Great update Andy👍. My pond is 2,500 gallons/11,365 litres and I trickle in at 150ml per minute in the spring and Autumn so 9000 ml per hour, 216,000 ml per day, 1,512,000 ml or 1,512 litres per week which equates to a 13.3% water change . In summer I go up to 200ml per minute which works out to 2,016 litres per week which is a 17.7% water change per week. We are on a water meter so changing 50% per week wouldn’t be sustainable for me. Hope this helps👍😊
Ours is 2812 gallons so almost identical and we have flick8bg and flashing too and nothing on scrapes. Again shook up the big blue after finding a little chlorine, all sorted now but still seeing flicking. We are stumped too. Stay safe mate
Well my delay in replying has now answered your flicking and flashing reasons possibly! Hope it sort itself out ASAP, im sure it will now you know what youre dealing with
There's a nice little space above your big blue for an RO unit. Get on to Andy to get one installed. Little bi carb with doser. Appy days. Our tap water is frightening when you get a break down of whats in it that you can't test for
Hi Andy. We went to the show today, so shame we couldn't catch up with you... Enjoy tomorrow. I will obviously run a complete different system than you, but I have never put an overflow. So basically I only replace the water that I have just dumped from the filters when I clean them. If I clean them more than twice a week, the fish get some mucus on the head and two start flashing. Could it be that you change too much water? Have you got ammonia in your tap water? I know I have ammonia and nitrate in tap water. If you have, may be tour bio filters convert the ammonia very well, bit then there is an overload of nitrite? Worth checking. I would personally definitely reduce the trickling and just have it so it only replaces what the drum has dumped.
Thanks Lau, glad i didnt go Saturday weather was awful lol My brain is thinking of trying less fresh water and seeing how it goes, my previous pond when i had the Nexus on only replaced what id got rid of and never had an issue lol
it's a funny old world when the water coming out the tap is no good for fish but it's ok for human consumption! Despite all the adverse comments, you are doing the right thing to dilute out the nitrite by water changes and reducing the food. Nitrite bacteria are notoriously slow to recover from any setbacks but if conditions are right they will develop eventually. I do trickle in about 20% a week on 7500l. I don't check often but the last time I did my tap water nitrite was zero.
Yeah dilution is the way forward but im just questioning if im doing too much and taking some of the bio filter job away, we'll see, got a few things planned to mix it all up a bit and see where i get
I'm only changing what my drum uses now, nothing else. 1000l max per week. I'm having a similar issues with excess mucus and a little bit of flashing at the moment. Scrapes all clear, no chlorine. Who knows 🤷 Hopefully see you at the show tomorrow, not 100% sure if I can go yet
Old pond was 12k litres and did weekly change of 1200 litres (10%) in one go, every week from spring to autumn. More when nitrates over 50mg/l. New 4 month old pond 15k litres exactly with drum that uses pond water, so now doing a manual daily top up of 180 litres just to replace what drum uses. Nitrates creeping up but still only 30mg/l so will continue like this until they hit 50mg/l then increase water changes to whatever necessary to keep nitrates below that level. I've never trickled, heard a few horror stories about supply water contamination etc way back in the 90's which put me off that method.
As for the behavioural issues... Been through it myself this year, way worse than yours, honestly thought I was going to lose a few. Scrapes clean etc. Did try multiple things including detoxifier, each koi on bottom clamped for 3 days, then suddenly they all recovered and been fine since. Never previously seen anything like it in 30 years of keeping fish.
@@RS20O0 hmmm interesting that! Im convinced its a water based irritant but finding the actual thing that is causing it seems near on impossible! Cheers
Lots of theories on what else is in tap water apart from what we test for, so nasties can be present, some metals etc. I only trickle in what my drum uses and seems to be less flashing and undiagnosed issues.
Yeah ive thought this alot recently, theres something niggling them but what lol?? Seems the general thing is water changes for most ppl seems to big cure for unknown flashing and flicking
Cheers, im going to play around with water changes and see if it helps, also no footage too busy catching up with friends and viewers so no video, sorry lol Although i did attempt to make some content as i took the GoPro wth me but it stayed in my pocket lol
Hi Andy, had same problem with my pond a few months ago fish flashing no parasites so turned my trickle off for a week and only did a 10% water change over that week, what a difference flashing stopped and fish were a lot happier so I think it's a lot to do with to much trickle in messing up water prams and fish didn't like it. all the best mate👍
I trickle 1 litre every 10 minutes for 11,500 that just covers what the drum is taking out and works for me the smaller the amount the happier the fish IMO changing less water has massive benefits (pros) and only a few cons such as less growth for the koi but if your happy with that you have why push growth keep happier koi 😊
One test I would do if I was you is stop trickling in for a few days and see if it makes a difference as you've tried everything else 👍 and I'll see you tomorrow
My dad has rain water going straight in from the gutter to the pond wiv an overflow pipe if it gets exsesive and the pond is amazing the natural water does wonders he never touches it ..
I trickle in 35% weekly with chlorinated water. Pond ammonia 0 nitrite 7 chlorine 13. I’ve read that nitrite can be oxidized by chlorine. Another good reason for me not to treat my tap water. Aside from being always hungry, koi are happy at these levels.
My pond, including water volume in the filters, is 4950 US gallons. I change on average 10%, 500 gallons, per week. I am on a meter so pay for every drop of water that comes in and goes out (sewage charge). Gets a bit pricey but helps to keep the koi healthy.
Hi andy , i only do top ups after nexus clean and top up from what the drum takes out for cleaning now . pond is 25,000 ltr and running spot on for me .
You also put in New fish. They have a different bacteria culture. What also can activate flashing. Maybe add virkon s to lower the bacteria culture in the pond. It won't harm the bacteria on the filter material that much
Me also, 2500g. I'm concerned after watching that video what other suff maybe trickling into the pond that the blue doesn't deal with. Let's face it Ricky does know what he's talking about.
our ponds are pretty similar in size yours slightly more water and a bit more k1, roughly the same overall length of fish too by the look of it. Ive worked out how much the drum takes and just replace that and it works out around 10-15% a week and my water is spot on feeding 250-300g a day
Hmmmm ok, cheers, im thinking less water on trickle or possibly none and just topping up as and when needed for a bit to see how they go, we'll see :-)
You know getting the nitrite bacteria to develop is a tricky one because you need the nitrite for them yet have to do water changes to keep it down for the fish. One idea may be colonising media independently of the pond in a container with a heater (26 degrees gets them growing quickly) and an aerator. It will take 2 weeks or so
@@koidiaries I don't see why it isn't possible. I have done it. A barrel filled with water, dosed to 2ppm ammonia (you can use powdered ammonium chloride to do this or some sort of food that releases ammonia as it degrades) and then seed it with bacteria. You leave it alone with warmth and air and soon you'll have nitrates. Although you are right, time will fix that issue, this may speed it up a little bit
Hi Andy. Can you tell me what microscope you use please. Also can you tell more about how your foam fractionators are set up. Are they just T connectors in your output pipes? Thanks
Hey, Scope is a Bresser Biolux NV, works well, build quality ok, stage sometimes moves a tad when scrolling across so have to refocus, no big deal, but ive spotted every parasite on it over the years so it works ok, and comes in a plastic case. Yeah the foam fractionators are literally a 4" T cut into the returns, reduced to 1.5" and as you saw the rubber boot allows me to adjust the height to just below the surface depending on shower flow, works a treat, and never and foam on pond either! :-)
23:00 We don't enforce it, but once we start full-scale feeding, we don't net or scoop until the end of the season, unless there is a specific reason. It's because once you net them, the behaviour pattern you've built up is broken. These practices of ours were rarely introduced by pioneering dealers, were they?
Yeah ive been told this years and years ago that netting koi possibly puts back the growing and just general pond regime and takes a few weeks to get this time back in the fish
@@koidiaries I don't know what is right but my feeling is that the trends that are considered cool are different between you and the Japanese hobbyists. We often see other people besides you taking test kits and microscopes out for frequent inspection, but amongst us, how can you emulate the mud pond keeping of breeders and concentrate on feeding as much as possible once set up and in feeding season, and how can you control the pond ecosystem by honing your senses? We all brag to each other about this part of our work. It's the only difference.
Top up only what the drum uses in 2 days now. Also add a teaspoon full of sodium thiosulphate on each top up through the big blue, just to make sure any residual chlorine is mopped up
Hi Andy, I’m not far from you and having a nightmare with chlorine, even with a big blue. Took my eye off the ball and the chlorine level knocked my filter slightly, raising Ammonia and Nitrite.
Raised scales and redness in fins can be costia. If the raising of the scales persists and the fins get redder that is likely what you have. In the early stages of costia it is hard to see on a microscope and it depends on the temperature how fast the parasite develops. I might be wrong but the kohaku you pointed out with the raised scales has red fins
Fins arent red, and i think the raised scale was from flashing, as i checked earlier and it had returned flat to the body on the koi. TBH i was expecting possible Costia but as yet other than the half dead fluke ive seen noting on the scrapes, its a weird on for sure
@@koidiaries Yes, the amount of flicking is concerning. Good that it is not costia though, I would much prefer flukes to that. I think that the only conclusion you can come to is water toxins not been dealt with by the bacteria yet. I have read some of the comments other people have given you and I wouldn't listen to a lot of them (including my own) you have done this long enough and know what you are doing - I wish you luck :)
My pond is 12500 litres approx and I'd normally run my trickle at less than 0.2 litres per minute. I'd guesstimate I'm between 10-15%, which I'm very happy with and not looking to change any time soon 🙂 (not sure if it makes a difference, but my drum is mains water fed, so that doesn't use up any of the pond water to clean)
Yeah that may be a shout, getting a header tank and use this to clean the drum screen then i could change less water maybe, All food for thought, cheers
My levels are just about there , ammonia 0.00 and nitritr 14 , chlorine 0.02 , i scraped 7 koi and found 70 plus flukes , andy high chlorine kills off the nitrite bugs , it was mucous that made me scrape, i kept scraping 3 smaller fish nothing then did about 7 and found so many fluke
Hi Andy have you tried Verkon Aquatic, back in April my koi were flicking and flashing but could not find the cause. A freind of mine suggested Verkon as could be bacterial so I bought the powder which is easier to mix . 24 hours later the koi were swimming and feeding normal, I put in a double dose but this did not affect the filter or water quality at all.
Yeah ive used Virkon many times, but not as a shotgun treatment only if ive had a fish with a sore or knock. Im still thinking its an incoming water issue so im going to try a few things first.
The water calculation…. I have a question, water in versus water out, there must be an amount of evaporation, especially if heated and in the summer, so what solids, or other particles, chemicals or whatever, that do not evaporate remain in the pond ?
Well the filter takes out the solids, but these continue in the form of fish waste, weed, old food and just anything that falls in. You can check with a TDS meter (Total Dissolved Solids) this will be everything thats mixed in the water incluing small stuff we cant see.
I think Lau had issues with Nitrite in her tap water and she did something to help with it. Also saw Simon on Up North Koi Pond use a bit of salt to counteract the nitrite he's got.
Hi Andy, I'm on a borehole with drinking quality water, tested twice a year, so I don't need to bother with all the Big Blue nonsense thank goodness. I would be on Anglia Water, the quality is shocking out of the tap. I think you are calculating your water change incorrectly, you haven't accounted for the new water you lose throughout the week in the overflow. I think you are changing 42% weekly. There's an "Effective Water Change Calculator" online. My pond is 7457g, I trickle in 2lpm, so am changing 44.83% per week.
Hi Andrew. Sounds like your having the exact same issues I'm having. Scrapes clean, Parameters spot on apart from the annoying Nitrite which sits anywhere between 60-78. Like you said, the nitrobacter just doesn't want to colonize in enough numbers. I Know metals in the source water are within acceptable levels so I'm too at a loss🤷♂️ I turned my trickle off a couple of weeks ago to try and let the pond stabilize. Do you not think over 50% per week Is a little too much? Most I ever had mine running was 20%, I could imagine within 2/3 weeks it would be like swimming in tap water for them🤷♂️just a thought 👍 I've just salted the pond at a very low percentage to mitigate any effects from Nitrite.
Yeah possibly too much fresh water, i was always the school of "the solution to pollution is dilution" so thought just bang the fresh water in, But it seems maybe this isnt working in may case and like lots of others you included, less fresh seems to be the cure for the unexplained flahing. We'll see, ive got plenty to think about and possibly test over the coming weeks
Hey Andy. I'm a firm believer in only putting back what water my drum removes. Personally I think your putting too much tap/big blue water in your pond and your constantly changing the chemical balance. Ponds work better and healthier when their established. When your constantly putting a different chemical compound back into your pond your constantly changing it. The water board put sooooo many different chemicals/metals into the water system nowadays its not good for the fish . Unless you live in Wales with a pH of 7 to 7.5 or trickling stright from a natural spring its not worth doing. Maybe do a test and stop trickling constantly in and top up as necessary. I bet your water parameters will balance out. 👍
Soon as I do water chnags fish play up I got 2 48 inc big blues its hard like when people ark me when build pond and that why do I need one just cos u do some time it's house like copper pipes I be at show tomoro so we have chat about it tomoro hope they some were to get beer
I think k your problem is too much moving bed media 50l of k1 will deal with 250g if food a day at medium protien levels know someone who had a similar size moving bed higher stock levels and had trace nitrite he was advised by ea to take out 100l and his nitrite dropped the problem was too much media causing a thin and weak biofilm
Yeah i did think this as I remember a Koi talk at our koi club many many moons ago and someone talked about too much bio isnt always best. I may take some out like you say and see where i go, as the niggly Nitrite may be causing them irritation
Great update Andy👍. My pond is 2,500 gallons/11,365 litres and I trickle in at 150ml per minute in the spring and Autumn so 9000 ml per hour, 216,000 ml per day, 1,512,000 ml or 1,512 litres per week which equates to a 13.3% water change . In summer I go up to 200ml per minute which works out to 2,016 litres per week which is a 17.7% water change per week. We are on a water meter so changing 50% per week wouldn’t be sustainable for me. Hope this helps👍😊
Haha awesome maths, i like!!! Cheers, yeah not being on a water meter helps, but maybe is contributing to my issues lol
Ours is 2812 gallons so almost identical and we have flick8bg and flashing too and nothing on scrapes. Again shook up the big blue after finding a little chlorine, all sorted now but still seeing flicking. We are stumped too. Stay safe mate
Well my delay in replying has now answered your flicking and flashing reasons possibly! Hope it sort itself out ASAP, im sure it will now you know what youre dealing with
There's a nice little space above your big blue for an RO unit. Get on to Andy to get one installed. Little bi carb with doser. Appy days. Our tap water is frightening when you get a break down of whats in it that you can't test for
Yeah possibly, this is what im thinking, im going to ring him tomorrow anyway so will talk :-)
@@koidiaries 👍
good luck mate
Good morning sir see you at the show 😀
Hi Andy. We went to the show today, so shame we couldn't catch up with you... Enjoy tomorrow.
I will obviously run a complete different system than you, but I have never put an overflow. So basically I only replace the water that I have just dumped from the filters when I clean them. If I clean them more than twice a week, the fish get some mucus on the head and two start flashing. Could it be that you change too much water? Have you got ammonia in your tap water? I know I have ammonia and nitrate in tap water. If you have, may be tour bio filters convert the ammonia very well, bit then there is an overload of nitrite? Worth checking. I would personally definitely reduce the trickling and just have it so it only replaces what the drum has dumped.
Thanks Lau, glad i didnt go Saturday weather was awful lol My brain is thinking of trying less fresh water and seeing how it goes, my previous pond when i had the Nexus on only replaced what id got rid of and never had an issue lol
it's a funny old world when the water coming out the tap is no good for fish but it's ok for human consumption! Despite all the adverse comments, you are doing the right thing to dilute out the nitrite by water changes and reducing the food. Nitrite bacteria are notoriously slow to recover from any setbacks but if conditions are right they will develop eventually. I do trickle in about 20% a week on 7500l. I don't check often but the last time I did my tap water nitrite was zero.
Yeah dilution is the way forward but im just questioning if im doing too much and taking some of the bio filter job away, we'll see, got a few things planned to mix it all up a bit and see where i get
I'm only changing what my drum uses now, nothing else. 1000l max per week. I'm having a similar issues with excess mucus and a little bit of flashing at the moment. Scrapes all clear, no chlorine. Who knows 🤷
Hopefully see you at the show tomorrow, not 100% sure if I can go yet
That Showa that kept popping up in the pond full of kohaku was amazing
There was quite a few very nice ones in there for sure!
Old pond was 12k litres and did weekly change of 1200 litres (10%) in one go, every week from spring to autumn. More when nitrates over 50mg/l.
New 4 month old pond 15k litres exactly with drum that uses pond water, so now doing a manual daily top up of 180 litres just to replace what drum uses. Nitrates creeping up but still only 30mg/l so will continue like this until they hit 50mg/l then increase water changes to whatever necessary to keep nitrates below that level.
I've never trickled, heard a few horror stories about supply water contamination etc way back in the 90's which put me off that method.
As for the behavioural issues... Been through it myself this year, way worse than yours, honestly thought I was going to lose a few. Scrapes clean etc. Did try multiple things including detoxifier, each koi on bottom clamped for 3 days, then suddenly they all recovered and been fine since. Never previously seen anything like it in 30 years of keeping fish.
@@RS20O0 hmmm interesting that! Im convinced its a water based irritant but finding the actual thing that is causing it seems near on impossible! Cheers
Lots of theories on what else is in tap water apart from what we test for, so nasties can be present, some metals etc. I only trickle in what my drum uses and seems to be less flashing and undiagnosed issues.
Yeah ive thought this alot recently, theres something niggling them but what lol?? Seems the general thing is water changes for most ppl seems to big cure for unknown flashing and flicking
Sounds like the water changes are bang on Andy, have a great weekend and fab time Sunday. Get some video !!!
Cheers, im going to play around with water changes and see if it helps, also no footage too busy catching up with friends and viewers so no video, sorry lol Although i did attempt to make some content as i took the GoPro wth me but it stayed in my pocket lol
@@koidiaries Errrrrrrrr bloody hell !!🤣🤣🤣
Hi Andy, had same problem with my pond a few months ago fish flashing no parasites so turned my trickle off for a week and only did a 10% water change over that week, what a difference flashing stopped and fish were a lot happier so I think it's a lot to do with to much trickle in messing up water prams and fish didn't like it.
all the best mate👍
Cheers good to know and something else to think about and maybe try, cheers
The water changes are doing the trick hopefully all will be good stay safe
I trickle 1 litre every 10 minutes for 11,500 that just covers what the drum is taking out and works for me the smaller the amount the happier the fish IMO changing less water has massive benefits (pros) and only a few cons such as less growth for the koi but if your happy with that you have why push growth keep happier koi 😊
One test I would do if I was you is stop trickling in for a few days and see if it makes a difference as you've tried everything else 👍 and I'll see you tomorrow
Hope you get it sorted Andy.👍👍💯💯
Cheers, yeah soon please lol
I have been to the BKkS today had a fantastic day 👌🐟
Yup was fantastic, the fish on show were literally amazing creatures, jealous of them all!
My dad has rain water going straight in from the gutter to the pond wiv an overflow pipe if it gets exsesive and the pond is amazing the natural water does wonders he never touches it ..
You do realise Andy ‘flicking and flashing’ could be the name of a very different video 🥴😂
Well my mind isnt as trashed as yours as the thought never crossed my mind lol
I trickle in 35% weekly with chlorinated water. Pond ammonia 0 nitrite 7 chlorine 13. I’ve read that nitrite can be oxidized by chlorine. Another good reason for me not to treat my tap water. Aside from being always hungry, koi are happy at these levels.
Wow ok no Chlorine filter, interesting and you have no other issues from the chlorine! Cheers
if youd seen the chats from Koi wholesale/ricky stoddart/ yos you wouldnt have the trickle in at all. take a look.
My pond, including water volume in the filters, is 4950 US gallons. I change on average 10%, 500 gallons, per week. I am on a meter so pay for every drop of water that comes in and goes out (sewage charge). Gets a bit pricey but helps to keep the koi healthy.
Excellent thanks! :-)
Hi Andy, never measured it but I use a garden irrigation timer and put 15 mins and full pelt 8 times a day. 3500 gallon including various filters
Hi andy , i only do top ups after nexus clean and top up from what the drum takes out for cleaning now . pond is 25,000 ltr and running spot on for me .
Cool, cheers
You also put in New fish. They have a different bacteria culture. What also can activate flashing. Maybe add virkon s to lower the bacteria culture in the pond. It won't harm the bacteria on the filter material that much
Yeah new fish can upset the balance deffo, i dont really wanto to add anything without a real reason, ive been there and done that long time ago lol
Hi Andy good update , think up North Koi was having the same issues regarding Nitrite and he is also on a drum and bio
I’ve stopped trickle in since watching koi wholesale videos and all my fish flicking issues have have pretty much disappeared
Ok thanks for the comment, deffo something to think about
Me also, 2500g. I'm concerned after watching that video what other suff maybe trickling into the pond that the blue doesn't deal with. Let's face it Ricky does know what he's talking about.
our ponds are pretty similar in size yours slightly more water and a bit more k1, roughly the same overall length of fish too by the look of it. Ive worked out how much the drum takes and just replace that and it works out around 10-15% a week and my water is spot on feeding 250-300g a day
Hmmmm ok, cheers, im thinking less water on trickle or possibly none and just topping up as and when needed for a bit to see how they go, we'll see :-)
You know getting the nitrite bacteria to develop is a tricky one because you need the nitrite for them yet have to do water changes to keep it down for the fish. One idea may be colonising media independently of the pond in a container with a heater (26 degrees gets them growing quickly) and an aerator. It will take 2 weeks or so
Thats not possibe, I also need the Ammonia too lol its a catch 22 kind of thing, but yeah time is the real winner and more ammonia to get more Nitrite
@@koidiaries I don't see why it isn't possible. I have done it. A barrel filled with water, dosed to 2ppm ammonia (you can use powdered ammonium chloride to do this or some sort of food that releases ammonia as it degrades) and then seed it with bacteria. You leave it alone with warmth and air and soon you'll have nitrates. Although you are right, time
will fix that issue, this may speed it up a little bit
Hi Andy. Can you tell me what microscope you use please. Also can you tell more about how your foam fractionators are set up. Are they just T connectors in your output pipes?
Thanks
Hey, Scope is a Bresser Biolux NV, works well, build quality ok, stage sometimes moves a tad when scrolling across so have to refocus, no big deal, but ive spotted every parasite on it over the years so it works ok, and comes in a plastic case.
Yeah the foam fractionators are literally a 4" T cut into the returns, reduced to 1.5" and as you saw the rubber boot allows me to adjust the height to just below the surface depending on shower flow, works a treat, and never and foam on pond either! :-)
23:00 We don't enforce it, but once we start full-scale feeding, we don't net or scoop until the end of the season, unless there is a specific reason. It's because once you net them, the behaviour pattern you've built up is broken. These practices of ours were rarely introduced by pioneering dealers, were they?
Yeah ive been told this years and years ago that netting koi possibly puts back the growing and just general pond regime and takes a few weeks to get this time back in the fish
@@koidiaries I don't know what is right but my feeling is that the trends that are considered cool are different between you and the Japanese hobbyists. We often see other people besides you taking test kits and microscopes out for frequent inspection, but amongst us, how can you emulate the mud pond keeping of breeders and concentrate on feeding as much as possible once set up and in feeding season, and how can you control the pond ecosystem by honing your senses? We all brag to each other about this part of our work. It's the only difference.
Top up only what the drum uses in 2 days now. Also add a teaspoon full of sodium thiosulphate on each top up through the big blue, just to make sure any residual chlorine is mopped up
Ok cheers, intersting that you still ST even though you use carbon to clear chlorine. Thanks
@@koidiaries see it as it won’t do any harm, 1 kg bag cost 8£ from eBay and will last about a year
Hi Andy, I’m not far from you and having a nightmare with chlorine, even with a big blue. Took my eye off the ball and the chlorine level knocked my filter slightly, raising Ammonia and Nitrite.
Yeah its been a pain here, im going to check that again tomorrow! Then im going to do some messing with my water changes/top ups
Raised scales and redness in fins can be costia. If the raising of the scales persists and the fins get redder that is likely what you have. In the early stages of costia it is hard to see on a microscope and it depends on the temperature how fast the parasite develops. I might be wrong but the kohaku you pointed out with the raised scales has red fins
Fins arent red, and i think the raised scale was from flashing, as i checked earlier and it had returned flat to the body on the koi. TBH i was expecting possible Costia but as yet other than the half dead fluke ive seen noting on the scrapes, its a weird on for sure
@@koidiaries Yes, the amount of flicking is concerning. Good that it is not costia though, I would much prefer flukes to that. I think that the only conclusion you can come to is water toxins not been dealt with by the bacteria yet. I have read some of the comments other people have given you and I wouldn't listen to a lot of them (including my own) you have done this long enough and know what you are doing - I wish you luck :)
@@koidiaries TBF a couple did look like they had red pecs in the video, can never be sure on videos as the camera can make it look that way.
My pond is 12500 litres approx and I'd normally run my trickle at less than 0.2 litres per minute. I'd guesstimate I'm between 10-15%, which I'm very happy with and not looking to change any time soon 🙂
(not sure if it makes a difference, but my drum is mains water fed, so that doesn't use up any of the pond water to clean)
Yeah that may be a shout, getting a header tank and use this to clean the drum screen then i could change less water maybe, All food for thought, cheers
My pond is 16000L and I change about 2000L of water a week = 12%
Thanks, nearer the usual 10% recommended mark i see, cheers
My levels are just about there , ammonia 0.00 and nitritr 14 , chlorine 0.02 , i scraped 7 koi and found 70 plus flukes , andy high chlorine kills off the nitrite bugs , it was mucous that made me scrape, i kept scraping 3 smaller fish nothing then did about 7 and found so many fluke
Hi Andy have you tried Verkon Aquatic, back in April my koi were flicking and flashing but could not find the cause.
A freind of mine suggested Verkon as could be bacterial so I bought the powder which is easier to mix .
24 hours later the koi were swimming and feeding normal, I put in a double dose but this did not affect the filter or water quality at all.
Yeah ive used Virkon many times, but not as a shotgun treatment only if ive had a fish with a sore or knock. Im still thinking its an incoming water issue so im going to try a few things first.
My tap water was shocking in a semi rural area. Nitrate levels above minimum standard shortly after winter time
I asked a mate who is a water professional and the legal limit for Nitrite is way above this, so whilst its annoying its within the limits!
Hi mate my pond is 7000 gallon with filters I run about 1 litre a min normally but after filter clean top pond up little bit more 👍
Cheers, thats quite a lot less then me based on a % scale, interesting.
Diary koi maybe install a nitrite remover from water source, Lau Margo installed 1 not that long ago
I thought Lau’s issue was nitrate at source not nitrite. I may be wrong 😑
@@busyb1504 Oh I might be wrong 😅
The water calculation…. I have a question, water in versus water out, there must be an amount of evaporation, especially if heated and in the summer, so what solids, or other particles, chemicals or whatever, that do not evaporate remain in the pond ?
Well the filter takes out the solids, but these continue in the form of fish waste, weed, old food and just anything that falls in. You can check with a TDS meter (Total Dissolved Solids) this will be everything thats mixed in the water incluing small stuff we cant see.
I think Lau had issues with Nitrite in her tap water and she did something to help with it. Also saw Simon on Up North Koi Pond use a bit of salt to counteract the nitrite he's got.
Ive got a pond with the simular amount of liters(12,500 liters) and im only changing 15-20% each week
Ok cheers :-)
@@koidiaries your welcome! I hope it will be enough for you!
Hi Andy, I'm on a borehole with drinking quality water, tested twice a year, so I don't need to bother with all the Big Blue nonsense thank goodness. I would be on Anglia Water, the quality is shocking out of the tap.
I think you are calculating your water change incorrectly, you haven't accounted for the new water you lose throughout the week in the overflow. I think you are changing 42% weekly.
There's an "Effective Water Change Calculator" online.
My pond is 7457g, I trickle in 2lpm, so am changing 44.83% per week.
Yeah ive heard Anglia is rubbish at the moment!!
Ok yeah as im always diluting diluted water if that makes sense!
Appox 20% per week now 👍
Thanks :-)
Hi Andrew. Sounds like your having the exact same issues I'm having. Scrapes clean, Parameters spot on apart from the annoying Nitrite which sits anywhere between 60-78. Like you said, the nitrobacter just doesn't want to colonize in enough numbers. I Know metals in the source water are within acceptable levels so I'm too at a loss🤷♂️
I turned my trickle off a couple of weeks ago to try and let the pond stabilize. Do you not think over 50% per week Is a little too much? Most I ever had mine running was 20%, I could imagine within 2/3 weeks it would be like swimming in tap water for them🤷♂️just a thought 👍 I've just salted the pond at a very low percentage to mitigate any effects from Nitrite.
Yeah possibly too much fresh water, i was always the school of "the solution to pollution is dilution" so thought just bang the fresh water in, But it seems maybe this isnt working in may case and like lots of others you included, less fresh seems to be the cure for the unexplained flahing. We'll see, ive got plenty to think about and possibly test over the coming weeks
I found adding salt to mitigate the nitrite just kills off the nitrobacter even more and gets a higher spike 😩
@@wills1206 what salt level are you talking though? I'm only talking levels of 0.002% which will negate nitrite levels of upto 1mg/l.👍
@@UpNorthKoiPond I’ve been putting in about 0.2%. Was told up to 0.6% shouldn’t effect filters, but it always seems to me
@@UpNorthKoiPond get info as well👍 never knew so little salt would help with nitrite
Hey Andy. I'm a firm believer in only putting back what water my drum removes. Personally I think your putting too much tap/big blue water in your pond and your constantly changing the chemical balance. Ponds work better and healthier when their established. When your constantly putting a different chemical compound back into your pond your constantly changing it. The water board put sooooo many different chemicals/metals into the water system nowadays its not good for the fish . Unless you live in Wales with a pH of 7 to 7.5 or trickling stright from a natural spring its not worth doing.
Maybe do a test and stop trickling constantly in and top up as necessary. I bet your water parameters will balance out. 👍
Cheers, yeah this is what im leaning towards for sure! Im deep in thought about it and will do something different soon to see how i go!
@@koidiaries no harm in trying mate 👌
It's the tap water m8 they keep put shit init and fish really don't like it
Yeah this is what im thinking, its stuff we dont check which the fish dont like, its driving me mad
Soon as I do water chnags fish play up I got 2 48 inc big blues its hard like when people ark me when build pond and that why do I need one just cos u do some time it's house like copper pipes I be at show tomoro so we have chat about it tomoro hope they some were to get beer
If like me bit ocd with koi dome time chasing some think what's no they and all over water supleys
I think k your problem is too much moving bed media 50l of k1 will deal with 250g if food a day at medium protien levels know someone who had a similar size moving bed higher stock levels and had trace nitrite he was advised by ea to take out 100l and his nitrite dropped the problem was too much media causing a thin and weak biofilm
Yeah i did think this as I remember a Koi talk at our koi club many many moons ago and someone talked about too much bio isnt always best. I may take some out like you say and see where i go, as the niggly Nitrite may be causing them irritation
@@koidiaries I doubt it will but always a possibility .. give it a go with the amount of media you have it won't hurt 🤣
I think your changing far far far to much water if I was you I’d be watching some of Ricky stoddarts videos and stopping your trickle all together
I do think a trickle is the best form of water top up as its more gradual, but yeah agree maybe its far too much of a total change per week though
@@koidiaries have you had your source water tested dissolved metals in your water can do more damage than nitrite and nitrate
10 to 20% a week
Cheers