Do Your Fish Need Breathing Room

Koi eating from handDo your fish need more breathing room? Sometimes there’s just a fine line between of surviving or suffocating for these guys. The pond and fish may survive for many years but as time moves on the chance of a fish kill will increase. Not to mention the pond getting out of control with weeds, algae and muck.

It’s not just about surface area, as seen in the picture, but gets deeper involved than just the surface of the pond. Sure we do get some aeration on the surface naturally from wind and what little waves are generated and if we have a stream that may be running into the pond over rocks that help to add oxygen to the water but what about the depths of the pond?

Naturally the pond rejuvenates itself twice a year, in spring and fall which is called turn over or the pond flips. In spring as the cool water sinks, the warm water rises to the top of the pond, in fall this is reversed. The problem is the water at the bottom of the pond, this is where the muck lays and decomposing debris releases toxic gasses,  ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide which is toxic to the fish but they stay away from the gasses in the upper parts of the pond.

During the pond flip or turn over it depends how much toxic gas is mixed with the oxygenated water and if there is more oxygen or gasses that would create a fish kill. But there is another way a fish kill could happen even in the summer as well.

Remember swimming in the pond? Nice and warm at the top but your feet are dangling in the cold water. There is a point or level in the pond called the thermo cline which separates the good water from the bad, and water with and without oxygen. As the bad water continues to build upwards the fish have less and less breathing room to survive and can become stressed, worried more about breathing than eating.aeration in pond

So how do we make more breathing room for our fish and help prevent the dreaded fish kills? Bottom diffused aeration is key for aeration, water movement and muck reduction. With a properly sized aeration system for your pond oxygen can be brought down to the bottom of the pond which eliminates the thermo cline and fills the pond with oxygen to provide breathing room for the fish throughout the entire depth of the pond.

There is even more benefits to aeration in our Consumer Aeration Report which is free to download in the below link. Discover why properly designed a aeration system is the best maintenance tool to have for your pond, Plus as an extra bonus we have added bi-weekly helpful tips & tricks to help in your pond management endeavors.

When you are ready for a properly designed aeration system for your pond feel free to contact us. Whether breathing room is added for the fish or not there is another tool which will help in odor control and muck reduction plus more, check out the Pond Bacteria’s from 1,000 gallon pond to an acre.

About the Author: Darrell Rhoades is the founder of Whatpond.com. A one man business, works full time in tool & die. It all started when he built his own pond for the family. Ran into pond issues and started the research with pond suppliers and conferences for pond management. He writes about pond building and pond management and sells pond management supplies, aeration & fountains and Practical hands on experiences at Whatpond.com. . No physical store, but has items in stock.

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