green water in pond

I have a new small pond I set up about a month month and a half agoand the water is starting to get a nasty algae bloom in it. Whats the easiest way to get rid of it or is it something that as everything adjusts will go away? It's about only 140 gallons and gets sun from 11:30 to sunset and only full full sun from noon to about 5. But its green enough I can't see my koi or goldfish unless they are around the top and being new young fish they arent feeding from my hand yet so I don't even know if any are dead.

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Permalink Reply by Fabrigas O'brian on April 20, 2012 at 9:59am

Try and cover the pond with something so minimal light gets through for about 5 days is there are no plants and 3 days is there are plants also 1 koi needs 150 gallons it doesn't matter how small it is it grows fast. Unless you do something the green water will never clear. Btw goldfish and koi can go the whe of winter without eating as long as its not above 11 degrees do they can easily do 5 days, if you remove all the koi and only keep 14 gold fish max you shouldn't have this prob again, if you want to keep the koi do weekly water changes.idealy to prevent this ever happening again keep only4-5goldish but no koi

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Permalink Reply by Clarke on May 15, 2012 at 5:12pm

Test your water. A spring algae bloom is normal in a new pond. As your filter matures, the algae should be kept in check. A UV light will kill the single cell algae that causes the pea soup look. As I said before, test your water. Green water is unsightly, but does not necessarily mean there is a problem. A product that I use every spring is Microbe-Lift PL. It is a great bacterial booster for your filter.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on June 4, 2012 at 1:21am

The fish are definitely are not dead unless a Heron got them. In fact they are probably having a party. Green water is the single healthiest thing for Koi and Goldfish. They consume it through their gills and it turns them into super-fish. I understand about not wanting green water though. Is it a concrete pond? Because this will provide the algae with years - no decades - of nutrients. Add tons of Water Hyacinths (Kudzu down South) and Water Cabbage. This will rob the water of all it nutrients and starve the algae. These plants are used to treat raw sewage. They literally turn sh*t water into drinking water. Duckweed works too but the fish will probably eat it.

There's nothing wrong with adding filters but I don't see much advantage either. A UV sterilizer will kill the algae and everything else in the pond that passes through it, depriving the fish of much needed nutrition.

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Permalink Reply by Cire Loknok on April 13, 2014 at 2:36pm

Floating plants help keep water clear and compete with algae. You didn't mention if you have a filter. I my experience, the only way your fish can thrive, is to have a good filter. I use the "Tetra Pond Filter Fountain Kit". This works fantastic on my 50 gallon pond. My water was cloudy before I got it, I also couldn't keep any fish alive for too long in my pond. Now I can't STOP my fish from spawning on a daily basis! Lots of plants help maintain good water quality. If your water is green, I would do a big old water change, get some plants, and buy a good filter.