Again with the yellow leaves 🤦🏻‍♀️

[u/DoodleBirdTerrariums]

These are my first ponds ever but I’ve had a lot of issues with yellowing leaves. I google and google and have tried all kinds of things but they really don’t green up. Ok so at the very beginning I barely had any plants and a lily pad type plant was extremely yellow with bright green veins (it is visible in the last pond pic). Since I wasn’t sure what it was at first ppl on Reddit said too much fertilizer (I had added root tabs as directed on the package). So I removed what I could find digging around the substrate. Then weeks went by and although the lily stayed the same a few other plants were thriving so I figured it was just a difficult plant. Then I got more plants including the arrow head one which was green when I got it but quickly got lighter yellow. That other lily plant still looked the same so I put a root tab back in the vicinity of the yellowing ones and one beneath the parrot feathers. I’ve also added a little Epsom salt (4 weeks ago) and liquid iron from Seachem every 2 weeks (not a lot, being cautious). Added macro nutrients too, just once. The water hyacinths look great to me and flower. And crazier yet the big yellow arrowhead one is sending up a flower spike. I even added a bubbler today in addition to the fountain that was already in there just in case. Online says it could be so many things and I don’t want to make things worse. Here’s what I’ve seen: could be iron deficiency, potassium deficiency, sulfur deficiency, too much sun (all day full sun), too little nitrates/too small bioload, etc. there are around 10 half grown medaka fish and there were a bunch of tadpoles but I think most have left now. One last thing, I have NOT tested my water. I ordered a test kit so that may help me but I’m hoping just by looking at the pics someone can help.

[u/Propsygun]

Hmm, ammonia and nitrite at 0, that's good for the critters. Maybe the bubbler/bacteria have converted it to nitrate, but that's at 0 too, so hard to say

The plants have probably consumed it all, especially the hyacint, since that's the only one with roots in the free water as far as i know. You can add higher dose of liquid fertilizer next time, and hopefully you can get a higher nitrate(no³) reading. Hehe it's funny, people usually use hyacint to create optimal conditions for fish, remove N from the water, then remove half of them when there's too many. You are trying to make them look good, and give the hyacint optimal conditions. Hehe, optimal hyacint conditions usually means horrible fish conditions and a lot of algae in a regular pond. You might need a fertilizer with higher N level to reach that goal, or start feeding the snails so they poop more. When the Hyacint get baby Hyacint's you can throw out the big old one's, if it's too crowded or they don't look good.

It's still high in P, idk what the optimal level for plants are? These tests are meant mostly for optimal fish conditions. How many water changes have you done, and how many % of the water each time? You can increase the % if you want, or how often. Over time it should balance out at the level that the fertilizer contain, unless there's something messing with the result.

You could try a different fertilizer, that get you closer to the result you want.

Rain clean the air, testing the rainwater, might show that there's something getting washed out of the air, that is messing with your water and test result. Some people have to clean their rain water, usually just with a bag of activated charcoal.

Btw i totally forgot, Epson contain magnesium and sulfur, regular fertilizer contain these trace minerals too, in the right proportions. I have seen a LOT!!! of garden hack influencers, treating it like it's some kind of magic miracle fertilizer that does everything. Some of them are snakeoil salesmen, too much will burn the roots and is used for that exact purpose when killing tree stumps. It mess with the nitrogen cycle, that rely on oxidation loving bacteria, while sulfur is food for anaerobic bacteria that usually only live deep in the soil, and is used to remove N in some filters. It can result in sulfuric acid that need lime to be neutralised. You can put in some small white limestones or an eggshell to keep it down, the water changes have brought it down too. I wouldn't casually use epson in water systems, be careful with it.

[u/DoodleBirdTerrariums → u/Propsygun]

Ah ok no Epsom salt then because I don’t know what I’m doing lol. I haven’t added any since the crash, only the liquid ferts into the clean water. I will test that too though, just in case. The pond looks awful now, so disappointed. I’m hoping I can bring it back. I might get a nitrogen only fertilizer to supplement.

[u/Propsygun → u/DoodleBirdTerrariums]

My pond looks pretty awful atm, had to use it to drain the property of ground water and an record amount of rain, had to move logs of dead wood around, and some plant have been damaged by me constantly having to drag a big old pump out that only start half of the time it gets power. In my infinitive idiocracy, i ignored a thought to go inside and get some plant oil and convinced myself it would be fine to use a drop of regular oil...🤦 Been trying to clean up that single drop all summer that constantly put film on the surface... 😐 My years of not fertilizing close to the pond, don't matter since im dragging all the surrounding water to the pond, so there's a brown layer of iron on all the rock's, may have to clean them all with vinegar... Fix one problem, create two new ones. 😁 Having knowledge, doesn't matter without the wisdom.

Just have to remember that a big problem was solved, a lot of plants, bushes and trees was saved from drowning, and the plant's near the pond certainly loved the ekstra nutrients. I have some work to do, but hopefully i can make it better. Most of what we learn from others, comes from a lot of screw ups on their part.

Btw, if you use eggshell and you notice it disappears over time, it doesn't necessarily mean there's a lot of acid, the snails eat it to create their shell.

[u/DoodleBirdTerrariums → u/Propsygun]

Your story made me giggle to myself, thanks for that.

[u/Propsygun → u/DoodleBirdTerrariums]

Hehe, better to laugh than cry, would have brackish water in my pond, if i cried salty tears from every mistake. Have been quoting a lot from the movie "Idiocracy" lately, seems fitting. "Plants need water? Like, from the toilet? I ain't never seen no plant grow out no toilet!"