Water Maintenance for your Koi Pond

Maintaining a good environment for your Koi is of great necessity.

Like a regular fish tank, a Koi pond needs regular cleaning and maintenance. Uneaten food collects at the bottom of the pond and, as it decays, can produce chemicals that are actually toxic to the Koi. Skimming uneaten food off the surface after five minutes or so is one way to minimize this waste. Draining about ten percent of the water from the pond and replacing it regularly can also minimize this. The water you drain from the pond is rich fertilizer for your house and garden plants.

Koi are strong fish, with good resistance to most sickness and disease. As long as the environment they are in remains normal and healthy, your Koi should do well. There are some basic tips and tools to keep the water clean and healthy:

1. Keep your pond free of coins. A Koi pond is not a wishing well, and coins are toxic to the fish. Resist any temptation to throw in even a single penny.

2. Chlorinated water is hazardous to fish, and needs to be neutralized before being put into your pond. This is especially a concern for city water.

3. Keep your pond aerated and filtered 24 hours a day. Don't bring down the defenses for even a moment. Proper equipment for these tasks is easy to find at several retail stores.

4. Keep your pond clean of debris on the bottom. Debris can come from falling leaves, from blowing bits of seeds and pollen, or just from the leftover crumbs after a feeding. All of this needs to be cleaned.

5. Have a chloramine remover to use whenever you add fresh tap water. Once again, most cities have chloramine in their tap water, and so it is necessary to neutralize it to avoid inadvertently harming your Koi.

6. Have a consistent schedule to test the pond for any type of irregularity, whether it's chloramine, pH balance, ammonia, or anything else: this is especially important after adding water.

7. Change or add new water about every three to four weeks, and be sure to see tip #6 for every time you do this.

8. Keep an eye out for parasites. Use Dylox every three months to kill parasites and prevent new ones from coming in.

9. Keep a schedule to clean the filter. All filters need to be cleaned every so often, even if the water looks crystal clear.

10. Have medication on hand for emergencies, as well as air pumps, water pumps, and other necessary equipment to handle unforeseen circumstances.

11. It is a good idea to have a spare tank for use as a quarantine to treat sick Koi. Remember any side tank or pond still needs a filter and to be aerated. This way any parasites or sickness won't spread to your other Koi, while the sick fish can still be nursed back to health. A common mistake made by many first time builders of a Koi pond is to use the same filter that a swimming pool uses. Using a swimming pool filter is not a very good idea for a Koi pond for several reasons. One is that the swimming pool filter systems do not work well on Koi ponds because they are designed for
mechanical and chemical filtration of water, and not so much on the biological considerations. Swimming pool filter pumps rely on a pump that operates for so much time every day. In addition, pumps that are used for biological filters have to run 24 hours a day. If you use a swimming pool filter, not only will it not do a good enough job, but also the jump in your electric bill will probably wipe out all the sense of peace and harmony that came from having a Koi pond.

There are a lot of biological filters offered through a variety of retailers. Some of these are very good products, others aren't. The point of the retailer is to get you to buy his/her item, so a good method is to talk to other individuals who have had a successful Koi pond for years. They will be able to give you a much more accurate idea of what to buy, what to avoid, and all the other information you need in between.

After getting good advice from a knowledgeable source, just remember a few basic tips of things not to do:

• Don't keep the water level too high. If the water is too close to the edge of your pond, the Koi may have a tendency to jump out. A general rule of thumb is to allow six inches of clearance.

• Never change all the water in your Koi pond at once unless you have no other option. The stresses resulting from a sudden temperature change in water or movement can be unhealthy.

• Resist the temptation to put more fish in a small area. As Koi grow they will need more space, and like any aquarium, overcrowding is a bad idea

• Although fairly obvious, don't let any fertilizer, insecticide, or pesticide into the environment. Don't even use these on the garden plants. All those items can be extremely toxic to your Koi. While Koi can survive and do well in colder temperatures, they do best at warm temperatures at around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and can survive at fewer than 65, but their immune systems tend to get sluggish when it gets colder. The best solution for most outdoor Koi ponds is a heating system. There are several different options for outdoor heating systems, and once again, other Koi pond owners will be able to give you solid advice on how they go about this.