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Thread: Strange water test results
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03-07-2018, 03:25 PM #1
Strange water test results
Had an issue a week or so ago after there was a spawning one night.
When I tested the next day as I noticed the fish were reluctant to eat and what they did eat they were spitting back out straight away. Fortunately I had recently been reading a thread on here and someone had the same issue which was related to a rise in Nitrite and an outbreak of Flukes.
I knew Flukes weren't my problem as I'd had a pond health check done the previous week and everything came up OK except for the Nitrite being a bit too high which we put down to the filters not fully matured possibly.
The test results on the day when they stopped feeding were -
PH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0.3
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 40
KH - 8.5
GH - 14
O2 - 2 mgl
Air Temp - 19 degrees C
Readings taken at 7:25 am
Knowing from a couple of days earlier my dechlorinated water for topping up the pond had zero readings for Ammonia and Nitrite plus a very low reading for Nitrate a reasonable water change and additional aeration would ease the problem quite quickly.
After just over 24 hours the readings were -
PH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.1
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 80
KH - 8.0
GH - 14
O2 - 5 mgl
Air Temp - 23 degrees C
Readings taken at 10:30 am
Although the Nitrite didn't change the main issue was that the O2 had gone back up from 2 mgl to 5 mgl which was probably the main cause of the problem the previous day coupled with the Nitrite reading.
Over the next couple of days the Ammonia level dropped to 0.0 but the Nitrite level stayed at 0.5 but the Nitrate level dropped slightly from 80 to 60.
While all this was going on the blanket weed was getting out of control and kept blocking the pump which was then slowing the flow rate through the filter and as a result not lowering the Nitrite level possibly? Some days I was unblocking the pump 3 times so decided to put in some Aquasource Blanket Resolve last Friday after cleaning the pump and filter fully and getting steady readings for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate plus I added a bit more aeration just for good measure hopefully.
The Aquasource treatment worked fast and in less than 24 hours the filter was nearly blocked up. I cleaned the filter and tested the water and was surprised at the results -
Previous results were -
PH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 60
KH - 9.5
GH - 17
O2 - 5 mgl
Air Temp - 20 degrees C
Readings taken at 8:30 am before treatment was added
Following days results were -
PH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.1
Nitrite - 0.1
Nitrate - 10
KH - 10.5
GH - 15
O2 - 5 mgl
Air Temp - 21 degrees C
Readings taken at 9:30 am
Now I know there is something in the Aquasource treatment that reduces Phosphates which may account for some of the results but I wasn't expecting such a drop in quite so many of the readings over night.
The following days readings showed the Ammonia holding steady at 0.1, a drop to 0.0 in the Nitrite and a slight fluctuation in Nitrate between 2.5 and 5.0
The filter has been getting 2 cleaning cycles and a flush out cycle almost every day since after adding the treatment so that may explain the drop in readings to some degree but now I'm wondering if I haven't washed out too much of the bacteria from the filter and this may have an adverse effect on the readings in the coming days. Time will tell.
The test kit I'm using for everything but the O2 reading is an NT Labs multi test kit and for the O2 readings I'm using a Tetra test kit with the 3 small bottles of reagent.
The last couple of times I've tested the water I've noticed that the Ammonia continues to react and change colour long after the 10 minutes when you are supposed to take the reading so at 10 minutes the reading is 0 or 0.1 but if left for 20 minutes it has changed and gives a higher reading of something like 0.2 I've not noticed it continue to change before after the initial 10 minutes unlike the Nitrite readings which you read after 2 minutes and disregard any further colour changes after that. Could the continued colour change in the Ammonia reading have anything to do with the Aquasource treatment? Also the O2 readings now always give 5 mgl no matter where in the pond I collect the test sample from!! Again could this be a treatment related result?
I realise that my temperature readings probably don't really mean anything as they are only air temperature and not water temperature and as water takes longer to change temperature than air does it's probably a fairly constant water temperature I have instead of the widely ranging air temperatures I've been using. If the water temperature is fairly constant then that may explain the steady O2 readings? When I first used the O2 test kit I got a reading of 11 mgl but then the Ammonia was 0.0, Nitrite was 0.25 and the Nitrate was 30 but when I got the 2 mgl O2 reading the Ammonia was 0.3, Nitrite was 0.5 and Nitrate was 40 When the O2 reading went back up to 5 mgl and stayed there for all the following results the Ammonia has been between 0.0 and 0.1, Nitrite has been between 0.0 and 0.5 and Nitrate has been anywhere between 2.5 and 80 The PH has been fairly static at 8.0 but once or twice it has dropped to 7.5
Can anyone explain these results or maybe the question should be does anyone want to explain these results?
Hope this makes sense to someone and I haven't bored the hell out of anyone with all the readings and no doubt bad explanations or theories.
Any advice would be much appreciated and thanks for taking the time to get to the end of this post if you did and survived.
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freddyboy Thanked / Liked this Post
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04-07-2018, 05:17 PM #2
Maybe if I broke it down to questions then?
- Is it possible that the Aquasource treatment could be having a delayed reaction on the Ammonia test results and cause it to continue changing for say 15 to 20 minutes instead of the original 10 minutes?
- Is it possible that the Aquasource treatment could be lowering the Nitrite and Nitrate readings so quickly?
- If my O2 readings were 9 mgl and 11 mgl prior to the spawning and Aquasource treatment why haven't they come back up to 9 mgl or 11 mgl instead of holding steady at 5 mgl?
Any ideas?
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04-07-2018, 06:37 PM #3
There's a lot of info to digest there, but the key in my mind is 'Spawning'.
Mine go off their food for a day after spawning (I assume they've filled up on delicious eggs, and knackered from all the fishy sex...) They're voraciously hungry two days later.
Also, do you have any water params from before the spawn? Spawning really messes up my water for a few days, with loads of protein in the water and all the vigorous activity producing loads of ammonia.
It almost sounds like you had a huge ammonia spike because of the spawn, and the filter took a few days to deal with it? I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be able to shed more light on this, but I wonder if the aquasource is a red herring.
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Frimley Koi keeper Thanked / Liked this Post
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04-07-2018, 07:04 PM #4
Thanks that's kind of what I was starting to think as the other issue of the low O2 was a bit of a chicken and egg scenario.
One theory is -
Did the low O2 start the spawning as it kicked in their natural instinct to preserve their species? It was almost thundery conditions and the air generally felt very oppressive which apparently can lower the O2 levels in the water so I was told.
Or another theory is -
Did the spawning cause the O2 to drop due to the combination of excess temperature and Ammonia etc. ?
The readings from before and after the spawning -
Date Time Temp P F T PH NH 3 NO 2 NO 3 KH GH O2 TDS Salt Chlor 3/6/18 3:20pm 29 A P 7.5 0.2 1.0 60 8.5 13 12/6/18 9:00am 17.6 W P 8.0 0.0 0.75 20 8.0 9 320 0.01 0.0 15/6/18 11:30am 24 A P 8.0 0.0 0.25 20 7.0 15 21/6/18 8:10pm 19 A P 8.0 0.0 0.25 30 8.0 15 11 22/6/18 2:00pm 23 A F 8.0 0.0 0.0 2.5 12.0 20 26/6/18 7:25am 19 A P 7.5 0.3 0.5 40 8.5 14 2 27/6/18 10:30am 23 A P 8.0 0.1 0.5 80 8.0 14 5 28/6/18 7:40am 17 A P 8.0 0.0 0.5 60 10.0 16 5 29/6/18 8:30am 20 A P 8.0 0.0 0.5 60 9.5 17 5 30/6/18 9:30am 21 A P 8.0 0.1 0.1 10 10.5 15 5 2/7/18 9:00am 25 A P 8.0 0.1 0.0 2.5 9.5 16 5 0.0 3/7/18 10:30am 26 A P 8.0 0.1 0.0 5 9.0 16 5
The eazy pod was installed with 30 litres of brand new K1 on the May Day bank holiday weekend so the first readings on the 3/6/18 are with it not full matured.
The next readings on the 12/6/18 were taken by someone else when they did a pond health check.
The readings on the 15/6/18 and the 21/6/18 are as the filter is nearly fully matured by the looks of things?
The readings on the 22/6/18 are from the outgoing side of the dechlorinator used to top the pond up as a benchmark or reference if you like.
The readings on the 26/6/18 are the day after the spawning.
The readings on the 27/6/18, 28/6/18 and 29/6/18 are between the spawning and the Aquasource treatment going in.
The last 3 readings are all after the treatment.
Hope this makes sense.
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04-07-2018, 07:10 PM #5
Just to clarify my abbreviations -
P F T is where the readings were taken from - Pond, Dechlorinator Filter or Tap
Temp - A W - Air or Water temperature
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RJW2012 Thanked / Liked this Post
The Daily pond temp thread
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