My daughter cleaned the pond with dishwashing soap

She thought she was doing a good thing, and fortunately there are no
fish yet. The pond was supposed to be up and running last year, but I
just now got the tile finished. It's a small formal pond, about 700
gallons, tiled with granite. My daughter used half a bottle of
dishwashing soap to clean it. Now it's a great big bubble bath.
I've rinsed and rinsed and still have a bubble bath. Will sunlight
eventually break down the soap?

Mark B.

Try a de-sudsing agent. I guess you can buy them, but I kind of
thought vinegar was one. Of course, you'll still have to drain the
pond and refill it, but I would think you would need to do that anyway,
to make sure all the soap was out.

Hope you don't plan on putting any live fish in
there for a long time!

N-E-V-E-R put soap in a fish pond.

wow. This is a new one.
I can only suggest keep on rinsing. I ran a google
search and could not find anything that addressed
the problem. Hope someone has some different
advice...

kathy :-)


www.blogfromthebog.com

"mark Bannister" wrote in message
...
She thought she was doing a good thing, and fortunately there are no
fish yet. The pond was supposed to be up and running last year, but I
just now got the tile finished. It's a small formal pond, about 700
gallons, tiled with granite. My daughter used half a bottle of
dishwashing soap to clean it. Now it's a great big bubble bath.
I've rinsed and rinsed and still have a bubble bath. Will sunlight
eventually break down the soap?

If I were you I would consider, one of two paths...

1) drain, clean and fill
2) Agitate the water like crazy, and do partial water changes.

I'd go with 2). Might as well use that water to get much of the soap out as
you can. I'd also read the label to see what you are dealing with. I'd be
less concerned with dish soap, then say clothing detergent.

Of course, in my house, we use environmentally sound products, so I wouldn't
worry either way.

The solution to pollution is dilution, so get diluting.


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Any degreaser will get rid of soap and then a good rinse !

mark Bannister wrote:
She thought she was doing a good thing, and fortunately there are no
fish yet. The pond was supposed to be up and running last year, but I
just now got the tile finished. It's a small formal pond, about 700
gallons, tiled with granite. My daughter used half a bottle of
dishwashing soap to clean it. Now it's a great big bubble bath.
I've rinsed and rinsed and still have a bubble bath. Will sunlight
eventually break down the soap?

Mark B.

BenignVanilla wrote:


Of course, in my house, we use environmentally sound products, so I
wouldn't worry either way.

You should. If the soap creates suds, it creates a hazard for fish. It
doesn't matter how environmentally sound it is.
--
derek

"kathy" wrote:

I can only suggest keep on rinsing.

Kathy hit it on the head, but if you experiment in your kitchen, you
will find that it takes a lot of dilution. If you fill and completely
drain several times, you will eventually get adequate dilution. It is
good to spray with a garden hose and drain before refilling each time.
Don't expect one change of water to fix it. It won't.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

Of course, in my house, we use environmentally sound products, so I
wouldn't
worry either way.

The solution to pollution is dilution, so get diluting.

It is my understanding that enviormentally friendly detergents have a low
phosphate content, chlorine free, other things like lack of perfume or
artificial colors are fringe benefits. I bet a 1/2 cup of your product in
the pond would be just as damaging, you just wouldn't get the phosphate
induced algae bloom afterwards.

-S

mark Bannister wrote:

She thought she was doing a good thing, and fortunately there are no
fish yet. The pond was supposed to be up and running last year, but
I
just now got the tile finished. It's a small formal pond, about 700
gallons, tiled with granite. My daughter used half a bottle of
dishwashing soap to clean it. Now it's a great big bubble bath.
I've rinsed and rinsed and still have a bubble bath. Will sunlight
eventually break down the soap?

Once it's dilute enough (it probably is already), it'll be bacteria,
not light, that will decompose it. And make it stink in the process.
And consume oxygen.

Robert in the Bronx