Hi, I've got a 450 litre pond, been set up for weeks and finally added 5 shubunkins to it on the weekend. The next day we couldn't see them at all, the pond is so dark, can't see any of the rocks or anything at the bottom even with the lights on.

The water is clear though when we took some out to have a look.

We have been assuming the fish are ok, food seemed to be going. We took the water lily out and big rock so we could try and see them.

We added some clear start which has helped a little and we did finally see them all yesterday, just about, so we know they are all ok in there but not sure what we can do to clear the water up properly? Seems pointless having a pond if you can't see the fish

we have a blagdon pump, checked the filter spomges and they were completely clear of any rubbish and it's working well.

I did test the water yesterday but with my tropical test kit as that's all I had and lfs wasn't open by time i got home to buy a pond water kit - not sure if they read differently?! Ammonia was clear and nitrite was on the second pink reading - think it was 0.3.

Food has been eaten over night too, all gone when we checked this am.

Any ideas on what's going on?

Thank you!

How old is the pond?

Is the pond 450 litres or gallons? And how many fish have you got?

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You may be overfeeding. Generally, it's a bad idea to feed more than the fish will eat in five minutes. Of course, if the fish won't come out to eat while you're there, this rule of thumb is difficult to apply. But it's hard to starve a fish to death in a pond, and if they get hungry enough they'll come out.

If you have a tall, clear vase, fill it with pond water and look down through it at a white background, so that you are looking as far through the water as possible. This might give you a better sense of what color the water is.

The pond is new, we've only had it set up for a few weeks. It's a deep pond set in a garden table - pretty sure it's 450 litres, but I'll check on that maybe it was gallons?

There are only 5 very small shubunkins in there. (and some snails seem to have found their way in!)

We only put a very small handful of food in, about 10 pellets just so we could track how much was being eaten.
They don't come out and eat straight away which is a little difficult.

We did what you said and looked through a vase, the water is clear...the pond has cleared up a little, we could see to the bottom yesterday but still looks quite dark in there!

Is it just because it's a new pond and is still adjusting?

I'm usually a tropical fishkeeper so this is all a little new to me!

Thanks!

The nitrite reading of 0.3ppm indicates that your nitrifying bacteria are not up to speed yet. It is also high enough to stress your fish, though I doubt it will kill them outright. You could lower it by changing half the water. Adding salt is said to protect fish from nitrite by thickening their slime coat. However, the reason they secrete more slime is that they are freshwater fish and need to protect themselves from the salt. Why their slime doesn't thicken in response to nitrite, I don't know. Perhaps it does, and the salt just makes fish keepers feel better. The other downside to adding salt is that it will slow the growth of your bacteria colonies. I'd probably do the water change and not bother with salt, but I'm fairly new to keeping fish in ponds too, so don't take this as expert advice. Either way, you should monitor nitrite daily until it's gone. Try to keep it under 0.25 ppm. Feed very lightly until you get the nitrite under control. And watch for a buildup of nitrate as the nitrite levels become undetectable. If you're using strips, you should probably get a liquid test kit. The strips are notoriously inaccurate. All of this may be familiar from keeping aquariums.

The murk is probably just suspended algae. How deep is your pond? As you've seen, what makes a pond murky near the bottom looks crystal clear in a smaller container. Hence you'll notice algae levels in your pond that would be undetectable in your tanks. It may clear up when your bacteria get going. Barley extract would be a good quick fix for the green water. The algae won't hurt your fish, though, so concentrate on the nitrite first. In fact, algae will do some of the work the bacteria should be doing.

Another possibility is that the murk is fine soil particles that got washed into the pond during a rainstorm. If this can happen, you should correct the problem soon, as it will become a major headache if left unchecked.

Another thought. If you have a cycled tank you could keep your goldfish in for a few weeks. You could take them out of the pond and continue to cycle it by adding ammonia (if you can find a bottle without additives) and/or fishfood. When the pond can handle this, put the fish back in. This would probably be less stress for both you and the fish than cycling the system with them in it.