Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Now I have another question. I just checked the water quality of my outdoor pond (I live in WI, and its too shallow for my fish in winter). The numbers are great compared to my kiddie pool that they have been in all winter. pH-7.0, ammonia-0,
Nitrite-0, Nitrate-0, totol hardness-300, total alkalinity-180. Now, my pond water is pH-8.4, ammonia-0.25, Nitrite-0,
Nitrate-20, total hardness-300, total alkalinity-300. I'm leaving for a 2 1/2 week vacation in 3 weeks. I'm wondering if I should put my 3 fish in the pond now or wait until I get back. To my knowledge, a pond will cycle if you add fish, but I'm wondering if maybe it already has all the "good bacteria" in it since it has been sitting since last fall and the quality numbers look so good. Maybe then it won't go through the big change in quality (cycling) after I add them??
I don't want my husband to have to worry a lot about checking water and doing water changes if he doesn't have to. Also, I will be putting my new pump with mech, bio, and UV filtration into it. Should I be concerned that the outdoor pond pH is only 7.0? Could that drop further if I put the fish in? If I put them in I would have to slowly acclimate them to the new water. Should a also wait because of those spots on his gill covers (from previous post)? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

im in scotland, so i have no idea about the weather where you are.
if youre pretty sure the worst of the frosts has passed then you could let them in the main pond this week.
see if you can get a temperature for both the pond and the pool to see what the difference is.
as for ph, goldfish can acclimatise to it but only slowly. can you maybe add some pond water to the kiddie pool and see if you can acclimate them that way for a few days? another way is to put the fish in a bin with some kiddie pool water and then slowly over the day add a bit of pond water and test it for ph regularly to make sure the ph isnt going up too drastically.
the bumps on the gills are probably breeding tubercles and he is ready for spawning.

The temperatures during the day have been between 50's to upper 60's. However today, for example is 78. The nights have been in the 40's. My kiddie pool temp is 57 degrees and the pond temp was 52 degrees this morning. Besides the pH, do you think I'll have to worry much about cycling and water quality changes? This is the first spring I'm bringing them back outside from the inside so I don't know what to expect. At least the water quality is starting out better outside! Thanks for the response!

how many gallons does the pond hold? with only 3 fish going in i dont see too much stress on the filter as it cycles but that depends on how big the pond is. fish are remarably resilient and can deal with high levels of toxin for a period of time. all you can do is monitor the water each day and act accordingly. with you going away its going to be down to your hubby to keep things going.
i would say with both options the pond looks more ideal than the pool.

My pond outside is about 150 gallons. So, I think I'm going to take them outside later today. I'll put them in a huge container with pool water initially and gradually add pond water today. Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted.

I put my fish out a weak and a half ago and they are doing great! My exellent water quality has not changed either. Also, the big spots on Haley's (the comet) gill covers are going away!!!