How To Stop Koi and Pond Fish Illness Or Death From Pond Contaminants
Pond Contaminants Can Be A Serious Issue If Not Removed
After the relatively dormant late fall and winter period within the fish
ponds of colder climate pond keepers, spring heralds a rise in the metabolic
activity to be found.
As the warmer temperatures arrive with the onset of spring, your pond fish come alive. This produces more liquid and solid metabolic waste, as a result of the increased feeding.
This leads to a rise in the impurity of the pond water, particularly from the increased levels of ammonia. The ammonia from fish waste needs to be broken urgently, in order to Prevent Fish Stress and subsequent illness or death.
In natural lakes and streams this does not create a problem due to the volumes of water involved and the small population of fish relative to the size of the lake. In a backyard fish pond however it is critically important to remove the build up of ammonia.
The single best way to stop ammonia and nitrite problems is to use a correctly specified Garden Pond Filter. If however you do not have a biological pond filter then an ammonia detoxifier is the next best thing … Beware however that adding pond water additive can sometimes have a detrimental affect upon nitrifying bacteria, pond plants and aquatic pond life. This is particularly true if you overdose.
The damaging effect of ammonia is even worse in ponds with a high pH. For this reason it is important to monitor your pond water for ammonia, pH and total hardness on a regular basis. This is best achieved using a suitable pond test kit, such as those reviewed on this website. By regularly testing the pond water you will be able to quickly notice changes in the ammonia levels and take action.
If you discover that the ammonia levels in your pond water have increased, try to reduce the pond water pH down to around neutral (pH 7). In practice a neutral pH is almost impossible to achieve but try to get as close as possible.
A quick fix solution to problematic ammonia levels is Pond Care Ammo-Lock. Pond Care AMMO-LOCK 2 also neutralizes the harmful levels of ammonia that can occur in pond water from overfeeding and overstocking of fish. The patented formula instantly neutralizes chlorine and is responsible for effective chloramine reduction.
The ammonia is converted firstly into nitrites and then into nitrates by Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter nitrifying bacteria; often referred to in pond keeping circles as beneficial bacteria. Remember that ammonia is potentially lethal to Koi, goldfish and other aquatic fish and pond life; even in small quantities.
The addition of pond salt will minimize the toxic effect of nitrite, in addition being an excellent way of combating certain bacterial and parasitic pathogens. Please click Pond Care Pond Salt to see my product review ...
The end result of the breakdown of ammonia and nitrite is nitrate. This is in essence a source of fertilizer for pond plants; unfortunately it is also a food source for green pond algae and string algae varieties such as blanket weed.
The single most effective and best method of controlling planktonic algae (green pond water) is to destroy it using ultra violet light from a UV clarifier or ultraviolet sterilizer ...
Unfortunately a UV light will not destroy blanket weed or pond string algae varieties. The best way to combat this nuisance pond weed is to use barley straw products or Viresco Blanketweed solutions ...
TIP! The single best way to increase the breakdown of ammonia is to increase the efficiency of your garden pond filter, if you have one installed (hint!) is to replace the cheap plastic biomedia with Fishmate Supra Pond Filter Media, over a period of time. This low cost biomedia will significantly improve the performance of your biofilter at relatively little cost.
From time to time you will need to top up your pond water, due to evaporation, particularly in summer. Beware! Tap water contains chlorine and chloramine and other additives which are not pond fish friendly. You will need to remove chlorine and chloramine using a suitable product such as Pond Care Ammo-Lock...
Another tip is to spray the tap water into the pond. This will give the chlorine chance to evaporate into the air.
The chemical pond water additive market is a huge one with large revenue! Pond algaecide is a particularly big seller, as a means to combat green pond water, caused by floating algae. I am not a fan of this product as it can often have a detrimental effect upon beneficial bacteria. As it is a chemical it can also cause harm to Koi and other pond fish if overdosed. As stated earlier in this article for on going algae control it is best to use a UV clarifier or UV sterilizer. It is cheaper in the long term and 100% safe for your pond fish. Modern biological pond filters can be bought as a combined garden pond filter and UV ...