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

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.

Just like planning for aeration, planning for the proper filtration of the pond is also important. A poorly set-up filtration system can damage the whole project if it fails in a crucial moment. You can lose your most valuable specimens this way.

Some Koi experts recommend a filter volume of not less that 33% of the total pond water volume. Therefore, a 3,000 gallon pond should have a filter capable of handling 1,000 gallons of pond water at any given time. At the very least, it should not be less than 10%.

There are two types of pumps available:

1. Submersible Recommended for small ponds and waterfalls because of their unobtrusiveness and silence.
2. Recirculating Recommended for large ponds because of their efficiency and long life span.

Any pond filtration system usually has two stages for mechanical filtering and another two for biological filtration.

Mechanical filtration Consists of trapping the wastes and debris in the water physically. The most commonly used materials are sand, beads, pads and brushes.

Biological filtration This system employs a natural biological process to convert the harmful wastes into less invasive compounds. Koi excrete ammonia, which in large doses are deadly to themselves.  Certain anaerobic bacteria convert ammonia into nitrites, which are also noxious to Koi.  There are, however, good aerobic bacteria that convert nitrites into nitrates, which are benign to Koi. These good bacteria are also known as nitrifying bacteria.

Apart from these two filtration system, there is also the bottom drain where dirty water is sucked out by a pump for transfer to filter chambers.  It should be located in the deepest part of the pond bottom.  A pond with no bottom drain will need to be cleaned frequently.

The Koi fish you are going to keep will actually be your pets. Although they are bred as ornamental and decorative fish, you cannot just leave them swimming around the pond.  They aren’t like your decorative jars and other prized items needing only occasional dusting and polishing.

You have to take time to feed, clean and maintain your pond to keep the Koi happy and healthy.  You need to keep the immediate surrounding of the pond healthy too. Your efforts will be rewarded not just with magnificent Koi, but you’ll see beauty and tranquility within you and your home as you watch them swim and feed in your hands.

The first thing to do before you actually try to build your backyard koi pond is to know more about Koi and how they are kept.  If, for example, your pond is badly designed and built, and after a year or so develops a leak, repairing it will cost you a lot of money and effort.  It may even take more to repair it than when you first built it.  Your Koi are bound to suffer stress because of this.  So before you go to the store and buy your Koi supplies, you should to familiarize yourself with the following Koi-keeping related terms:

• Mechanical filtration and why sand filters are bad
• Biological filtration
• The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrifying bacteria - what they are and what they do
• Denitrifying bacteria - what they are and what they do
• Heterotrophic and autotrophic bacteria
• Organic and inorganic waste products - what they are and what happens to them

Both your pond dealer and builder can define these terms and explain them to you, but in order to be a successful Koi keeper, you need to know these by heart and be able to take the proper steps to rectify and stop the deterioration of your pond.

Constructing a Koi pond is both a work of art and engineering.  The completed pond should be beautiful to behold and, at the same time, provide a good home for your Koi.

If you’re wondering what kind of koi you should purchase, you should have an open mind. There are many classifications of koi, with most of them classified by their colorations. To add further complexity, most classifications have a scaled (Gin Rin) and unscaled (Doitsu) version. Keep in mind, butterfly koi are beautiful, but many true koi breeders do not carry this breed. Butterly koi originated from inter-breeding with Indonesian carp and lack standard characteristics suitable for judging.

No matter what variation of koi you purchase, there are some characteristic signs you should look for in healthy robust fish. Also, you will have to consider your budget, since koi cost can run into thousands of dollars.

First, the koi you consider should be outgoing and swimming with the other fish. Naturally, koi are shy, but the healthiest koi actively swim with other fish and do not linger by themselves. You should also select koi that linger near the top of the water as you pass, so that you don’t get the shyest fish in the group! Also, the koi should swim smoothly and gently. If the koi twitches or jolts when it swims, or if the koi swims unevenly, it may have swim bladder problems (via bacterial infection).

Second, once you think you have a good fish, look carefully at its gills. Koi infected with gill flukes breathe through only one gill or have redness around their gills. If you see any of these signs, don’t buy this fish, and definitely don’t buy from that batch of fish! If one koi inside the group has gill flukes, then all of them have gill flukes.

Next, you should look at your koi’s body. The koi’s body should be thick, gently tapered and well defined. The scales on the koi should be flat with no visible lesions. The fins of your koi may have some minor damage if it’s recently been transported, or is kept in a crowded environment. This is acceptable as long as it’s minor and there’s no redness.

When buying koi, remember koi coloration changes as the koi matures. You may buy a koi with strong orange and black coloration, and in a few months, you may have a koi with red and orange. To avoid this, you can buy mature koi, but you’ll pay much more money. Another way to avoid this is to buy koi from a breeder who breeds the type of koi you want to buy. Keep in mind that this is the most expensive way to buy new stock, but well worth the money if you want a certain standard of koi.

Finally, you should look carefully at the proportion and balance of your koi. The fins should not look too big or too small. The belly of the koi should gently taper into the dorsal and pectoral part of the fish, and the back should be nice and smooth. The face of the fish should be imposing and well defined- not too short and not too long.

Many koi keepers choose to keep koi that are considered “imperfect” by koi standards. In the end, all that matters is your relationship and commitment to your fish. Many times, you find that the ugliest fish you own is the most personable and fun to keep! Unless you’re planning on professionally showing the fish at a convention, you should buy fish that appeal to you.

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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.

A good quality of dry Koi fish food can be the base of the diet; then you can add insects, meal worms, earth worms, small pieces of freshwater fish. Koi and tattoos of Koi are traditionally considered lucky. Koi Carp magazine is the magazine for Koi hobbyists the world over. I have a big pond in the back yard with hundreds of goldfish and Koi. Breeding directly inside the pond will make the most of eggs and fry end up eaten by adult Koi.

Koi Food

Koi feed most actively at temperatures in excess of 15c(59F), thus sexually immature fish can grow rapidly during the summer months when the temperature is warmer. Complete and balanced Pond Fish Food that contains all the essential vitamins and minerals! Once Koi are mature, their growth rate slows considerably; in sexually mature fish, most of the food eaten is utilized in producing eggs or sperm in preparation for breeding. The Koi Kupcakes reduce the chance of overfeeding as the fish must energetically push the bobbing Kupcake around the pond in order to eat it.

Nozomi Koi food is manufactured under stringent quality control measures, emphasizing nutrition and natural immune system enhancers. The feeding pattern, and thus the growth rate, of Koi depends on many factors, such as water temperature, water quality, stocking density and genetic background. If a Koi has continued to feed during winter its rings will not be clearly defined and it will therefore be difficult to age. T

he vivid oranges, reds and whites of Koi and Goldfish are the result of a complete, balanced diet. Water temperature a very important in Koi keeping, as it determines the feeding schedule best suited for the fish.

Koi Pond Pumps

A Koi pond is an enclosed, re-circulating, freshwater system for keeping Koi (Japanese fancy carp). Pump head or total dynamic head is the most misunderstood topic among fish pond or Koi ponds owners.

In order to pick out the correct pond pump for your fish pond or Koi ponds there are 5 steps you need to go through. If it is a larger fish pond or Koi pond you may want to turn it over only once every 2 hours. One of the reasons swimming pool filter systems do not work very well on Koi ponds is that they are designed for mechanical and chemical filtration of water.

Koi Carp Information

Koi are an omnivorous fish and will often eat a wide variety of foods, including peas, lettuce, and watermelon. Koi and tattoos of Koi are traditionally considered lucky. The hobby of keeping Koi spread worldwide after plastic bags and shipping of Koi became both fast and safe for the fish.

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.

Compatible Pond Fish Koi Gold Fish

All ornamental goldfish varieties, koi, and golden orfe are compatible with each other in a water garden. It seems that a lot of people start off with a few goldfish and then add koi later, which is fine, but why not just start with koi? Koi and goldfish actively maintain a natural balance of electrolytes in their body fluids. Excellent condition,comes with two filters and a large amount of bio balls witch are in side the canister ,works wonders on Koi and gold fish ponds. Koi eat plants including water lilies and bog plants.

Healing and tissue regeneration in koi and goldfish can usually be seen in the first four days of treatment. Pond Salt can also be used to reduce the toxicity of nitrite to koi and gold fish. Goldfish are cheap, but quality koi are not that much more. Koi are a different fish species, Cyprinus carpio, and will certainly grow too big, swim too fast, eat all the food, and nip on all the types of Goldfish in Groups 2 and 3. Compatible fish include rudd, tench, orfe and koi, but the latter will require specialized care. Koi also have a greater growth potential, rapidly outstripping the goldfish clan. For the control of anchor worm (Lernaea) in ornamental ponds, water gardens, Koi ponds and display tanks containing fish including koi, goldfish and tropical ornamental fish.

But sometimes Koi and Goldfish from Group 1 get along for a while, but not always. Melafix has been used for many years for the treatment of external wounds and fin damage in koi and goldfish. Koi are best kept in a deeper, unplanted pond compared with a traditional garden pond. Anchor worm infestations are most common on koi and goldfish.

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All about Magnoi Koi Carp.

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