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Ill and dead fish and milky-cloudy water:

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

What has happened?

No matter whether the pond is filled with hard tap or spring water - sooner or later the pond contains mainly rainwater. Science has proven that below 5dKH the water is not stable, that means that plant respiration removes carbonic acid from the water. If there is a lack of lime or carbon the pH-value will rise to the same extent. In the evening it will often reach a fatal level of above 9.0 pH. Clearly neither fish not plants appreciate this condition. Plants will stop the production of the vital oxygen already at a pH-value of 8.6.

What can happen?

If this is an ongoing process the pond will 'die'. Sensitive micro-organisms (there are many thousands of those in a pond) will suffer first. Fish are more robust, however, the sensitive mucous membranes are badly affected by heavy fluctuations of the pH-value. This enables viruses to enter the fish body. The fish fall ill or even die. When pond mussels and snails die and water lillies and other pond plants do not continue to grow, this is a sure sign that "Hardness Plus" should be applied.

What can be done?

The addition of "Hardness Plus" will immediately improve the water quality of a pond that suffers from a low lime content (Don't forget to do the KH test!)

Will the pond stay stable?

The carbonic compounds are being 'used up' as time goes by, i.e. through addition of rainwater. Rainwater oes not contain lime. A rise of the nitrate level also reduces the carbon level. Plants and animals (mussels, snails) use the trace elements contained in the pond water. The easy to use KH-Test from the OASE Test set can quickly establish whether it is necessary to reapply "Hardness Plus" in case the measured level dKH lies below 5 or the pH-value lies below 7.0.

Tip: In case the test shows a pH-level below 7.0 (acidic) and the KH-Test done at the same time shows a level above 5 dKH add "Hardness Plus". In this case other water compounds deceivingly show a level of carbonates, which in this constellation is not really present.