OMNIX - Forum Hub / Forum / KoiIsland - Koi Discussion Group And Koi Forum / Koi Health & Pond Water Quality

low PH

markterry70 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:36:07 GMT

Hi, can anyone help,

My pond water is normally ok, but since ive turned off my airstones,it has gone down to PH4, This has been for a few months, I have done water changes, to bring it back up to 7.5, but within two weeks, its back down to 4.0,

I have no plants in the pond, which is 1200 gallons,

But i do have 3 different types of Bamboo, overhanging the pond,The pond is mostley covered by polythene frames for the frosty weather, but i do have a few bamboo leaves in the bottom of the pond, until i hoover them out,

Has anyone known about if bamboo leaves can corrupt the water conditions,???,

Or is there any other reason for this happening,There is no run off as its a partly raised pond,

Can anyone please give me any advise,

Thanks

Mark..

Koi fry death rate?

dodgiedave — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:27:35 GMT

I have recently started a quarantine set up in my garage for some fry to grow on over winter, I have 50 and they range from about 1-2" all are very healthy and feeding well the water is at 24 degrees and is very well filtered and has plenty of air. Is there an expected death rate of such immature Koi even in healthy conditions? Can I expect to loose some?

I have lost 3 so far and all three are the small runty looking ones, they started just being much slower than others and then end up weak floating about until they die, all the others still appear fine and have done so for several weeks now.

Should I be concerned or is this the norm?

Thanks,

PP

Maddad — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:29:09 GMT

I'll try this on here as well guys.

I am currently pp the pond, treating "ich". Can someone tell me how long the pp remains in the pond and how long it remains active. From what info I have gathered on "ich" I could Lose everything. I cant treat with other stuff cos of the temp and dont have a means of heating the 2500 gals

chag lump

steveandlou — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:34:18 GMT

hi all

right i checked the pond today and on my gin rin chags side just above the pectoral fin he has a little patch of raised scales about the size of a 10p piece it looks a little like pine cone but is isolated to one spot

hes not bothered by it and is still first up and last down to feed hes about 18 inches in length im just dropping the temp in my qt setup in case he needs to go in there i was thinking of salting the whole pond what do you guys think of the idea i know all the pitfalls of salt but if it is bacterial then it would help yes

thanks steve

filtration

rigger1971 — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:56:34 GMT

what kind of filtration do you use??i recently changed from a multibay with alfagrog to a homemade eazypod with a tub of fluidized and an extra settlement chamber with jap mat and i must say the results are remarkable ,i cannot believe the difference the k1 has made it really is wonderfull stuff,
what are ur thoughts on it and on filtration in general ?
what is ur choice of media?
have u any experience of k1 or alfagrog?
im interested in all opinions plz let me know!!thanx
and btw hello to all this site looks really nice
Rigger.

zeolite

rigger1971 — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:45:53 GMT

im told zeolite will remove a multitude of sins.
nitrite nitrate ammonia,doc carbs fats and such is this true ??
ive purchased 12kg for £18 cheap i thought but........
will it remove much needed ammonia from my filter bacteria(cant believe i just said that!!)
especially this time of year,or will it be ok?
will 12kg be to much for a 2000g pond??15 fish 10 below 8"
all ur thoughts are needed and appreciated watcha think???

Two for One

mrwinkey — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:03:56 GMT

Hi guys,

kust want to share something with anyone who is pump fed.

I have had some problems with **** building up on the bottom of my pond and my pumps not creating enough suction to get it all up.

So i looked into Retro Bottom Drains last week, and bought myself this one: http://www.allaboutkoi.co.uk/aerated-portable-bottom-dome-p-30071.html

The company is amazing, and this is the cheapest price around (£79.99), and postage is free.

I have installed it today, and amazingly, it made the bottom of my pond (you wont believe this, i still dont) spotless in about 3 - 4 hours.

It did take a bit of modifying, as my pump was not intended to have an intake fitted to it, so was not the size of any piping, but you may be lucky enough to have a pump that will fit a pipe straight to its inlet.

The higher the capacity of both your pumps, the better it opporates. My Water pump is 12,000L/ph and my Air pump is 90L/pm, so both are very high capacity, so bear this in mind when you consider how long it took to clean the bottom of my pond.

Now, the title of this post is Two for One. The reason for this is that you get the Retro Drain, which has amazing suction and cleans the pond bottom amazingly well, and you also get an Air Diffuser.

The Air Diffuser uses the same Membrain as the Spindrifter (EPDM), the difference being that the Spindrifter cost £69.99 ex P&P (at Boddington Koi), and is 9inches in diameter, and the Retro Drain is a massive 15inches in diameter and costs £79.99 inc P&P.

So, when you add postage to the Spindrifter, you get a larger Diffuser and an amazing bottom drain for only a few quid more than you ca get a small diffuser.

This really is a no brainer if you need either of these items.

Hope this has helped someone.

Jay

Whitespot - oh no!

SusieQ — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:15:01 GMT

Just been putting some of the fish back into the new pond - even though its not fully finished yet.:) So far found two that have whitespot :crying: Any ideas how I can rid them of it?? the pond is unheated so the water will be cold.

Have put some Virasure in - will that work?

Sue

New Dig Out - Koi Died - new ones dying quickly

mischik — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:27:57 GMT

Hi everyone,
I am a newbie to this board, and SO glad to have found you all tonight. Thank you for providing this wonderful service.

A bit of history: I have had my koi (4) and goldfish (6) in a pond of about 200 gallons for nearly 2 years; healthy, growing rapidly. The pond was unfortunately not deep enough (concrete pond with a large waterfall, plus additional aerators in case the pump failed) as the koi grew larger.

I decided to bring in a pond specialist, move the fish to a temporary tank, and have the pond dug down to about 2 feet. I live in Southern California (form being pasted below that was recommended) so it doesn't get too cold, but they needed depth as they grew.

The fish were in a temporary holding tank outdoors with their original water for about 4 days. They started gasping for air at the top after 2 and they were lethargic; I did a 50/50 water change-out and the gasping ended. They were also not eating - unusual as they are usually very hungry fish. They had aerators/bubblers, and a filter.

Once the new pond was ready, I filled it up and let it run for about 24 hours. Crystal clear water (not that it's an indicator and I did test the water -- see below), with rocks on the bottom (black rock) as they had before, only rinsed off. I put the same aerators back in, addition to their great aeration they have from a huge water source. (keep in mind they've lived in this pond for years, no problem in that area)

I tested the water with 2 small fish from the store before putting my fish back in. The fish were fine after 24 hours.

I put my fish back into their new, dug out tank. I noticed they were behaving lethargically, wouldn't eat, and then one of my weaker fish that always gets sick first (he's an inbred fancy fin so they often tend to get sick before the others) starting having issues - inability to balance, was upside down (but not lethargic). All of them started gasping again at the surface or hanging at the bottom, and also some tried to get underneath the waterfall.

I took him out of the tank, and moved him to the quarantine pond again (which is of course areated and has a filter along with a heater to 70 degrees fahrenheit). By morning, he was fine - except almost all of the fish in the main pond were dead. Three of the four koi were side-up floating. One koi was on her side barely breathing. I moved her to the quarantine tank where she died about six hours later. (I would have euthanized her, but given that the fancy fish recovered so quickly I thought she may too with new water). Two of the five goldfish were also dead. (I did keep one frozen in case they're of any use in an autopsy; the others are buried in my yard in a fish casket - yes, Im very attached to these fish).

I'm fairly well schooled (have a very powerful microscope, test kits, and I know how to use them fairly well) on koi and goldfish, and I'm a researcher by trade. Before putting the fish in, I ran balance tests (and before and after tests) on the water to compare for any differences using a control group. The water essentially checked out exactly the same as it did before the pond dig-out. The tests included the notes below. The water tests were the same before and after the pond dig out, and the water in the quarantine tank also tested the same as the pond throughout the entire process. For safety, I used two separate test kits - both ran the same numbers.

It is important to note that my pond has a constant leak and constant fill. It's estimated about 2% of the pond water is replaced daily and has been for years. This has always turned out to be a dream; I have an auto filler that adds an inch or so per day, and it acts as a skimmer. It was in play in the "before dig out" and also in the "post dig out", so that didn't change.

What I can't tell is if they became ill in the temporary pond and then got sicker in the pond when they were put back until they died, or if the new pond created the issue. Until I know, I can't put the remaining fish back into their new home. Today I have drained the entire pond, completely cleaned it out, and I'm refilling it tonight with water. The pond dug-out is about 500 gallons. In addition, since all of the tests come back excellent, whatever was in the water, if anything, was undetectable by my kits. Nothing on the fish appeared unusual.. no spots, no bloating, no gill problems, nothing.

I would really appreciate some thoughts. Obviously I should have transferred the fish back sooner and feel terrible about this. I dont know if I would have saved them either way, but I did this expensive renovation so they'd have room to grow, and in the process I lost all of my boys. Before I make any other moves, I bought myself some time with the fish hospital to make the right decisions. But I need others' opinions who care as much as I do.

Thoughts are most appreciated.
Dani

How long has the pond been set up? 15 years - new dig out to 2 foot depth and fish subsequently being moved to a temporary home and then back to their pond caused death. I just don't know if they got sick in the temporary home, or if they got sick because of the new pond.
-Water test readings:
--Ammonia: 0 in old pond, 0 in quarantine, 0 in new dug out pond
--Nitrite: 0ppm - 0 in old pond, 0 in quarantine, 0 in new dug out pond
--Nitrate: 0 ppm - 0 in old pond, 0 in quarantine, 0 in new dug out pond
--pH: 7.2 - 7.4 in quarantine, 7.2 in pond before dig out, 7.2 after dig-out
--KH: Hardness: 55 before and after
--GH: Alkalinity - 120 to 180
--02: - excellent. VERY large waterfall plus aerators. This didn't change from before the digout to after the digout. In the temporary pond, they had a filter and several aerators.
--Salt: None. Fresh water.
-Water Temperature: 68 to 72 degrees - varied but never more than a degree an hour - I always checked for that.
-Concrete, Liner, does it have a Rock Bottom?: Some rocks, same rocks that I've had for years only rinsed off once they went back into the pond. Concrete only.
-What kind of filtration: It didnt have anything in the old pond prior to dig-out (and I had no issues whatsoever) - it had lava rock for flow that a significant amount of water, about 1800 gallons per hour, flowed over which provided the filtration. The new system does have a filter (square box of about 12" x 12") in addition to a new pump in addition to the same lava rocks for the flow.
-Water conditioner/dechlor used(brand): Aquasafe Tetra Aqua
-Routine Pond maintence: none.. unless they experience problems I dont mess with what works.
-Source (Tap or Well): Tap
-What, how much and how often do you feed your fish? 2 times per day, koi pellets and goldfish flakes (combination). PondStix and Flakes by Tetra
-Size of Pond? (gallons or LxWxD): was 200 gallons, now 500 gallons
-Pond inhabitants;How many total, type and Size: 4 koi, 5 goldfish (now 2 goldfish in a quarantine tank) - the two remaining seem to be doing just fine, no more gasping at the surface either.
-New fish or plants added to the Pond? No
A: What type and when?
B: Were they quarantined: They were in a temporary holding tank during a pond dig out, then placed back into the pond after the "test fish" were fine for 24 hours.
-Medications used: When they experienced symptoms (lethargy, breathing at the top of the pond), Paracide Green by Argent (broad spectrum anti parasitic)
-Describe what problems you are seeing: Half are dead. Before they died, they were lethargic, and wanted to be petted (yes, really - or they were blind and didn't know I was there), wouldn't eat. They experienced this in the temporary tank too; I thought it might be shock so I kept monitoring the water readings and everything was normal (from above). The other half after being moved back to another quarantine tank appear fine again. I dont know if they were sick in the original temporary tank, or got sick because of something undetectable in the pond.

ph buffering

birdman36 — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:17:27 GMT

i have a ph 6.5 on my tap water my pond is only 7.0 can i use crushed oyster shell to help buffer my ph reading on my pond as i have heard oyster shell as a buffering ph of up to 8.4

mineral clays

dangermouse — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:48:41 GMT

Do mineral clays have any effect on blanket weed or algae,only i tried some, only to develop fine blanket weed strands .