[Ross]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum as well as Koi keeping and would like some advice on how to deal with New Pond Syndrome. I have a 2000 gallon un-heated pond which was completed in August 2005 and as I slowly added the fish I teated the filter with Dai Suki Filta Bac and soon was getting 0 levels on Ammonia & Nitrite and thought that would be then end of it but I was wrong!!! When my fish started becoming more active about 3-4 weeks ago I started very light feeds every other day and have been adding Fitlta Bac to kick start my filter but my ammonia is still high at 0.5Mg/L and I just cant get it to come down and I have used 3 bottles of the stuff already!!! I have a 4 bay filter with Vortex, Brushes, Jap Matting and K1 in a media bag and sponges in the final bay. It is supposed to cope with up to 20000 litres so I would have thought it was adequate for my pond. I have asked various people and they have told me that as the water is still cold the bacteria will not multiply and that I will have to wait for the weather to warm up before the ammonia level drops. Is this right? I am concerned that the high ammonia levels might be doing harm to my fish although they are all very active and eating well and come up whenever I go near the pond. It is really frustrating not feeding them when they are obviously hungry but again I have been told to keep the feeding to a little every other day. What made me mad was the guy in the shop I have bought everything from - filters,Koi,Goldfish,Orfe etc when I said I was concerned about loosing my fish due to the High ammonia levels replied "Dont let it worry you just keep adding the Filta Bac and it will go down eventually and if you do loose any fish then we have plenty more in stock!!!" Not exactly what I wanted to hear and I will be looking for another outlet from now on. The thing is I am hearing so many different things I would really like to hear if I am doing something wrong and if so what else can I do to get the ammonia level down before it harms any of my fish. Any help/advice would be appreciated as I am very new to all this and am concerned whther I am going to have to go through this problem every spring?

Cheers

Ross

[john sarge]

Hi Ross

It is probably the cold weather, keep holding off on the feeding untill the weather warms up (I know how tempting it is when they are begging you for food) if you are worried about your ammonia levels you could try adding some zeolite this along with small water changes should help to bring levels down untill your filter kicks in just dont add any salt to your pond if you do use the zeolite.

Hope this helps

John

[Welshkoi]

Any idea on the actual water temp? With the suprising changes in weather, hot one day cold the next, even though air temp might be high the Water will take longer to heat up.

It is true that the baceria in the filter still might not be active enough if the water temp is still too low. As john sarge said regular small water changes should see you alright for the time beeing.

Keep us informed and we will try and help you out as much as possible

[Ross]

Thanks both for your replies and I have just checked the temp and it is only at 12c which is quite low but the fish are still very active. I have checked the weather forcast and they are saying that it is going up to 21c on Thursday but I know that it can take a few days for the pond temp to rise so hopefully that might get the filter started. One more question though has me putting the Filta Bac in been a waste of time? is the bacteria still in the pond but dormant and will start again when it gets warmer? or will I need to buy another bottle? I never thought that keeping fish Koi be this stressfull!!

Thanks again.

Ross

[koi tattoo]

koi keeping it should be stress keeping and come with health warning. but when it goes all right just watch how much you relax and sit back and enjoy

[695pfk]

Hi Ross,

I am experiencing the same water parameter issues as you - are you still getting high readings? You mention your Ammonia reading, what does your Nitrite read? Given as the Nitrite starts to rise it will reduce the Ammonia and then itself get converted to Nitrate – eventually!

Currently my Ammonia reads 0.1 and Nitrite about 0.25.

Cheers

Paul.

[shusui:paul]

stressful ??? its only just begun

[Ross]

Hi Paul,

My Ammomia is now at 0 ;D but the No2 is up slighly at 0.1, NO3 is at 0 so it looks like the bacteria has started to do its stuff. I think that the recent higher temps are the reason and my fish are just going berserk when I feed them now so hopefully I am over the worst now. I will of course monitor the parameters regularly as I dont take anything for granted any more.

Cheers

Ross