URGENT HELP REQUIRED - BEST, QUICKEST TREATMENT 4 EXCESSIVE AMMONIA & NITRITE LEVELS!

[Nancy M.]

IF YOUR POND IS 17.5 FT X 11.5 FT and 3.5 Ft deep than your water volume is
around 5270 galllons. I assume you mean your pump has the capacity of 5500 gals per hour. And I guess you have a water fall filter. And I guess you dont have botttom drians? what type of filter media is in your waterfall? Is it a savio waterfall filter?

Quote: Originally Posted by JJKOI My Pond is approx 17.5 inches by 11.5 inches and is roughly 3.5ft deep. The filter that is in use has a 5500 lph flow rate and is 115w wit ha max head of 3.8m. It is a waterfall and filter pump.

[jnorth]

That means you have about 5200 gallons. I would strongly recommend you leave now and go to the store for the supplies. You need to get that ammonia and nitrites neutralized asap. I would also add an air pump now. Don't wait until monday. Just get the pump and some air stones and get it running. If you need someone to make it look good then that can wait but you need to get more air in the pond asap. Your koi's gills are getting worse every minute. The longer you wait the less likely it is they will recover.

[JJKOI]

Yes i have that savio filter, no drains and a water fall filter .

[JJKOI]

PHP Code:

 That means you have about 5200 gallons. I would strongly recommend you leave now and go to the store for the supplies. You need to get that ammonia and nitrites neutralized asap. I would also add an air pump now. Don't wait until monday. Just get the pump and some air stones and get it running. If you need someone to make it look good then that can wait but you need to get more air in the pond asap. Your koi's gills are getting worse every minute. The longer you wait the less likely it is they will recover. 


OK I LL GT DWN 1ST THING IN THE MORNING!!! SO SHALL I GET HOLD OF PONDSALT, AN AIR PUMP, AIR STONES, AMQUEL

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT I SHOULD GET HOLD OF TO RESOLVE THIS PROBLEM??

THANKS

[Russell Peters]

Please listen to Nancy, Amquel only binds ammonia and does not remove it from the pond. Ultimate will oxidize the ammonia instantly. Also, her suggestion of .03% salt is also correct. In order to keep the Koi from absorbing the nitrites you want to keep the salt equal to or greater than their body salt content. Therefore, .03% is CORRECT!!!!!!!!!

[JJKOI]

Ok i will be getting the ultimate so long as it is available in the UK. If not does anyone know of an alternative??



And when u are referring to o.3% salt what is it that you mean, the concentration of the salt?? or do you mena 0.3% of the total volume of pond therefor 0.3% of 5200 gallons?

[jnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell Peters Please listen to Nancy, Amquel only binds ammonia and does not remove it from the pond. Ultimate will oxidize the ammonia instantly. Also, her suggestion of .03% salt is also correct. In order to keep the Koi from absorbing the nitrites you want to keep the salt equal to or greater than their body salt content. Therefore, .03% is CORRECT!!!!!!!!!

I realize Ultimate is better then Amquel. Ultimate though does not seem to be as easy to find as Amquel. Amquel binds the ammonia making it harmless. The filter will remove it eventually. So I will change my statement to "Use Ultimate if you can find it, if not use Amquel which can be found just about anywhere." As for the salt...you have plants so you want .15 The koi would like .3 much better but that would kill all your plants. Your choice. Since you are in the UK you may need to use UK gallons when following directions from a UK koi shop. Your pond would be 4400 UK gallons or 5200 US gallons. 3lbs of salt per 100 gallons means US gallons. That would be 156lbs of salt for your pond to take it to .3 For .15 you would use 78lbs of salt. This would be non-iodized salt, 99.5% pure with no mineral traces or anti-caking additives.

When you get a chance please fill in the location field for your user account. Nancy, Russ and I are in the US so we were speaking in US terms. Good luck in the morning and let us know how it goes.

[Russell Peters]

1 lb. of salt per 100 gallons gives you .0125%, so to get .03% you need to use 2 1/2 lbs. per 100 gallons.

[MikeM]

Note: The gallonage estimated by folks is based on assumption that pond walls are straight. If this is a liner pond with sloping walls, the volume could be less than half the estimate. Water volume really has to be determined with a meter. Hope you got the salt test. They usually have a test procedure for estimating pond volume. It is not really as accurate as it seems it should be, but more accurate than using pond dimensions. Until you have a more accurate determination of volume, pay very close attention. You do not want to overdose stressed fish. It could push them over the edge.

Hanging at the falls indicates a breathing problem. Aeration is needed. The cause could be damage to the gills from ammonia burn, or nitrite-induced "brown blood disease", or a coinciding parasite infestation...or all of these at the same time.

As others have said: Get the ammonia under control and some salt in the water for the nitrite you have found is present. Add aeration. Perhaps this will be enough to get the fish acting normally. But, also, check for parasites and for injury to the gills. If you do not know how, check with the British Koi Keepers Society for a koi health advisor located near you.

Do not use shotgun approach to treating for parasites. With the fish stressed and salt in water, it needs to be addressed carefully. Also, if there is ammonia (or parasite) damage to the gills, there could be a need for antibiotics to deal with rotting gill tissue. If using a product to bind or oxidize the ammonia and a little salt seems to take care of everything for now, stay alert. The fish have been weakened and could show signs of other problems in the next 10 days.

Good luck!

[junglegeorge12]

If you have alot of plants take them out, they increase the wrong things if they have alot of dead roots or plant matter. The other major problem I see is you probably have a ton of gunk accumulated on the bottom from food, leaves, and poop. Your filter porbably is not enough biological filtration and you need to pull from a bottom drain to keep the bottom clean. If one is not installed you can either make or buy one the sits inside the pond but sucks from the bottom at it's deepest point.
If you are going to wait until tomorrow, when you can already see your koi are having trouble breathing, then you may well lose some or all of them. Your koi right now are literally being poisoned by their own waste and rotting leaves and food. If I were in your shoes, I would get to the store NOW and run some fresh water in while I was gone, then when I get home I would clean the whole bottom of the pond with a vacuum or siphon. I would also consider a larger water change if they still apear to be struggling to breathe.
After that you need to investigate the different filtration methods available and make sure you have enough oxygenation, and biological filtration. Your stocking density depends on your bio load and biological filtration.

Let us know how things are going. You can go to www.koichat.com it is a forum based in the UK and the owner can supply you with everything you need and put you in touch with folks who can help in emergencies and local area delaers who can supply in emergencies. Good folks over there. If you really want to learn about filtration visit Maurice's koi farm, his web site is www.koi-uk.co.uk or go to Yume Koi www.yumekoi.com , they both advertise on this board. You need to learn more about filtration and water quality so this doesn't happen again. We are glad to have you here, and thanks for being humble enough to share what was really going on so you can find help.
And after all that work is done, sit down chill out by the pond with a nice cool drink in your hand and enjoy it like you are supposed to!