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Oxygen is essential for the fish, plants and filter bacteria of your pond or aquarium. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water can easily drop to levels that are dangerous to the fish by causing hypoxia stress. This can leave them vulnerable to diseases and in extreme cases cause death. Ponds with consistently low levels of oxygen can frequently become stagnant and unable to support life.
There are many factors that can influence the amount of oxygen that water can hold. In a pond the most critical is the temperature of the water. The warmer the water, the less oxygen it can hold.
Levels of oxygen can become low in ponds at night when the photosynthetic activity of the plants and algae stops, but they continue to use oxygen as part of normal respiration. Ponds with an excessive build up of detritus and sludge in the filters and substrate can become very oxygen-poor as the breakdown of this waste uses up large amounts of oxygen. Ponds can become very low in oxygen in hot, humid, thundery weather as the air pressure is very low so the gas exchange capacity at the water surface is greatly reduced. Use a PondLab Oxygen Test regularly to monitor the oxygen levels in your pond. |
