I agree and wonder too. In a 3000 gallon pond those 7 comets could not possibly be producing that much ammonia. So, you need to look elsewhere. I would look at the filters. They may be overwhelmed with residue from dead bacteria and other debris. Did you do a test for buffering capacity? That would be KH. My new test kit for some reason calls it High Range PH. Maybe I need a different kit. KH measures the capacity of the water to resist changes in PH. This is important because rapid change is harmful to the fish. I learned a little from a former poster who I really wish would come back. He would know in an instant what was going on while I am simply looking at my own experience. Fill a container with the new water from the tap. Allow it to sit overnight to let some of the gassy chemicals like chloranimine to dissipate. Add pond water. If it was something added to the tap water it should remain clear. That means KH is high enough to cause the pond water to react to the chemicals in the new tap water by forming a precipitate. All will probably be well in time. To eliminate the problem or reduce it you can add air with a bubbler or a fountain, increase turbulance, let the tap water sit overnight or use a chemical to counter the chemicals in the tap water. If the KH is too low, there are chemicals you can add but a little trick I learned is to put slugs of Plaster of Paris in the pond. It will react to the PH of the pondwater by slowly disolving. The term is something else but to the eye it looks like disolving, so that is the term I will use. The POP is being reformed by the pond water to achieve a certain level of PH. If the PH is too high, the POP will disappear quickly and the PH will get lower until it reaches a balance which by happy chance is the best level for the fish. Once a balance is reached there is no more or a reduced level of reaction. Leave the slug in the water so it will react to changes you don't notice. It won't be harmful and ammonia levels will also be reduced. I mold POP in the shapes of bubbles or starfish just to make them look like decorations. I don't have any problems with PH since I started doing this. If you use this trick make sure the POP does not have any additional chemicals added. Dap sells one that is pure POP. I wish someone else with a better handle on chemistry would post, please. I am not the best person to expain all this. A forum search on POP or plaster of paris should be helpful. Sandy

Hi indycat: Sorry to hear about your pond situation. My pond is only 1,000 gallons and I had a major blowup with my sprinkler system irrigation. It burst underground - right next to my new pond - and it leaked water into my pond and created a big flooded mess. This went on overnight and I had no idea it was even happening until I woke up the next morning to see my entire backyard flooded! Thankfully, I was able to get it fixed within a few days. At 1,000 gallons, it took 4 - 5 days to clear up where I could finally see the fish and bottom again. Since your pond is so large, it might take up to a month to clear up. It WILL eventually settle - just give it some time. After mine settled completely, I did partial water changes (20%) about every week with a wet/dry vacuum and it eventually got rid of all the mud at the bottom of the pond. You could probably start doing partial water changes now to get a jumpstart. I just waited it out until I could see that all my pondlife was ok. Good luck.

There are several species of Duckweed native to Australia and they're not classified as "weeds" anywhere here. Unfortunately some nurseries aren't aware of this and assume that having the word "weed" in their name makes them a weed. You can buy Duckweed online, lots of people who keep fish or turtles buy it to feed to their animals. There's one place here, Aquagreen, that specialises in fish and waterplants and sells a couple of species of Duckweed. They also sell Azolla. Are those "guppies" what's also called "river guppies"? Actually a Gambusia species which was introduced to control mosquitos. Like cane toads they never did the job and have become an ecological disaster. About the only fish I know that would bring them under control would be Barramundi. You'd need a large pond for them once they get a bit older.

I use blue dye in my pond. The kind I use also has beneficial bacteria. You can adjust the degree of blue color- it's best to add some to a bucket of water, then add the water to the pond. You can repeat this until you get the color you like. The first time I used the dye, I didn't do this and made the water very dark. My pond is clear, and I can still see my fish. The color gradually fades within 1-3 weeks until it is no longer noticeable. The color is most noticeable in waterfalls.