Pond Log for March 2010

Above photo taken March of 2009. Photo below Summer 2009.

Koi Pond Log for March 2010

March 4, 2010 - Added 4oz of Arctic Blend.

March 6, 2010 - Removed three dead fish, one Koi (Sunkist), and two gold fish. Buried them in the garden. All three fish were frozen in the ice.

March 11, 2010 - OPENED UP THE POND today, but with no filtration, just the pump to get the water moving. Noticed some white fuzz on Opi's tail fins. Also, could not find Butters, the Butterfly Koi that looked like Skelekoi. Added the last 3oz of Arctic Blend. Took off the top cover and put in the duck decoys and a barley bail.

March 13, 2010 - Put in 25 pounds of salt to get the level to .01%. Cleaned off the Matala Mat that was in the skimmer.

March 18, 2010 - Took out and cleaned Matala Mat in skimmer. Put in the actual skimmer pads. The water in the pond has a lot of string algae in it.

March 19, 2010 - Came home from school today and the "Cold Bacteria" I had ordered arrived in the mail. Put in 3 teaspoons of cold bacteria. I also put the filter media into the two barrels. Bottle caps and "Bacti-twist" in barrel #1, "Ultra Bio Media" and "Bacti-twist" in barrel #2. Also put in two 23" filter media pads that were pre-treated with Microbe-Lift Gel. (P.U.)

March 20, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria.

March 21, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria.

March 22, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria. Also added 4oz of Blue Pond Tint. Rinsed off skimmer pads.

March 23, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria.

March 24, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria @ 7:30am. Added 2oz of OneFix @ 3:45 pm. I also called the Winston Co to find out more about the OneFix product. I got the number on the back of the bottle. The woman was very nice and informed me that this is beneficial bacteria, and it will not react with other products, and it is very safe.

March 25, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria. AM

March 26, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria. PM

March 27, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria. AM

March 28, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria. AM Two scoops behind the skimmer, and one scoop in the pond. Also added 2oz of OneFix, one behind the skimmer, and one in the pond at noon. The next dose of OneFix will be Wednesday, 3-31-2010.

March 29, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria as before in the AM. Rinsed off skimmer pads after one week. The water temperature is 49 degrees. Took the lava rock bags out of the pond @ 8:00. One of them came apart on the shore, and I spent several minutes picking up lava rocks from the regular rocks. I repaired the mesh bag and put the lava rocks into the skimmer. Just a bit more bio-filtration.

March 30, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria as before in the AM. Took off the black netting @ 3:30 and the water temperature is 51 degrees. Brought up all the plants from the bottom to the shelves. I lifted up the long shelf, thinking I would find Butters, but no such luck. Butters is still MIA. Added three Muck Defense tabs. Put in the pond lights, replaced the yellow bulb, but then noticed bubbles coming from the yellow light. Took out the pond lights and ordered two more sets from here.

March 31, 2010 - Added three tea spoons of Cold Bacteria as before in the AM. Put in several tea spoons of "Pond Scrubber" in the AM. Added 2oz of OneFix @ noon. Fed the fish today for the first time @ noon. Added 16oz of Microbe Lift PL in front of skimmer @ 4:00 pm. (This is the first treatment of Microbe Lift PL for the season.) Cleaned off lava rock with 10 gallons of pond water in one of the blue recycle tubs. Used Microbe-Lift Gel to inoculate the three MatalaMats that go right behind the skimmer pads. Black, Green, Blue, in that order. Let it sit for one hour, and then installed the three mats. Rinsed off the skimmer pads and put the pads and the rinsed off lava rock back in place in the skimmer.