oily water bubbles

by Wendy
(ontario, canada)

Hi, appreciate you taking the time. I have a pond I've just wintered the first time with my fish in it and have just restarted the filtration. I dumped about a foot of water out and refilled and added a little pond salt. My pond is approx. 12 x 15 ft and 5 ft deep. Ive just started getting oily water bubbles and I know I read something about that in one of my books but can't find it. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks...


Doug says there are several options. First is a contaminant from your spring work. Let the pond sit still and remove the oily surface water.

Or it could be a large leaf residue if you didn't get the leaves last fall. Sometimes a surfeit of these tends to produce a residue as well in the spring. Again, turn off the pump, remove the leaves and debris, let the water sit and remove the skim of "oil" from the surface.

Those are my two best guesses. Good luck.