Hello from the Valley of the sun!! Newbie checking in and needs a little help!

Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
Location
Valley of the sun/ Phoenix, AZ
Hi,
I'm new to ponds and Koi. My husband just built us a pond in April. I'm loving this new hobby, but it is more complicated than I expected. My pond is 12X5 and over 4 1/2 feet deep. I put 3 koi in and the pond cycled and everything went back to 0. It took almost 5 weeks. So I added the last 3 koi and they have been in there a week and the pond is now showing 0.25 of Nitrite and maybe 0.25 of ammonia, the nitrate went back up to 5.0. Was this supposed to happen? Will the pond cycle everytime you add a fish? I don't plan on adding anymore, I'm just confused. I have a aqua uv bio filter a performance pro pump, and after being obsessed with this site the last few weeks or so I had my husband build a 100 gal skippy filter with a rubbermaid stock tank. I don't know if adding the stock tank with the 100 gal of water made everything go up again because of the new media or what. Also at the top of the skippy filter I went out there today and saw a BUNCH of baby snails, I have no idea where all of these things came from, but will it be okay? Do I need to attempt to scoop them out? I know i'm rambling just so excited to be able to ask somebody for some help!! So Hello and I hope I don't bug you all with too many questions!
 

DrCase

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
4,400
Reaction score
788
Location
Arkansas
Hardiness Zone
7a
Welcome to the forum !!
The skippy will come around in a few weeks
Go easy on the feeding for a while
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,320
Reaction score
29,069
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Welcome! I still have a pond in the valley of the sun, if you mean phoenix, lol

WelcomeGroupSmiley.gif


I ignore snails, but others attempt to remove them. Wait and see what others say when they chime in.
 

j.w

I Love my Goldies
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
32,912
Reaction score
20,237
Location
Arlington, Washington
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
USDA 8a
Country
United States
welcome220.gif
Nakish66
I've had snails in my pond. They come w/ plants or on birds toes. I've never had any problem w/ them overpopulating or anything. I think my fish eat the small ones and the eggs that they lay. If I were you I'd just leave them be cuz you are never gonna get them all outta there. Just my 2 cents worth tho :rolleyes:
 

fishin4cars

True friends just call me Larkin
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
5,195
Reaction score
1,599
Location
Hammond LA USA
Hardiness Zone
8a
Welcome aboard, Snails, I leave and if i start seeing to many and knock them off in the pond and the koi eat them.
now for your question, does it cycle everytime you add fish, yes and no. Once you have a functioning bacteria bed it's functioning, but when you add more fish that adds more waste, more waste more bacteria needed to catch up. so yea kind of, the newer the pond the easier it is for this to happen, the more mature the pond is the less you will notice it. I would watch the levels, if they start climbing you may want to do a small water change, watch your fish closely, watch for clamped fins, blood streaks, gasping for air. That kind of thing, all those means that a level is getting to far off a extreme and the fish are stressing, so be on your toes, If it goes down and the fish look fine I think it's the filter catching up. This is a time when the pond is tricky. I don't see anything way out of line but elevated enough to be some concern. Feed lightly and make sure it all gets eaten and none gets stuck in the filters plants pumps etc. This is natural and your doing good asking. Good time to learn how to manage water quality.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2010
Messages
4,068
Reaction score
4,008
Location
Chicago Area
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
United States
Hi Nakish66. Welcome. there are different kind of snails. I have apple snails which lay eggs which keep my rocks clean in my waterfall and also trap door snails which scrub my liner of excess algae. The trap door kind give birth to about two live baby snails every season and don't overpopulate your pond. They also live through cold weather. Neither of those eat plants. If you are planing on trying to keep plants with your koi you may want to get rid of the snails and not take a chance that they munch holes through the leaves. If your not planing to add many plants the snails can't hurt much and will provide a nice snack for your fish or a wandering bird that can pick one off a rock! Some people are against all snails because they can carry disease, but I have never had that problem.
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,320
Reaction score
29,069
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
I let the snails, bugs, tads, fish, plants coexist.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2010
Messages
4,068
Reaction score
4,008
Location
Chicago Area
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
United States
yes, I agree addy1 but they don't co-exist with the raccoons! I found one of my trapdoor snails on the rocks outside my pond yesterday with a partially broken shell. I don't think he did it to himself!
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads


Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,754
Messages
508,181
Members
13,003
Latest member
Tfny

Latest Threads

Top