Wish I knew.

My plants don't look good this year either. Don't know why.
Last year they looked great.

Your biggest problem is having those goldfish in the pond . You'll never get them out and they will have tons of black babies that will take up oxygen for your good fish .
As for the plants , maybe because its a new pond and the water is still trying to adjust itself.Maybe your water lilies are too deep . If they are smaller plants , put them on a higher shelf until they get bigger then lower. If the water is green the sun wont reach the lilie at the bottom. Did you add any salt to the pond ? One pound salt per 100 gallons. Save yourself a ton of money and buy koser salt at the grocery store. Rick

The PH is not hurting the plants. Many ponders have ph that is off the charts and lilies and other plants do just fine.
There could be a number of things that could be the problem.
If these plants were newly planted a few weeks ago and placed in the pond they are probably spending their energy on developing their root systems rather that foliage and flowers. If they are deep, bring them up closer to the water surface where they get light and warmth.
Is this pond in the same amount of daylight as the other pond?

Thanks lefdo5.The lilies that I transfered from another pond had a dozen pads I just put the whole plant dirt and all from a one gallon container to a large twelve gallon container. The top of those pots are 2 ft down. The tubers I received from another ponder with several pads I elevated to one foot below the surface. I would not be so concerned except I have also never seen water hyacinth and floating heart do so poorly. Both ponds get the same amount of sunlight about 8 hours.

Please do not add salt. Plants do not like salt although they might tolerate a small amount. The advice when salting a pond is usually to remove the plants. Have you checked the temperature of the water in each pond. It may be that the water in the larger pond is not warming up as quickly as the smaller one. Another thing I would consider is the water flow. These plants prefer slowly moving water. Let us know what you find out. I can't grow WH or several other plants because my fishies consume them from the roots up. Sandy

Floating plants occasionally become chlorotic from an iron deficiency. Search the pond forum for chlorosis or maybe iron and see if your plants might be chlorotic.

I would go along with Larry's suggestion about a possible iron deficiency in the pond water.
As Sandy also stated, I would stay away from adding salt to the water, it will only make the problem with the plants worse, I should think!
If you go with a couple of dessert spoon fulls of liquid chelated iron and a handful of Potassium Chloride [Muriate of Potash], I think you will see a difference in your plants, over a week or so.
"Horton"

Salt will definitely kill your water lettuce and hyacinth. Here's a link to a site that shows how much salt pond plants can tolerate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Effects of salt on pond plants

Thank you all for your input. I do appreciate it. Lets just say adding salt is the last thing I would do for a plant problem. I do like my Sarasa comets (Don't want any Koi) only six in a 7000 gallon pond so they are probably not adding enough poo to feed the plants. Plan on adding Golden Orfe in the next two weeks after quarantine.To aid the plants I plan on adding Flourish Iron. Don't know if it will help the lilies but it should help the others. I know I need the plants to out compete the algae especialy with the high phosphates I have now.

I have Bitterlings ready to come out of quarantine and the PH is 7.5 in that tank. If I add these to the pond with a PH of 8.5 - 9.0 is it going to hurt them? What is the best way to add them since the PH is so differect? Thanks Again

Have you checked the plants very closely for pests?
Aphids can send water plants downhill really fast.
Glass worms will do a number on water plants too. They are very, very hard to see. Best way to check is to inspect the plants at night with a flashlight and a magnifying glass. Makes it easier to see the little monsters.

Little monsters they are. Glass worms.I had to use a type setters magnifier to see them. They are so thin that you can't see them with the naked eye and they move like a inch worm on the underside of the leaf, but they do a good job of eating a lot of holes in the pads. Not sure how to remove them, anyone know? Please don't say drag the pots out of the pond! I'm sure that's not my whole problem but I think it's a contributing factor. One of the lilies only has three pads and has not produced any new in weeks. Thanks for all your help !

I would try the seeding method. Transfer a few gallons from the good water to the one in need. Keep your pump running and you should get the same results. Good luck. Keep us posted.

You can float the hyacinths and water lettuce in a bucket of dilute Miracle Gro or other liquid fertilizer to give them a boost. wash them off before putting back in the pond.

Nothing wrong with Goldfish. Nothing at all. Shubbies are pretty and easy to care for.

frogman, there are also stabilizers available, they keep the pH steady etc. Not that I know how that works... Every spring I put a dose or two of an English product called PondBalance in our pond since our water is naturally very acid. It seems to help. It also reduces string algae.
I wouldn't worry too much yet about the lilies. Before you know it a few winters have gone by and you find that you have had to split them and split them and you have suddenly fourteen waterlilies in your pond...

:) Mary

The way I always eliminated the glass worms was by keeping deteriorated pads picked off and taking the other pads and rubbing them gently between my hand in the water in order to eliminate the bugs on the good pads. I did this daily until they were gone. Since I have numerous smaller water gardens its easy for me to do that.
You can also use Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer on them. Its is supposed to be completely safe to use in the pond. I've never used it but for someone who has a large pond it would probably be the easiest and most effective way to get rid of the monsters.

Well today my water cleared seems this algae bloom is over. So I vacuumed the dead algae and added Pond Flourish with Iron. So I will let you all know if it helps my floaters that are doing so poorly in the new pond.