Water testing and fish health
Fish behaviour is the most reliable gauge you own.
Fish gasping at the surface, hiding, going off their food or losing colour are nearly always telling you about the water rather than about themselves. Oxygen, ammonia and nitrite are the usual culprits, and all three are invisible until you test for them. The good news is that they are also fixable, usually quickly.
Signs this is what you are looking at
- Fish hanging at the surface or crowded around the waterfall
- Colour fading, fins clamped, or fish sitting on the bottom
- Feeding stopped for no obvious seasonal reason
- A loss you cannot explain after a hot spell or a big clean
Why a big clean sometimes makes it worse
Rinsing filter media under a tap kills the bacteria colony that converts ammonia. The pond looks better and the chemistry falls apart a week later, which is when the fish start struggling. If something has gone wrong shortly after a clean, that is the first thing we check, and it is usually recoverable.
Oxygen is the one people miss
Warm water holds less oxygen, and a pond that is fine in April can be at its limit on a still night in July. Aeration is cheap, quiet and the single most effective thing most pond owners can add. We will tell you honestly whether yours needs it.
Everything included
- Full water chemistry: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH and oxygen
- Filtration inspected and sized against the actual volume and stock
- Aeration assessed, which is what most ponds are genuinely short of
- Treatment plan with quantities, timings and what to expect
- Follow-up test to confirm the levels have actually moved
- Stocking and feeding advice so the load matches the system
Not sure yet? Get it reviewed first.
The free pond health check is done online from photographs you send us. No visit, no charge, no obligation, and you get a straight answer about what your pond actually needs.