Horror Story - Paint in Pond

My pond & waterfall, just "finished" in September are by my patio. It
looked so fantastic, my patio needed to be repainted. I hired a
professional painter, with only one instruction: make sure you cover the
pond.

Yada yada yada -- I come home from work and the pond is milky white, my Koi
are flipping out, jumping out of the water, etc., and there is overspray of
white paint all over everything. We tried turning off the pump and letting
the paint particles float to the top, then skimmed them off with towels. It
worked some, but you still couldn't see the bottom.

The next day we netted the 6 fish (no small trick in milky water), pumped
out 100% of the water, hosed down the sides and bottom, and refilled.
During the process, one of the fish jumped out of the tub and flopped around
in the dirt for who knows how long - but we put him back in the water with a
good dose of the slime coat stuff.

I refilled, used water treatment, more slime coat stuff & put the fish back
in the water the next day. Two weeks later, all is well [but the fish are
still po'd I think]. They act like they're going to swim up and say 'hi'
then turn their backs and swim away. You know, diss'ing me. Can't say as I
blame them.

Anyway, the painter is crediting me all costs (but not my time or lost
sleep). He scrubbed paint off the leaves of my plants, and we'll see what
happens. Now get to start from scratch with balancing the water out, etc.
Sheese! Then two days later the wind kicks up and blows black ash from
recent wildfires all over everything.

One thing I learned -- at least so far, Koi are tough little buggers! By
pumping out and hosing down, did I lose any start I had on bacteria
colonizing?

Hi Lynn,

What a mess! Your biological activity will probably be just fine. Just
keep an eye on your fish for signs of stress - which you know very wellG

Terry
www.pondsimple.com

Thanks for sharing the horror stroy. So glad your fish made it.

Phyllis


"Lynn Strickland" wrote in message
ink.net...
My pond & waterfall, just "finished" in September are by my patio. It
looked so fantastic, my patio needed to be repainted. I hired a
professional painter, with only one instruction: make sure you cover the
pond.

Yada yada yada -- I come home from work and the pond is milky white, my
Koi
are flipping out, jumping out of the water, etc., and there is overspray
of
white paint all over everything. We tried turning off the pump and letting
the paint particles float to the top, then skimmed them off with towels.
It
worked some, but you still couldn't see the bottom.

The next day we netted the 6 fish (no small trick in milky water), pumped
out 100% of the water, hosed down the sides and bottom, and refilled.
During the process, one of the fish jumped out of the tub and flopped
around
in the dirt for who knows how long - but we put him back in the water with
a
good dose of the slime coat stuff.

I refilled, used water treatment, more slime coat stuff & put the fish
back
in the water the next day. Two weeks later, all is well [but the fish are
still po'd I think]. They act like they're going to swim up and say 'hi'
then turn their backs and swim away. You know, diss'ing me. Can't say as
I
blame them.

Anyway, the painter is crediting me all costs (but not my time or lost
sleep). He scrubbed paint off the leaves of my plants, and we'll see what
happens. Now get to start from scratch with balancing the water out, etc.
Sheese! Then two days later the wind kicks up and blows black ash from
recent wildfires all over everything.

One thing I learned -- at least so far, Koi are tough little buggers! By
pumping out and hosing down, did I lose any start I had on bacteria
colonizing?

You have just reinforced in my mind why NO ONE does anything around my pond
except me. Not that I'm all that good, or even that I WANT to do it, but I
don't think that anyone else actually realizes how *easy* it is to screw up
the pond. And then you get the "well, they're just FISH, aren't they???"
kind.

Sorry for the hassle, but ya done good.

Lee



"Lynn Strickland" wrote in message
ink.net...
My pond & waterfall, just "finished" in September are by my patio. It
looked so fantastic, my patio needed to be repainted. I hired a
professional painter, with only one instruction: make sure you cover the
pond.

Yada yada yada -- I come home from work and the pond is milky white, my
Koi
are flipping out, jumping out of the water, etc., and there is overspray
of
white paint all over everything. We tried turning off the pump and letting
the paint particles float to the top, then skimmed them off with towels.
It
worked some, but you still couldn't see the bottom.

The next day we netted the 6 fish (no small trick in milky water), pumped
out 100% of the water, hosed down the sides and bottom, and refilled.
During the process, one of the fish jumped out of the tub and flopped
around
in the dirt for who knows how long - but we put him back in the water with
a
good dose of the slime coat stuff.

I refilled, used water treatment, more slime coat stuff & put the fish
back
in the water the next day. Two weeks later, all is well [but the fish are
still po'd I think]. They act like they're going to swim up and say 'hi'
then turn their backs and swim away. You know, diss'ing me. Can't say as
I
blame them.

Anyway, the painter is crediting me all costs (but not my time or lost
sleep). He scrubbed paint off the leaves of my plants, and we'll see what
happens. Now get to start from scratch with balancing the water out, etc.
Sheese! Then two days later the wind kicks up and blows black ash from
recent wildfires all over everything.

One thing I learned -- at least so far, Koi are tough little buggers! By
pumping out and hosing down, did I lose any start I had on bacteria
colonizing?

"Lynn Strickland" wrote in message

I hired a professional painter, with only one instruction: make sure you cover the
pond. Yada yada yada --
By pumping out and hosing down, did I lose any start I had on bacteria
colonizing?

Probably some. Have Amquel (or equivalent product) on hand and salt. If
ammonia shows use the Amquel to detox it. Use salt to detox nitrite.

If that all confuses you, run the tests, including Kh & pH report the
numbers and we'll tell you what do from there. ) ~ jan
See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Defrosted~
Tri-Cities, WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

You are such a better person than I am. I would have shot the painter.....
I assume it was latex paint. I can't imagine them surviving oil.

"Lynn Strickland" wrote in message
ink.net...
My pond & waterfall, just "finished" in September are by my patio. It
looked so fantastic, my patio needed to be repainted. I hired a
professional painter, with only one instruction: make sure you cover the
pond.

Yada yada yada -- I come home from work and the pond is milky white, my
Koi
are flipping out, jumping out of the water, etc., and there is overspray
of
white paint all over everything. We tried turning off the pump and letting
the paint particles float to the top, then skimmed them off with towels.
It
worked some, but you still couldn't see the bottom.

The next day we netted the 6 fish (no small trick in milky water), pumped
out 100% of the water, hosed down the sides and bottom, and refilled.
During the process, one of the fish jumped out of the tub and flopped
around
in the dirt for who knows how long - but we put him back in the water with
a
good dose of the slime coat stuff.

I refilled, used water treatment, more slime coat stuff & put the fish
back
in the water the next day. Two weeks later, all is well [but the fish are
still po'd I think]. They act like they're going to swim up and say 'hi'
then turn their backs and swim away. You know, diss'ing me. Can't say as
I
blame them.

Anyway, the painter is crediting me all costs (but not my time or lost
sleep). He scrubbed paint off the leaves of my plants, and we'll see what
happens. Now get to start from scratch with balancing the water out, etc.
Sheese! Then two days later the wind kicks up and blows black ash from
recent wildfires all over everything.

One thing I learned -- at least so far, Koi are tough little buggers! By
pumping out and hosing down, did I lose any start I had on bacteria
colonizing?