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The basics on how to keep your koi fish pond clean are pretty straight forward.  Whether you have a simple pond with a few fish or elaborate waterfalls with fountains and plants the steps are essentially the same. You’ll need a fine mesh net, de-chlorinator, lots of fresh water and an air stone or pump to oxegenate the pond water.

A good pump and great pond filtration will go a long way to keeping the koi in a healthy environment; yet consider it necessary (and part of the enjoyment) to be cleaning your koi fish pond regularly. This helps to maintain an healthy environment for your Koi and yourself! Overfeeding is one cause of koi ponds needing cleaning sooner rather than later.  Uneatn food will sit on the bottom of the pond and release toxins into the water as it decomposes. This can be prevented by skimming away uneaten food with a fine mesh net about five minutes after your koi have been fed. Another way to keep water healthy is to regularly drain away about ten percent of the total water in the pond, and replace it with fresh water.  The drained water is excellent for use on house and garden plants.

Keep in mind the following when keeping your pond water clean:

• Coins are toxic to Koi. Never throw coins in the pond
• Chlorinated water is dangerous to koi.  Neutralize it before adding to pond.
• Ideally, keep the pond aerated and filtered 24 hours a day
• Lastly, avoid debris from accumulating at the bottom of the pond

Koi pond filtration is the process of removing waste products and other harmful substances from the Koi pond. This is a basic requirement if you want to keep your Koi for a long time.  Without filtration, several things can happen:

1. The pond will turn green.
2. Parasites and other harmful creatures will form and easily spread from one fish to another.
3. Water in the pond will become foul-smelling and unsightly, and will be deadly to the fish.

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Just what is a backyard koi pond? Most of us have experiences in seeing beautiful ponds and water gardens inside amusement parks, zoos, even inside office buildings and private residences; and a pond teeming with Koi fish can give us the urge to build one. However, because it requires money, effort and time, you should really learn about how much of each goes into building and keeping those backyard koi ponds in good order.

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The success of your pond fish has a lot to do with where they come from. As always, we recommend buying your koi from your local reputable breeder rather than buying from a pet store or a national chain. Koi that come from a national chain usually endure hundreds, if not thousands of miles of travel before they reach their destination. Also, koi from national chains are exposed to many diseases and bacteria that attack their potentially weak immune systems. Furthermore, national chain koi usually aren’t fed or tracked for growth.

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Visually there is no discernible difference between the two brands of Koi food that I have used. Koi, like goldfish, were bred for ornamental ponds to have bright, attractive colour patterns. They are actually hybrids with Asian carp and, like Ghost Koi, are not considered true Nishikigoi. Koi can be kept in both tanks or ponds, but they are best kept in ponds.

Japanese Koi carp are specifically bred for both colour and form. This just goes to show how polluting Koi food is and how even if the water looks clear it may not be suitable for Koi to live in.

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This video has some good closeups of koi swimming about in a well designed garden and pond. Very nice work!

Without seeing a picture of the koi it is very difficult to correctly name it. I also have a 2 solid yellow koi, one is what they call a ginrin yama butterfly. The koi are a mix of jap and magnoi with sturgen. The closer the koi is to the natural carp the hardier it is. Any koi that does fit a type of koi falls into the Kawarimono class which is all other koi.

My husband and I planned on purchasing 3 koi this spring. I picked it out by accident as just an interesting dusty looking little koi then winter came and he turned mostly white. What is nice about the white koi is they do stand out in the pond. So it will not be a problem and not all Platinum Ogons are a problem it is just that they are the only type of koi that have demonstrated this type of behavior. I guess when you see a lot of pattern koi, it is nice for a change to have a few solid ones in the bunch.
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This is an adorable video of a duckling taking on the job of feeding his koi friends in the pond.