t used it yet. It was a lot more pump than our little fountain called for but it did kill the single celled algae with its UV light. It took a couple of weeks to clear up the water.

With the algae gone, the pond stopped inhaling and exhaling like a prank caller and the wild pH fluctuations stabilized. I added RO water and added some malaysian drifwood to lower the pH further to 8.1.

I'm always trying for that elusive 7.8 pH What is your ideal pH for your goldies?

+

I still need to muck out our mechanical filter every few weeks.

[mysterygirl]

September 2013

My first tank! I was excited as a 10 year old.

It took over a month to cycle, about 9-10 weeks

I purchased a used 10 gallon tank set up off craigslist. It is the old Wal-Mart starter set up with a hood light and a HOB Aqua-Tech 5-15 filter.
She threw in a box of San Francisco Bay Brand Bloodworms and a 6 pack of filter cartridges all for $20

I added:
black sand by by Estes
20" X 32" Fish Tank Background Double Sided Blue/silver Mirror by Quantum Aquatics
Japanese Torii Gate Aquarium Decoration by Blue Ribbon
Malaysian Driftwood from my local fish store

a few pond snails from my pond

a shell given to me by my best friend

and the two biggest (2nd generation) goldfish fry

Plants:

Microsorum pteropus
Java Fern
Moneywort
Ammania Gracili
Rotala Wallichii

Let’s talk about torii (toh-ree) gates.

You will only find torii gates at Shinto shrines, not at Buddhist temples. The purpose of the gate is to divide our world and the spirit world. You see, Shinto shrines supposedly don’t actually exist in this world. They do, but they don’t. The shrine grounds exist on a place that overlaps with the spirit world. Therefore, they are holy places where the spirits are more likely to hear your prayers. Torii gates mark the entrance to this area.

- off the web

What do you think?

[mysterygirl]

Who says a 10 gallon tank is too small?

[Mr.B]

Nice, is that one of your fry from the pond? I like the info on the torii gates.

[Mr. Hyde]

Nicely done.

I enjoyed reading your journey into the hobby.

[mysterygirl]

January 7th, 2014

The same fry at 6 months old. 2 months later than when the photo in my last post was taken.

They'll get to explore the pond in spring after it warms up so this small tank is just their winter home.

[shakaho]

You learned a lot the hard way. Your fountain pond is gorgeous. Do you know the volume? If not just give the dimensions and we can give you an estimate.

RELAX about the pH. I don't know where the idea that goldfish have an ideal pH of 7.5 came from (and I have searched for a source). Some goldfish breeders say don't worry if the pH isn't over 9, and others say their fish are perfectly happy in ponds with a pH well over 9. Goldfish are bothered by a rapid change in pH, but they become adapted to almost whatever comes from the tap. My ponds all have a pH over 8.

[jhortensius]

I love your blog!!

[HomerJay]

Very interesting read. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[Justin]

You learned a lot the hard way. Your fountain pond is gorgeous. Do you know the volume? If not just give the dimensions and we can give you an estimate.

RELAX about the pH. I don't know where the idea that goldfish have an ideal pH of 7.5 came from (and I have searched for a source). Some goldfish breeders say don't worry if the pH isn't over 9, and others say their fish are perfectly happy in ponds with a pH well over 9. Goldfish are bothered by a rapid change in pH, but they become adapted to almost whatever comes from the tap. My ponds all have a pH over 8.

April 21, 2013

I noticed that a couple of my fish were flashing. That is, showing their shiny underbelly as they twisted their bodies quickly. I did some research and thought that it might be breeding behavior. It was spring after all, and Shinto was visibly amorous.

I really didn’t want it to be Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, that almost unpronounceable fish disease more commonly known as Ich. As in “Do my fish have a parasite? Ick!”

I was in denial. Remember all the fish-bag water from the store that I so careless added to my pond? I had brought home the Ich protozoan, a parasite. White nodules that looked like white grains of salt or sugar were visible on some of the fish fins. Each white spot was an encysted parasite. There were many. My entire fountain was contaminated.

Denial wasted a lot of valuable time.

I couldn't catch the fish to treat them; it just stressed them out and destroyed the trust that had been built up between us.

I tried raising the salt levels. I don't recommend this in a pond. It severely harmed my plants and invertebrates.

I cried a lot. How could I do water changes with 5 gallon containers when my pond was 900 gallons?

Matthew, my co-processor of 16 years bought a pump and he helped me with a few massive water changes -my hero.

Our LFS -NOT the pond plant store that infected us- advised us not to catch the fish but to treat the entire pond with a combination of Formalin & Malachite Green e.g. Knockout. It so happened that our 2nd bottle of it was defective. The color was off, it was not a deep blue. Perhaps it had undergone too much heat or sun. We didn't realise there was a problem with the bottle until we'd dosed the pond several times. Our LFS gave us our 3rd bottle free of charge with an apology. More time lost.

In a fish tank one can raise the temperature with a heater to 75 degrees and the Ich cycle takes only a few days. For us it took several months to eradicate because the pond water was between 55-65 degrees ºF. (13-18 ºC).

The experience was truly horrendous.

Rest in Peace, Edo.

^^^ 900 Gallons, Sharon.

[shakaho]

Very good, Justin. I read the entire thread three times without catching that, LOL.

[mysterygirl]

It looks rectangular, but parallax straightens out the coffin shape.

Please no ominous jokes about the coffin shape and the destiny of my fishes.

[shine5555]

Thank You, I enjoyed your Journey. Nice job on documenting you learning curve.

[Mr. Fishy]

Those goldfish sure are big. Where did you get them?

[mysterygirl]

Those goldfish sure are big. Where did you get them?

I purchased them at a pond and garden store not far from me. But only Queen B. and Cali were significantly bigger when I bought them then the ones you can find at any local fish store. Goldfish will grow quickly if they are fed a healthy diet (not flakes) and have plenty of room to swim in. If you want your goldfish to get REALLY big, try to give them 30 gallons of water per fish. For your 7 goldfish you could even go up to 200 gallons! I have 9 goldfish in 900 gallons. Or you could get more tanks so they could have even more room per fish. If you have too many fish in a tank they will stay small and not be happy.

[Mr. Fishy]

Those goldfish sure are big. Where did you get them?

I purchased them at a pond and garden store not far from me. But only Queen B. and Cali were significantly bigger when I bought them then the ones you can find at any local fish store. Goldfish will grow quickly if they are fed a healthy diet (not flakes) and have plenty of room to swim in. If you want your goldfish to get REALLY big, try to give them 30 gallons of water per fish. For your 7 goldfish you could even go up to 200 gallons! I have 9 goldfish in 900 gallons. Or you could get more tanks so they could have even more room per fish. If you have too many fish in a tank they will stay small and not be happy.

Most of them are going to my grandmothers pond so it won't be so crowded this summer.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mysterygirl]

That sounds like an excellent plan. Perhaps you can start your own Koko's blog where you post photos of all of them in your tank and later post photos of them in their new home. It is fun to see before and after photos of goldfish, they grow and change color so quickly.

[mysterygirl]

On February 8^th 2014 Santa Rosa had record breaking rainfall, 3.46" in 24 hours. Every inch of rainfall is about 50 fresh gallons added to our fountain. The extra precipitation topped off the pond all the way up to (and out of) the overflow hole, which is as full as it gets. I finally had water to spare after months of an officially declared drought.

I’d been waiting since October for a good rain so that I could back flush my Tetra 1500UV Bio-Active Pressure Filter, and finally took care of that today. I found it easy to do by myself, easier than I expected. The only surprise was that water came out of the back flush valve when the cap was removed, even when the switch was in the POND position. It was not so strong to prevent me from connecting the flat agricultural grade heavy duty hose I used to divert the dirty filter water to where I use it as natural weed deterrent. I'm amused that some companies claim this filter waste is "lawn fertilizer." It does the opposite in my experience.

Turning the valve to the CLEAN position was not difficult, easier than opening say, a new jar of peanut butter. I did have a hose clamp ready and some plumber’s tape on hand, the hose would not have stayed connected under the water pressure otherwise. The back flush water pressure was about one quarter of the normal outflow water pressure, which was easier to handle.

There is a video on YouTube if you search for Tetra Pressure Filter Backwashing that shows you the interior of the filter undergoing a backwash.

So far I am happy with the filter, even though I purchased it pre-owned. Initially it had a drip from the lid seal that concerned me. It seemed to have to do more with the filter being level because it settled down eventually and the drip/leaking stopped.

Somebody else who was happy with the filter today was Queen B. who was face up at the mouth of the tubing attachment like a mermaid under a waterfall. She was positively playing in the strong water flow. I wish I could have filmed it. The flow is very strong; I have a 3600 gallon per hour pump, so she was more like a kid playing at an open fire-hydrant than under a shower. I’ll try to post some footage if I ever catch it on film, promise.

[Justin]

3.46" in 24 hours is a record? Come live in Missouri, Mother Nature will top it off for you all the time! I'll have to look at that video, as you have made me curious now! I'm glad everything is going well.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited February 14, 2014 by Justin

[mysterygirl]

Signs of spring

Cali is ready to drop eggs if she hasn't already. I spotted Shinto and the boys chasing her yesterday, and this morning I saw her being unusual in the plants. She was especially late for breakfast, even for her. I put a clean spawning mop out for her today, but I suspect I missed the grand event as Skeletor was in that vicinity feeding on....something.

We received an inch of rain yesterday and the pond temperature nearly reached 60F/15.5C. The pH dropped to a more natural 7.7, the lowest I’ve ever recorded it.

I used some 3% hydrogen peroxide in the bird bath fountain planter to kill the string algae that had accumulated over the winter and removed about 15 gallons of bottom water with mulm with the wet vac. The water lilies have started to unfurl and the reeds are just starting to poke through the water's surface. Ah, spring.

Edited February 28, 2014 by mysterygirl

[dnalex]

Things are happening.

[LisaCGold]

It's been so fun to read your blog! Your pond is so beautiful. Your fish are some happy, lucky fish!

[mysterygirl]

The 2^nd Year begins: March 24th, 2014

Today ends my first year as a newbie goldfish pet owner and pond keeper. March 24^th 2013 marks the day I brought Halley home as my first “pilot fish” for the pond – and look what that started!

Please enjoy this Halley retrospective in her honor.

Thanks to the wonderful Kokonuts who inspired, indulged and encouraged me in this new hobby.

Edited March 24, 2014 by mysterygirl