should i put water hyacinths in my koi pond?

[blueocean]

hi,
my pond is new and i am still in the process of cycling it. The ammonia is at about 3 right now and the water is no longer clear. Anyways the fish are ok and still eating.

i brought some mangroves and hyacinths and I already put the mangroves around my biological filter before it goes down the waterfall. The hyacinths i was planning on putting in the pond. But those hyacinths look dirty so I need to clean it up and remove all the dead leaves..

I am looking for advice. Let me know if I should put the hyacinths in the koi pond and just let it float there or forget the hyacinths.

i don't want to introduce anything bad in the pond and kill the 3 koi (12" each).

thanks,

[koiczar]

NO! Not unless you want a mess on your hands. The fish eat on the long hairy roots and tear them up. Then that starts to clog your plumbing, pump and filters. Also, your ammonia - is it .3 or 3? If three, you need to cut down your feeding until the bio filter can catch up and convert to nitrites, which will also spike and then nitrates. Also, you mention the hyacinth look dirty - don't spend your time dealing with them except the time it takes to walk over to the trash can and toss them.

Mike

[PapaBear]

Mike nailed that. Koi go NUTS for the roots and anything that lives in/on them and you'll spend more time unclogging pump impellers, filter screens, etc... than they are worth.
They are lovely plants when healthy and blooming, but will serve you far better in their own little environment. Maybe a WG tub that you fill with pond water from your filter maintenance.

[dick benbow]

I remembers a few years back (well I suppose it was decades) when one of our club members stopped and picked up some water hyacinths growing in a canal during a visit to california. He dropped them in his pond and came down with the worse case of anchor worm one could ever imagine....all this remembrance to warn, that if you do decide to get them and keep them out of the main pond so that the koi don't tear them apart and you still have them absorbing ammonia...be sure that no matter where you get them; that they are PP dipped to destroy anything on them.

When I first was learning filtration I used to keep them in the top of my filters. beautiful when they'd flower but after time it got so that the knowledge of filtration got better and better and with each new season and batch they didn't turn that beautiful deep green but a paltry yellow. I was glad cause then I knew the filter was robbing them of their food....

during this time your waiting for your filters to cycle, don't be fearful your koi will starve. feed them lightly with a low protein food.

[CarolinaGirl]

I made that mistake ONCE. It only took one time of putting those plants in the pond for only a day.....and I was picking shredded roots out of the filter for months. Those plants are just too darn messy and koi love to tear them apart.

[KoiCop]

Hello blueocean . . .

Good advice, that.

In purely practical terms, plants do best in shallow, slow-moving water while koi do best in deeper, faster-moving water.

So if you want either one to do well, you'd best get rid of the other.

After all, when it comes to koi ponds and water gardens you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Make sense?

[blueocean]

So I took them advice of the forum members and removed all the hyacinths from the pond. However I do want them to suck up the extra nitrate from the water so I put them in the bio part of the tub right before the waterfall. I put some more along the 3 level step waterfall feature that i have. So now I hope to get the best of both world

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by blueocean So I took them advice of the forum members and removed all the hyacinths from the pond. However I do want them to suck up the extra nitrate from the water so I put them in the bio part of the tub right before the waterfall. I put some more along the 3 level step waterfall feature that i have. So now I hope to get the best of both world

so much for asking for advice!?

seriously, you are better without them....but, if you don't mind a mess, then it's your pond....