Your Koi Pond Water Content May Determine If Your Koi Live Or Die!
So you bought a brand spanking new water testing kit in the hopes of drastically improving your koi pond’s overall quality.
There’s just one problem though… Do you really know what you should be testing for?
Before you can figure out if there is anything wrong with your koi’s water, you probably need to know what should be in there.
Knowing crucial components of your koi pond water content will help you gauge whether your koi pond is okay or do you need to treat the pond water.
What’s In The Water Of Your Koi Pond? So what are you waiting for? Let’s get to breaking down the basics of koi pond water content.
Everything you need to know about koi pond water content
Regular water testing doesn’t mean anything unless you know exactly what your test results mean.
Here are the components of your koi pond water which you should always try to keep within an ideal range.
Take a breath time to learn about how important your Koi’s water actually is!
Oxygen levels in your koi pond
Just like we need oxygen to survive so do you koi. This one is a no-brainer.
In order for your koi fish to thrive, you need to make sure that the oxygen levels in your pond are at a healthy level.
That said, if you have a pretty big pond, you need to make sure that you have a high-powered oxygen pump or, at least, you have several ones scattered throughout the pond.
Alternatively, pond plants, waterfalls, water features or anything that agitates the water will do the trick.
pH levels in your koi pond
Koi fishes are pretty resilient, so you usually don’t have to worry about the pH levels.
Unfortunately, other chemicals in your pond water can create a reaction depending on the pH level.
Ammonia, for example, reacts pretty easily with changing pH and can be detrimental to your koi’s health.
To make sure that your pond remains a healthy environment for your koi, you have to regularly check the pH using a pH strip and make proper adjustments.
What’s In The Water Of Your Koi Pond?
Ammonia levels in your koi pond
Like any other animal, and especially kids, koi fish have no choice but to use the pond to go to the toilet.
This waste floating around in the water is actually contributing to the ammonia levels.
Despite the hardiness of koi, these fish don’t react well when they’re in water with high levels of ammonia.
In fact, even ammonia levels as low as .5ppm can induce stress in your koi. This can weaken your koi’s immune system and make them more susceptible to diseases.
That said, your goal is to keep ammonia levels in your pond as close to zero as possible.
Chlorine in your koi pond
Another component which can be detrimental to your koi’s health is chlorine. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to find fairly high levels of chlorine in your pond. Why is this?
Well you tap water unless coming from a utopian spring will have chlorine in it! Chlorine is not good for anyone especially koi fish.
Koi are actually very sensitive to this chemical. Chlorine can cause inflammation in the gills of koi fish.
When the koi’s gills get inflamed, they tend to swim to the surface gasping for air.
Prolonged exposure to chlorine can cause death in your koi, so make sure to always have a dechlorinator.
A Water fall is also a great way to air-rate your koi pond
Chlorine in your koi pond
Another component which can be detrimental to your koi’s health is chlorine. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to find fairly high levels of chlorine in your pond. Why is this?
Well you tap water unless coming from a utopian spring will have chlorine in it! Chlorine is not good for anyone especially koi fish.
Koi are actually very sensitive to this chemical. Chlorine can cause inflammation in the gills of koi fish.
When the koi’s gills get inflamed, they tend to swim to the surface gasping for air.
Prolonged exposure to chlorine can cause death in your koi, so make sure to always have a dechlorinator.
A Water fall is also a great way to air-rate your koi pond
Where to from here?
Understanding your koi pond water content will help you get a better grasp of how you should maintain your pond.
This will also help you determine which additives to add into your pond water to counteract any harmful effects which certain chemicals might cause to your koi fish.
Now that you have an overview of water
content, what else do you need?
New Koi Fish to add to your Pond? Maybe a Butterfly Koi? What about a Kohaku Koi?
What other breeds are out there? Check this article out then: Discovering The Different Varieties Of Koi Fish
Don’t have a Pond? How about Building your Own? Here are the most important things to remember when building a koi pond
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