The New Pond

Hi Pondlady

I am a new pond owner and it has been established for about a month , I have added a few fish at first they were very active now I feel they are lying on the bottom more and not swimming around as much. My pond has a little green on the bottom and sides but is basically clear. Am I jumping the gun or do you think I may have a problem with the fish? they are eating but not as much.I have several plants in the pond and seem to be doing o.k. my water lilly has finally formed a pad but it is small, how often should I fertilize it? I also have a pond smell it that normal?
Please help.


Pondlady answers:
Check my "ten laws" link under resources on my web site and make sure you have not broken any of those laws. Make sure you have 1/2 of the surface of the water covered with floating plants and have plenty of places for the fish to hide. Have at least 1 bunch of anacharis per square foot of surface area. Feed the water lily at least once monthly, but it would prefer to be fed twice monthly or even every 10 days in the growing season. Use Pondtabbs or other aquatic fertilizer. If you can’t find it, use Job’s Tree Spikes cut up in 4 pieces or Job’s Tomato Spikes. And as a last resort, just dig a hole in the dirt of the water lily, put a powdered fertilizer in there and cover it back up. And stop feeding those fish unless they are Koi. If so, you must feed them and have much filtration.

Jan