New To Pond Care

[gabbi343]

Hello,
We just moved into our house this week, there is a Koi pond in the back yard with 4 Koi in it that seem to look healthy. We live in a VERY hot climate and there are a few tall grass plants and one big lilly that takes up a fair amount of the pond space, there is also a waterfall. The previous owner told us he had just treated it with a liquid UV filter and that the 2 filters were fairly new but other then that didn't give us much info on the care of the pond. He told us that we needed to clean the filters every day, or every other day unless we changed a setting so the waterfall didn't run so much water through, then we could clean them once a week. As it is i feel as though he didn't give us correct info because the very first thing he said was to clean the filters with the hose and everything I've read says to never clean with tap water because it kills the good bacteria, along with that I'm reading that people only have to clean their ponds once a month or once every 6 weeks, he also gave us some other advice as far as feeding and care of the fish that just seemed to not be accurate. As of now we are having to clean the filters twice a day, and with that its even seeming like we need to clean them a third time during the day because they are completely black when we go to clean them each time. We are going to have someone come out and look at the pond and give us some more info, but any advice we can get will be great!
Thank you!

 

[sissy]

welcome and guessing he did not tend to the plants either and divide them so they would not over grow the pond and that means you are left with the mess .You may have to house the plants some where else while you take out the plants if they are that over grown .What is the water like and does it have a foul smell .

 

[addy1]

If you know what kind of filters, or could post pictures of them it would help us help you. There are so many different kinds of filters out there.

and welcome to the group!

 

[Fishylove]

Wow Looks like you just got thrown into a mess huh? Can you tell us a little about your pond? How deep is it? What are the measurements? ( how wide, how long?) Do you have a separate pump and filter unit? Or are they one unit? How big are your koi? Do you have a water tester, and what are your Ph, ammonia and nitrite levels?
Lol sorry to throw so much at you at once, but the more we know the more the guys here can help

 

[Fishylove]

Oh and Welcome! :wave:

 

[Craig58]

Welcome! Yeah, I'm not sure I've heard of a liquid UV. I did a quick Internet search and pretty much came up empty. A picture of the filters and of the screens you're cleaning would help as well as an over all pic of the pond and some dimensions.

Craig

 

[fishin4cars]

WELCOME ABOARD! :goldfish: Please, Post pics, Get as much info and share as possible, the more info the better, Read here as much as possible and get involved here, and don't go running to fast to the first professional pond maintance person you find. He's Probably/possibly the same person that taught the last pond keeper. First off, If what he is doing is keeping the pond alive, continue and make gradual changes that benefit. As you seem to have figured out, using the water hose is not a good idea, So go to using a bucket and pond water for now until you get a better feel. That's a "GOOD" gradual change.
Notice I say gradual, take the time to learn as you go, the changes you make should be gradual in water, and in cleaning. NEVER clean the whole pond out if everything is living and doing ok. Cleaning a filter or pond can be different for everyone. Very few are alike. If the filters are turning black and nasty that fast, I would start off taking a net and try removing "SOME of the stuff off the bottom. Not all, just some and see how bad it is. Second, Get a good test Kit, find out and report your water test readings, Third, READ, READ, READ. You'll be hooked in no time, It's a hobby even those that don't particapate in , appreciate.

 

[gabbi343]

Thank you for all the responses! I attempted to measure the pond (My husband is at work and technically I'm on bed rest), the best i could do is that its about 13' long starting at the base of the waterfall, 8' wide at the widest point and it seems to be about 18" deep, possibly a little deeper. I don't know what kind of filters they are but I'm going to post pics of them. They must have thrown the bottle away for the UV filter because i can't find that either, however now that I have looked into it i think what the product was is that "Blue Pond Dye", some of the packaging looks familiar but i only saw the bottle once during the walk through before we bought the house. That would make the most sense because the water is so dark blue that we can only see the fish when they come right to the surface to eat, we definitely can not see the bottom of the pond that is for sure. I also looked around for any type of water testing system and i didn't find one, nor did he mention anything to us about testing the water.

As far as the fish are concerned, they look healthy and seem to be a fair size but the last day and a half or so they seem to be "hiding" even when i go to feed them they will swim near the food as soon as i throw it in but then go right back under the lilly. Obviously they could be eating it after i walk away but there is no way for me to tell. We aren't quite sure how much to feed them, the guys said "as much as they can eat in 5 minutes" twice a day, which is an interesting way to describe an amount of food if you ask me. I also know (from watching "Tanked") that they Koi hibernate during the winter and i remember seeing on the show that you gradually ween them off the food when they are about to go into hibernation, but how do we know when to start doing that? The previous owners said they just stopped feeding them in October until March, is that a correct thing to do?

Im sure whatever they were doing to maintain the pond and care for the fish wasn't absolutely terrible because its still running and the fish are still alive. The previous owners were here for 6 years, I'm not sure if the pond was here when they bought it or not but i would venture to say it wasn't. Some time in the past year or two the husband became disabled and from different things we have seen around the house and yard (which is beautifully landscaped) it looks as though he took great pride in the yard mostly and partly the house, and that he was very talented in doing things himself but i think when he became disabled he tried to keep up with all the things he was able to do before whatever happened to him and just wasn't able to, the pond being one of them, if not the main one.

Here are some pics i took this morning. Note the color of the water, it actually is that dark of blue, its not a reflection or anything. The last couple pics are my attempt at getting the fish. And the one of the filter pads is just from the filter at the base of the pond, which my husband cleaned less the 12 hours ago and like i said it is literally black. i couldn't bend over to get the filter pad out of the filter on the waterfall but i put a picture of it as well.

 

[addy1]

I agree they put blue pond dye into the pond i.e. cut down the sun, less algae, i.e. liquid uv filter lol, never heard it called that.

I am not the best to talk about filters, don't use them, but it looks like fine material, that may be why it mucks up so fast. Is there any other stuff in the filter besides the pad you took the picture of?

 

[gabbi343]

No, there is nothing else in the filter. There were actually 3 pads all stuck together, but I couldn't bend down long enough to separate them, I'm 39 weeks pregnant.

 

[sissy]

Well you sure don't want to be mucking around a pond being pregnant but your hubby may have to get a net a take out all the floating stuff and there are more than likely a lot of muck built up on the bottom of the pond and that is why your filters are so dirty .Fish root around and stir it up .He may have to try and pull the net along the bottom and see what he picks up but he will have to do it real slow so as not to hurt the fish or muck it up worse .Usually in those filters they have pads and a bag full of sponge type stuff or bio balls and in older ones lava rock .

 

[sissy]

pool net works great

 

[fishin4cars]

Those pics and the new information provided helps ALOT! By your measurements the pond would be 1100 gallons, But I think once you do a little more serious looking into the pond that there is probably a deeper area somewhere down there. 18" is pretty shallow, looking at the filters, plants, products used and the overall design of the pond. My bets are that it has at least one deep area. (which would add more water volumne to the pond. BTW, Nice looking pond! Not nearly as bad as I had first thought it might be.
LOL, I like the description liquid UV. never heard it called that, BUT that's is actually what it does. It reduces the amount of UV light that makes it down in the water so it does reduce algae growth. I'm personally not a fan of the stuff but I have seen others that used it and some like it. I'm not going to knock the product since that is just personal preference.
39 weeks pregnant, Congradulations! Your almost there! Like Sissy said, PLEASE take precautions when working around the pond. Pond water can carry a lot of bacteria, Use a cheap pair of latex long sleeve gloves anytime you work around the pond until the baby is older, also be sure and wash your hands throughly after working around the filters.
Picture (3rd to the last), is that the filter that is clogging so fast? If so that makes sense. that is the pre-filter. Honestly it really wouldn't hurt to wash that with a water hose. If it needs cleaning that often there isn't much for helpful bacteria growing there anyway. Pond water is safer for the filter but the hose may get more gunk out of the material so it lasts a little longer. I would suggest possibly trying a little courser material. Such as Green or black Matala, they would be easier to clean, and not clog as fast, BUT they don't catch the fine particles as well either.
I agree with Sissy, as I posted last night, a swimming pool fine mesh net (The type used to get leaves off the bottom of the pool, NOT the skimmer type net that is used to remove leaves off the surface) would greatly help in getting leaves, muck, and what ever build-up is in the bottom out. I think that's probably where your biggest issue is. The size filter you have is probably fine for the fish load and the pond size you have now. Remember, you don't want to clean to much out at a time. When you do do this also expect for the filter to get really dirty fast. the day you do that you may need to clean the prefilter several times for the first couple of days.
On the feeding, the guy told you 100% correctly on feeding. Throw a few pieces in and step back away from the edge a little. If the fish come up and eat it all, feed a little more, If it's still there after 5 minutes, remove it. Koi can eat 1/10th of their body weight a day. But they can survive without being fed at all. (Just feeding off the algae, and things that grow in the pond). Four good eating 10"-20" koi should be eating about a small handfull of food per feeding, with your filter, once or twice a day should be Plenty. With great filtration and understanding of the pond and the filter, that could easily be tripled but for now, once ot twice will be fine and your fish won't starve.
Start feeding Wheat Germ pellets when the water gets down to 60 degrees, feed that until the water reaches about 50-55 degrees then stop feeding all together for the winter. Wheat germ is availabe at any petstore. tetra makes some wheat germ sticks that are very affordable and work fine. Wheat germ cleans out the intestinal tract and helps prevent internal bacteria infections while the fish are in winter mode.
Last, I do recommend getting a test kit. API master kit is probably the least expensive and most accurate test kit for the money i can recommend. I do recommend the drop style kit not the strips if possible. You still may need to get a GH and KH strip type kit if your shopping at Petsmart or Petco. that's the only way they carry that test, and I do recommend them. You really want to test for, PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, Gh-General Hardness, and KH, carbonate Hardness. those are the basics. Again with a newborn on the way be sure and use gloves. no need to take risks with a baby and pond chemicals. Oh and BTW, get a pair of gloves that you will be using ONLY around the pond. You don't want a pair that you will be using to clean the house, work in the yard etc. Mark them with a marker POND USE ONLY! lol We have a few pair laying around and I never want to mix my bleach cleaning gloves with my pond. mine are marked although I rarely use them much anymore.

 

[Fishylove]

fishin is right on the pond and baby, I learned the hard way. All that bacteria in there, good for the fishys not so good for little tummies if you know what i mean! Anti-bacterial soap will do it though

 

[j.w]

gabbi343