Vitamin C in the pond

[tangigi]

A fellow hobbyist once told me he would occasionally put one 1,000 mg ascorbic acid per ton into his pond to aid in a koi's health and body defense. Either directly into the pond or the waterfall.

is there any validity to this statement?

Thanks

lar

[MikeM]

Mmmmm...... waste of effort IMO. You would do better to toss a half of a grapefruit in the pond. Once the koi learn what is, they will enjoy it. (I can't do this because the grapefruit end up in the skimmers too quickly.) BTW, the better koi foods with stable vitamin C are fully adequate if used while fresh. Another reason that koi food should not be stored in hot garages/sheds, exposed to air, or left sitting around for 4+ months between feeding seasons.

[Richard Rombold]

Interesting side benefit may be the treatment of bacterial gill disease.

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Richard Rombold Interesting side benefit may be the treatment of bacterial gill disease.

Could you expand on that a bit Richard? That is something I wouldn't have ever thought of.

[Richard Rombold]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear Could you expand on that a bit Richard? That is something I wouldn't have ever thought of.

Larry,

A short term acetic acid bath is used in some State hatcheries to combat bacterial gill disease, or at least they used to. I'd have to dive back into my books to get you some specifics. It occurred to me that you could produce the same affect with ascorbic acid. If I could get to the literature tonight without rousting a guest I'd give you the specifics now.

Richard

[PapaBear]

Interesting. More of less as a "tincture" treatment.
It makes me wonder if those having issues with it might have luck feeding fresh citrus like MikeM suggested. Fresh Orange or Grapefruit juice washing over the gills from within as they flush them would provide a pretty thorough localized acid bath.

[glitterfin]

I have been feeding my indoor fish (37 gallon aquarium) orange slices for months now. It makes the white goldies turn orange on top of their heads, but they all love it - even the algae eater. Sometimes I feed romaine lettuce to them. I have shredded the lettuce and thrown that into the pond, and they eat that. I should try the citrus on the pond more, but they seemed to not want that. Maybe it was too early in the season, or something.