Little White Balls on Pond Walls

James W. Delaney · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

Greetings.
This is my first post relating to fish and first trouble to report.
Cannot find a newsgroup specific to Koi. Could use some guidance there.

Have an 80 gallon black rigid plastic in-the-ground pond with 2 fan tailed goldfish and 2 orange and black Koi. All about 2 years old. They get along fine. No fighting and no biting. One filter/pump servicing a 'ball' fountain, another servicing a statue water fall cascade. Plenty of action.

About 3 weeks ago they showed little interest at feeding time and displayed a rare action of all 4 huddling down in the white gravel in a crevasse formed by the pond wall and solid wall of the larger filter/pump box. All four would squeeze in very tightly and be motionless for hours. No bumping or nudging. Then later on they would all eat the food rather casually.

Routine:
Secure pumps at night. Run both all day.
Morning feed: Pumps off, Wardley Pond's "TEN" floating flake food. Gone in 5 to 8 minutes (normally)
Two PM feedings, pumps on, Laguna's floating "Small Pellets". Gone within 3 to 4 minutes (normally)
TETRA POND's "AquaSafe" every 2 weeks.
Power Siphon clean gravel and 25% water change every Saturday.

Noticed water was still clear but with a green tint to it. Both tap and pond samples tested very good at PetSmart.
Observed 11 specific tests there. At their suggestion, I bought and used Aquarium Pharmaceutical's "AlgaeFix"
Then the fish began to show a purple fuzzy coating on scales and tail fins.

PetSmart retested tap & pond water samples. Still showed very good.
They sold me Aquarium Product's APPond "Anti-Fungus" which I used as directed.
Then noticed hundreds of 1/16th inch (1.5 mm) diameter little white balls on the normal thin cover of algae on pond walls.
Thought, at first, perhaps they could be fish eggs ??

Bottom line:
All fish got a purple fuzz coating and a few white "balls" and 3 have died, last Koi is swimming on it's side today free of balls but the white balls are multiplying in number, but not in size, on the pond walls..

Plan on draining pond, cleaning, sterilizing with oxygen bleach and starting over.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks,
Jim.

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>freshwater>goldfish

Hank Pagel · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

Try rec.ponds for info. Your fish are starving for oxygen. Pumps
must run 24/7 even plants remove oxygen at night. White balls sound
like toad eggs. When they hatch the tadpoles will also deplete oxygen.
PURPLE fuzz is a new one on me. Hope that helps.
"James W. Delaney" wrote in message@ameritech.net...
Greetings.
This is my first post relating to fish and first trouble to report.
Cannot find a newsgroup specific to Koi. Could use some guidance
there.

Have an 80 gallon black rigid plastic in-the-ground pond with 2 fan
tailed goldfish and 2 orange and black Koi. All about 2 years old.
They get along fine. No fighting and no biting. One filter/pump
servicing a 'ball' fountain, another servicing a statue water fall
cascade. Plenty of action.

About 3 weeks ago they showed little interest at feeding time and
displayed a rare action of all 4 huddling down in the white gravel in
a crevasse formed by the pond wall and solid wall of the larger
filter/pump box. All four would squeeze in very tightly and be
motionless for hours. No bumping or nudging. Then later on they
would all eat the food rather casually.

Routine:
Secure pumps at night. Run both all day.
Morning feed: Pumps off, Wardley Pond's "TEN" floating flake food.
Gone in 5 to 8 minutes (normally)
Two PM feedings, pumps on, Laguna's floating "Small Pellets". Gone
within 3 to 4 minutes (normally)
TETRA POND's "AquaSafe" every 2 weeks.
Power Siphon clean gravel and 25% water change every Saturday.

Noticed water was still clear but with a green tint to it. Both tap
and pond samples tested very good at PetSmart.
Observed 11 specific tests there. At their suggestion, I bought and
used Aquarium Pharmaceutical's "AlgaeFix"
Then the fish began to show a purple fuzzy coating on scales and tail
fins.

PetSmart retested tap & pond water samples. Still showed very good.
They sold me Aquarium Product's APPond "Anti-Fungus" which I used as
directed.
Then noticed hundreds of 1/16th inch (1.5 mm) diameter little white
balls on the normal thin cover of algae on pond walls.
Thought, at first, perhaps they could be fish eggs ??

Bottom line:
All fish got a purple fuzz coating and a few white "balls" and 3 have
died, last Koi is swimming on it's side today free of balls but the
white balls are multiplying in number, but not in size, on the pond
walls..

Plan on draining pond, cleaning, sterilizing with oxygen bleach and
starting over.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks,
Jim.

dr-solo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 1445

rec.ponds
koi require 100 gallons each, but a minimum of a 1000 gallon tank.
GF need 20 gallons each.
gravel is not a good idea in fish ponds. white gravel freaks fish out they stick out
like a sore thumb and they know it.
you are overfeeding the fish. I feed 1/3 cup of Ogata pellets to my 26 medium sized
koi per day.
If you want fish, you need to make a pond FOR the fish. this is larger than you
have, bare bottom for easy cleaning, a great filter or a veggie filter and steep
sides with netting over the top to keep out predators.
what does "secure pumps" mean? turn them off? pumps and air pumps need to run 24/7.
both the bell fountain and statue can empty the pond in any kind of wind. it is not
a good idea except in a large pond or a pond without fish.
what is the aqua safe for?
algae killing chemicals are not recommended for use with fish no matter what they
say. A good filter with a UV is best.
white balls are often dead eggs, and spawning whatever is going to quickly overload
such a small pond.
ponds are filled and allowed to age until they pass thru the green algae stage and
the temp is up. then fish are added one at a time to allow the cycle to get going in
the filter. you dont have a quarantine tank, but the pond is small enough to treat.
only get goldfish and only if you set up a filter and aeration.
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/puregold/care/care2.htm#quarantine for pond fish
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/puregold/care/care1.htm#buying a new goldfish
Ingrid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

dr-solo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 1445

one of your GF spawned and the eggs werent fertilized and quickly become coated in
fungi. Ingrid

"James W. Delaney" wrote:
>I examined the white balls from the pond walls under 8x magnifier. They appear to be similar to miniature ocean jellyfish having mushroom half-sphere bodies and tiny hairs coming out of the bottom skirt of the dome. They continue to multiply in number.
>I never had any frogs or toads in this pond.
>I have no plants in this pond either. Only floating silk "phony" waterlilly flower assemblies tethered to weights.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.