Partial water change

[Gemma]

In the 7 years my pond has been running the only water changes are from rain. All the tests, when I do them, are great. Water clear, fish healthy.

That's the way I ran my pond for over 10yrs, and the fish were growing just fine!
This year, when I turned in the larger koi, I thought it'd be nice to replace them with imported babies and add some color to the pond...to make the story short, I started researching the different kinds of Japanese koi available, and doing so I became aware of all kinds of things I had been doing wrong or neglected to do...so I started testing the water, carry on partial water changes, medicate when symptoms showed up etc etc....I'm not sure my fish appreciate all my effort, I've already lost 3 this year!
I'm ready to go back to just Spring cleaning and Microbe Lift maintenance, I will continue to test the water but if readings are good I will let it be!

 

[Gemma]

@Gemma , I understand the desire to do the right thing... and everyone has their opinion on what is the "right thing" to do...

...but here is how I approach this...

...If I do not understand what/why other people are saying what they are saying... if they can/will not explain them self... if I can not find clarity on the Internet or real life that comforts me in the decision...

...then... I do NOT do it...


...Simply do what works best for you while understanding why you are doing it...

...if the understanding of why you are doing it is, " I have done it this way and have had no problems ", then awesome... Stick to that !!

Thank you so much, Charles, that's what I'll do!

 

[Tula]

@Gemma , You mentioned you turned in some of your big koi. Do you have a rescue in your area? I need to find a home for one of mine, pond too small as they grow. Either that, or I'll need, yet more, filtration !

 

[Gemma]

@Gemma , You mentioned you turned in some of your big koi. Do you have a rescue in your area? I need to find a home for one of mine, pond too small as they grow. Either that, or I'll need, yet more, filtration !

No unfortunately I don't know of any official rescue! I turned mine in to a local fish store and they released them into one of the community ponds they service.
I hate saying goodbye to my fish after watching them grow for years!... so I'm currently awaiting an estimate to double the size of my pond ...I just think my fish have been through enough for now so I'm thinking I should time the reconstruction of the pond, with the Spring cleaning next year, that way they get taken out of the pond only once.

 

[Tula]

No unfortunately I don't know of any official rescue! I turned mine in to a local fish store and they released them into one of the community ponds they service.
I hate saying goodbye to my fish after watching them grow for years!... so I'm currently awaiting an estimate to double the size of my pond ...I just think my fish have been through enough for now so I'm thinking I should time the reconstruction of the pond, with the Spring cleaning next year, that way they get taken out of the pond only once.

Our local fish hatchery sells koi, but no longer takes them in, due to regulations. You can spend the winter planning your pond expansion

 

[Richardspond]

Same here, 30 to 40% every other weekend and clean filters and run the lift vac thru to suck up any leaves and sludge. Fish look very happy so it's working I guess

 

[budgenator]

Are you saying that I don't need to do water changes if the tests results are negative?

If the test is negative, you don't have to water change to correct what the water test, tests for, your tap water could even contain more ammonia or nitrates than the pond water does. I'm on well water, it's a 28 ft well (that's very shallow) and it has a lot of calcium and iron in it, that's what I know of, I don't know about things like other heavy metals, phosphates or arsenic yet. https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-wd-gws-wcu-arsenicwellwater_270592_7.pdf,
I live about in The thumb of Michigan and have been watching them build the water pipe line from lake Huron to Flint, and I've read the Emails on the situation there and one thing I've learned is don't just automatically trust your water system. I know municipal water systems and homes built before June 1986, (https://www.epa.gov/dwstandardsregulations/section-1417-safe-drinking-water-act-prohibition-use-lead-pipes-solder-and)
probably has lead pipes and lead based solder, the municipalities add phosphates to the water to prevent the lead from leaching into the drinking water. Cincinnati is certainly in that situation, and if they are drawing water from the Ohio river, you could not only be getting run-off from farm fertilizers, there easily could be a lot of chlorides, which necessitates adding even more phosphates for corrosion control.

The Detroit water system added phosphates even though the lake Huron water didn't require it to be safe, when Flint bought water from Detroit, everything was good. Flint decided to get their water from the Flint River (basically a cesspool) to save money, the problem is they didn't add the phosphates required by federal law, which caused the lead problems.

Doing unnecessary water changes could cause a build up of lead, arsenic and phosphates in your water, so I don't recommend water changes without a specific need.

 

[DoDad]

In addition to the nitrate and dissolved organic compounds that filtration will not remove, there are trace elements in the water that are necessary for good health and growth and these trace elements become depleted over time. Water changes are the least expensive way to replenish these trace elements.

While it is easy to measure ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH, and GH, it is not feasible to measure the concentrations of things like pheromones that the fish produce, the organic breakdown products of the slime coat that fish are constantly producing and sloughing off into the water, and other pollutants that may be blown into the pond. Some people measure total dissolved solids, and others use the redox potential of the water as a guide, but these are affected by so many things - some harmful, some beneficial, and some neutral - that relying on these measurements to determine the actual water quality is unreliable at best and misleading at worse.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

In addition to the nitrate and dissolved organic compounds that filtration will not remove, there are trace elements in the water that are necessary for good health and growth and these trace elements become depleted over time. Water changes are the least expensive way to replenish these trace elements.

There is very little data to support this. For this to apply, one would need to know exactly which trace elements were depleted and to what degree and also know the exact levels of trace elements in their source water and hope that the two (2) complement each other.
All of the trace elements needed for fish health and growth are contained in any quality fish food. This discussion of trace elements has no basis in an eco-pond and very little in a typical dedicated Koi pond.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

While it is easy to measure ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH, and GH, it is not feasible to measure the concentrations of things like pheromones that the fish produce, the organic breakdown products of the slime coat that fish are constantly producing and sloughing off into the water, and other pollutants that may be blown into the pond. Some people measure total dissolved solids, and others use the redox potential of the water as a guide, but these are affected by so many things - some harmful, some beneficial, and some neutral - that relying on these measurements to determine the actual water quality is unreliable at best and misleading at worse.

This may apply to certain extent in a dedicated Koi pond but it has no application in an eco-pond unless that pond is severely overstocked. The organics mentioned in the above quote are readily disassociated in sunlight and removed from the water column by aquatic plants which have amazing abilities for removing all forms of toxins and pollutants.