Newbie - first spring in NE

All,

Last summer I had my first summer with the 350 gallon pond I inherited with my new house. Going into the winter, I had 12 goldfish and 1 bigger comet. As I exit the spring in New England, I was happy to see they all made the winter! I learned a lot this winter but overall happy they all survived - a lot quicker and bigger as well - even a few are getting close to the size of the comet.

I do have some concerns with the water clarity this spring however - the PH/nitrogen levels are OK and I did a couple of 20% refreshes but the water is still dark. I have 'cleaned' out some of the leaves,dirt and other sediment that accumulated during the fall/winter and have added some barley pellets in the last few days to try to get the water a little clearer. In addition, I have also cleaned my Power Flo filter. Is this common for this time of year?

Any tips will be appreciated as I head into my 2nd summer here in New England.

Thank you

I'm curious, did you have a pond heater to keep a hole open in your ice. This was my first winter with a fish pond and all of my comets made it through the winter.

Click to expand...

It's funny, I bought one of the Laguna heaters and it didn't work in some of the deep cold spells we had. The way I had the pump working in the winter provided enough water movement to prevent the water from freezing over 100%.

Quick bump.

Two things I have noticed in the last few days.

1. My PH has been high (8) - in the last few days I have been treating my pond with some of the Pondcare stuff to treat the high PH. I may try some fresh water again this weekend (I tested my tap water - PH is normal) and I also put some more barley in.

2. I am noticing a slight 'film' of a combination of algae and pollen I suspect with a lot of mosquitos around the surface of the pond. I presume this is 'normal' this time of year and these mosquitios and their larvae will fall (well most hopefully) victim to my goldfish.

3. I checked my amnonia level and it's pretty much 0.

How concerned how I be about this high PH level? Is it normal to be a little acidic this time of year? Is there any other course of action (such as ordering a biofilter for my filter?).

Thanks for any advise