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This is the story of two novice koi keepers, David
and Michelle.It may be familiar to some of you.
After some serious research we realized our pond wasn't big enough
to keep koi - no surprise. We had two options, dispose of the koi or build a proper koi pond.
We started our koi keeping
journey with much anticpation and excitement, but we were quickly brought back to earth by the reality of our inexperience.
It all started when David designed and built a 2200 litre pond with waterfall in the front garden, serviced by a small
sponge filter and submersible pump bought from the landscape suppliers. I thought coloured river pebbles would look nice on
the bottom and ten colourful koi to finish off the display. Well, you can imagine how well that worked. The water quality
went into rapid decline especially once I discovered Koi Auctions, and proudly added a few larger koi specimens.
After
some serious research we realized our pond wasn't big enough to keep koi - no surprise. We had two options, dispose of the
koi or build a proper koi pond. So we hit the road with a thirst for knowledge, visiting koi members, getting advice, admiring
beautiful ponds and fish. We were hooked.
Not wanting to make the same mistake again we decided to use koi experts
to build our new koi pond. That was a very wise decision. A builder friend once told me "for every dollar you save as an owner
builder you spend later fixing your mistakes and still end up with an inferior product"...I have seen many examples of this
including our first pond. Thanks to Lars and Ros - ALLCARE PONDS and Ralf Boehner - BIOFILTECH, we have an outstanding koi
pond setup which we could never have achieved ourselves as owner builders.
Work commenced in March 2004 and within
a month the pond structure was completed and filled with water to stabilize the large glass viewing panel. We then struck
a slight problem. The filtration system could not be installed because the mechanical pre filters ( Answers) ordered from
England had not arrived. So the job stopped, and the pond water went green. No problem we thought, Once the filtration system
was installed the Ultra Violet filters went to work and within a week the water will be sparkling clean. Just in time for
the club pond tour visit.
The reality was, everything was not going fine, we just didn't recognize the signs. I was
too busy basking in the glory of our new pond and beautiful koi.
Now I'm sure someone, if not several people told
me along the way - "Don't buy too many fish", "let your filter mature before you stock your pond with good fish", "test your
pond water regularly". Unfortunatly my eyes were open but my ears were shut. My only thought was for what variety of koi I
could buy next.
Gradually the water started to look a bit hazy and the fish were flashing and jumping, but because
we were novices we didn't take much notice. The weather was warming up so this behaviour was expected. Besides, our filtration
system is a masterpiece of the latest technology and design so there couldn't be anything wrong with our water - maybe we
are overfeeding a little. We poured in loads of bacteria and clay minerals, "that will fix it" (for sure).
One fish
had injured its side which gradually turned into a gigantic ulcer. We noticed some other fish starting to get sores for no
reason. Logically we blamed the injured fish for spreading disease. We had no quarantine facility and no idear how to treat
the sick fish. So we sought phone help. We were advised to wait until the weather warmed up more which should fix the ulcers.
It didn't. We bought a quarantine tank and started treating the sick koi with oxygenated salt baths and tea tree medication
for ulcers. But this seemed to accelerate the ulcer growth. Fish came out of quarantine far worse than when they were put
in. We then tried some ulcer ointments Ralf gave us but it was too late for some. We disposed of four koi and one jumped out
(cost $700). To test our patience even further as the pond temperature went up an outbreak of blanket weed began proliferating
in our pond. In the beginning David tested the water once a week but with increasing blanket weed, Ph and ammonia he increased
to daily testing. Finally the penny droped. Yes, we had serious water trouble. Ph was 9 and ammonia was 5ppm. But why????
And how???? With all this filtration!!!!!!
David spent hours on the internet searching for answers. He consulted Koi
friends, he bought and borrowed books and eventually did work it all out. So simple too.
When the filtration system
was we immediately switched on the Ultra Violet units to clear up the green water, Which it did. Mistake was we didn't switch
them back off to allow filter bacteria to colonize in the biological filter. In simple terms we had 2 x 55 watt Ultra Violet
units located just in front of the bio filter which were zapping most living organisms as the water passed through them before
it arrived in the bio filter. Therefore the bio filter did not receive enough filter bacteria never actually started working
at all. The UVs had done a superb job of clearing the green water, but tricked us into thinking our filter had started and
the water was fine. We turned off the UVs. In exactly 22 days the ammonia went down to zero and finally in late November our
filter was working for the first time.
Meanwhile the blanket weed had really exploded and now covered every wall of
the pond up to 3 - 4 feet long in parts. Fish could totally disappear into the lush green jungle. Blanket weed pulled loose
by the fish was sucked down the bottom drain and into the settlement tank which contains two matala mats catching large solids.
Now the mats were catching blanket weed. Water cannot go around the mats only through them so in a short time the mats became
totally clogged with the sticky green weed. Luckily this design stopped the weed from reaching the mechanical pre filters
and the biological filter, which would have been disastrous. David began removing and water blasting the matala mats twice
a day, but the frequency had to be steadily increased. Blanket weed is a difficult problem for which there seems no easy answer.
The best advice we received was to empty the pond, water blast the blanket weed, sterilize all surfaces and start again. This
would be a big job, we could lose the bio filter which had just started working properly, where could we dump 25000 litres
of water in a hurry, what would we do with the 15 koi in the pond. Our sanity challenged David went back to the internet.
He found a new product just released in England which claimed to fix blanket weed without adversely affecting fish or filter.
Just what we needed - a miracle. It was expensive but we were desperate. We put in our order.
One late November morning,
in the early hours I was woken by fish splashing in the pond. I went back to sleep but they kept waking me. I finally went
outside and BIG TROUBLE. The whole pond was completely green with chunks of suspended blanket weed. There was one huge female
ogon full of eggs being chased by 10 males. They chopped the weed to shreds. David came out, we looked at the settlement tank.
The mats were completely blocked, no water passing through it at all, the mechanical pre filters and the pump were running
dry, the bio filter emptied and the skimmer blocked. Yes, a CATASTROPHE. We quickly went into survival mode and managed to
save the bio filter and all the equipment. We spent hours scooping huge quantities of blanket weed from the pond. That day
and night David had to change and water blast the matala mats every 1 - 2 hours. This was the lowest ebb. We definitely weren't
enjoying the koi experience. We could easily have abandoned koi keeping at this point but we had spent too much money to quit.
We had to soldier on.
In four days the blanket weed miracle cure arrived from England. We hurriedly applied the first
of three weekly doses. The next day the blanket weed did look thinner and in just four days it had completely dissolved away,
no mess, no rotting dead weed, simple gone, dissolved, disappeared. It was indeed like magic. We were so amazed we took photos
and sent them to the suppliers in England and they posted them on their internet site. Suddenly hundreds of tiny koi fry appeared
in the settlement tank. The eggs had attached to the blanket weed which once dissolved they lost their home and were sucked
down the bottom drain. Interestingly, the blanket weed product lived up to its claims and had no adverse affect on these tiny
fish, or our filter bacteria for that matter.
David also purchased a small bottle of ulcer ointment from England which
is reputedly the best available. Like the blanket weed product this also produced spectacular results clearing all the ulcers
in just a few applications. Things were looking up.
So we sorted out our water quality problem but how did we get
the blanket weed? After much research and advice it appears the green water we left in the pond while waiting for installation
of the filtration system is the likely culprit. We should have completely emptied this dirty green water (who knows what nasties
lurked in it) and started with fresh clean water. We carn't prove this theory but we have heard of others suffering at the
hands of blanket weed after using green water. So we won't do that again.
Let me emphasize that our problems were
not caused by the pond or filtration design. We are completely satisfied that we have the absolute best systems available.
Basically it was our lack of experience including insufficient water testing and monitoring particularly during the filter
startup, failure to recognize warning signs, misdiagnosis and failure to act swiftly. But our main mistakes were using the
green water and leaving the powerful Ultra Violet units on therefore not allowing the biological filter to start up.
Well
the nightmare is over and a few months have passed. Our pond and filter are running superbly and with a minimum of maintenance.
The water quality and clarity is absolutely pristine with Ph stable between 7.5 - 7.7, and zero ammonia or nitrite. David
routinely tests the water every 1 to 2 days and adds Bicarbonate of Soda as necessary to maintain a steady Ph level. The fish
with the ulcers have recovered and seem much friendlier. It's all too easy now. We have considerably advanced our koi keeping
knowledge over the past 12 months and I'm confident we can remove the "novice" tag.
I hope our experience can help
other members especially those having similar problems.
*Many thanks to Michelle Cranna & David Lonergan
for sharing their experiences*.
A.K.A. Webmaster.
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