[Kanundra]

Hi everyone.

Glad the site is back up and running missed it.

Had a few probs in the last four weeks. Had our fish flashing a lot, so called in some help. Got a scrape done, and saw we had a million Trich in the pond. Water peramaters were ok, nitrite perhaps a little high at just pink, cant remember what the mg was. But everything else ok. So had to treat them.

Used FMC surpress which was recommended as a light mix of formaline and machalite. Things settled down for a bit. But after another scrape, there were still a tonne of them.

So had to p p the pond even with the sturgeon in. It was a very nervous time for me, I was really scared I would kill them.
Forgot to by pass my nexus filter so think I have now killed off all the good bacteria in the filter.

Had the Pp in for 90 mins. 6.8g for 4000 gal, so made 27.2 g of mix. It went brown after 90 mins, so waited a little longer and then dosed again.

I put in loads of extra air, and yet our big sturgeon seemed to struggle, and come to the surface nearly.

The second dose lasted a good 5 hrs, and this morning was a horrible brown soup. So at least I know it worked.

The sturgeon, our albino and the two brown, are still in their, but I am hoping they just won't die off in the next few days.

Has anyone else, had to pp, with sturgeon in? what happened, and will they die anyways. I really hop not, I would hate to kill any fish.



Now how long will it take to get the bacteria in the filter right again, should I put some sort of filter start in?

Winter sucks amd so do frog/toads. Had both in the pond, and in the filter in the last month. Bacteria ridden things.


Hope everyone ok...


Dawn

[ogawa only]

hi dawn , glad to see you back , the good bacteria wont come back till next year unless your pond is heated , the best thing to do , is plenty of small water changes , to replace the quality ,but do little and often as you dont want to chill the water , as tap water could be colder than pond or vice versa .
steve

[Kanundra]

Hi Ogawa,

Yes our pond is heated, to 12 degrees, I will def do the water changes, it will help get rid of the brown soup anyway.

Thanks for the welcome back hun.

Dawn

[ogawa only]

great news that your pond is heated , if you want to get your filter's back up and running ultra quickly , use microbe lift filter gel , i used it earlt this year and the results were the best ive ever had !! i buy mine from http://www.koicarp.org.uk/koi_health.htm

[Kanundra]

Grrrr

Cant seem to get a handle on this Nitrite... Its through the roof.

We've done a 50 per cent water change today and hope this helps and I will have to do one tomorrow too.

No food either for them till this is sorted. But how long can I not feed them with sturgeon in ????

Its my birthday today and Im skint, I have £4 to last me till next week. I cant go out and buy anything to help does anyone have anything they can suggest other than water changes.?

What happens to the fish with nitrite in the pond and how long can they last for?

I got rid of the trich and created another problem.

This koi keeping just isnt easy at all.

Dawn

[Kanundra]

Doing a 50 percent drop reduced it from 8mg to 4mg. its still too high.

I probably drop some more tomorrow and hope that brings it down again.

I need to get it healthy again for my poor fish. It hasn't done the temperature any good though, havent been able to have the heater on, and the temp is back down to 7.9

D

[double doitsu]

try and add as much air as you can as the air lifts the nitrite out of the water . salt is a great way to kill nitrites , but if you add salt you cant use , a lot of mediceis until it completely out .

[Kanundra]

Thanks Dohitsu


D

[double doitsu]

only hope it helps ,and by the way happy birthday .

[double doitsu]

just found this for you

How To Handle a Nitrite Spike

Whenever 0.25ppm of nitrite or more is detected in your pond water:

Increase aeration to maximum. For a a nitrite level of 1 ppm or higher, add suuplemental air, if possible.
Stop feeding the Koi if detected in an ESTALISHED pond, reduce amount being fed by half is starting up a new filtration system.
Discontinue use of any UV sterilizers, ozone generators and/or foam fractionators (protein skimmers).
If the nitrite levels is 4.0 or greater, it is highly suggested to transfer the fish to a "safe" holding tank.
Your #1 Line Of Defense Will Be Daily Water Change-Outs.
Make Sure To Use Dechlorinator With Each Change-Out.

Water change-out instructions:

Nitirite level is less than 1 ppm: do a 10% change-out and ADD 1-pound of non-iodized salt per 100-gallons of total pond volume.
Nitrite level between 1 and 2 ppm: do a 25% change-out and ADD 2-pounds of non-iodized salt per 100-gallons of total pond volume.
Nitrite level greater than 2 ppm: do a 50% change-out and ADD 3-pounds of non-iodized salt per 100-gallons of total pond volume.
NOTE: Very affordable non-iodized salt can be purchased at big-box DIY or hardware stores. It is sold for use in water softeners. Make sure you do not buy the salt that contains "red out" or has other chemical additives.
The addition of the salt helps reduce the toxic effects on the Koi, but you should only look at it's use as an interim measure. Address the problem causing the nitirite spike and correct it!

If this spike is occurring in an established filter ... you are doing something that is negatively impacting it. Have you rinsed out the filter media recently? It might be so full of waste and goop that the pond water isn't able to flow through it any longer. Though there are pros and cons against using the pressure from a garden hose to clean off media, I would go ahead and hose it off thoroughly to dislodge all the gunk and reinstall it into your filter.

Make it a point to inspect your filter media at the very least on a weekly basis until you get accustomed to how dirty it gets in what amount of time. Yes, you do have to keep the filter media clean ... but not overly "clean". Remember that you do not want to kill off all the friendly bacteria that reside there, the ones that process the ammonia and nitirites.

If your filter media is getting clogged with waste and such in a few days, I will make an educated guess that you need more filtration and/or better in-pond maintenance. And I will make a wild guess that you might be housing too many fish in too little of gallonage; and you might also have plants in your pond that are contributing dirt that is helping clog your filter media.

I cannot address in this article all the variables I have seen or heard about when it comes to pond and filter problems. I would be able to write 100 pages and still not touch on all the possibilities. But I have tried to give you what "normally" causes a nitrite spike and how to treat it.

Test Your Water Daily Until Readings Return to Zero

Once you get your pond back to acceptable readings, continue to monitor your pond water. Don't take things for granted ... check the pH, ammonia and nitrite levels once a week after you get your pond back on track. Continue to make sure your filter media isn't clogged with gunk ... keep it fairly clean also.

The few minutes it takes to do the tests and check up on your filtration equipment is nothing compared to what you may end up going through by becoming lackadaisical. Besides the hassle of dealing with pond problems, you could end up killing all of your Koi.

Don't Be A "Fish Fixer" ...
Please Become A Dedicated "Water Keeper"