Using Koi Treatment

Chemicals should only be used in the koi pond to cure a known problem, find out what the problem is with your pond and never guess. Good husbandry and regular pond management is the real subsititute for any sort of medication in the pond.

Make sure you calculate the pond's contents to give you accurate measurements, never guess; using the wrong doseage can kill your prized fish, and on the other hand under dosing will have no effect.

Always follow the manufacturer's instructions very carefully; the bottle of medication for you koi will most likely be based on concentration.

Some manufacturers koi pond treatment may be different to others, such an example would be malachite and formalin, this chemical in it's prior mixed form has different percentages of each chemical therefore dosage will be different.

Koi pond water should be tested prior to treatment to ensure that parameters are normal; if you put treatments into your pond with your f ish when the water parameters have high levels of ammonia and nitrite can actually make things worse. Furthermore, if your pond has a non consistant pH level parameter than this to can kill your koi and other fish you have in there. You should therefore proceed to checking your pond water after treatment to ensure that the chemical has not affected the biological capacity of the filter.

When your treating your pond make sure that theres enough oxygen in the water, many treatments will remove oxygen from the pond water. We would recommend using an air stone, especially whilst in treatment.

There is an argument for switching off the pond filter during treatment;; however, any bacteria you may lose due to adding chemical, will most likely be the same, if not more, if you are to turn off your filter system. Bypassing the biological filter during treatment is also an option but this will only work in the short term, as soon as the beneficial bacteria in our koi pond filter is starved of oxygen and nutrient it will start to die-back.

When mixing your chemicals with water, try and always use a watering can that has been prefilled with pond water. You can then proceed to evenly distribute the chemical and water over the surface of your pond, for mimimum disrtrupton.

Please bear in mind that many treatments which you can use with ponds are indeed toxic to humans, wear rubber gloves, avoid splashes on yourself and do not consume the chemials via other means, ie take in fumes.

Searching for further help with Koi Carp then do visit our helpful site at koi-pondfish.co.uk