SMW1
Koi Kichi
Apr 21, 2002, 4:37 PM
Post #36 of 38
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Re: [mattloui] Step of Setting a Pond
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Hi Mattloui,
I know that water testing kits are expensive and you are probably right that you caould have bought a nice Sanke for that price, however I can not strees enough how important the test kits are. You may have been able to buy a Sanke instead of the test kits, but if you bought that sanke, it along with our other koi have no chance, if you don't see th enitrite rising or PH crashing in advance. It's better to buy them now, then to have to rush out later, when you koi are jumping, flashing or laying at the bottom not eating.
Anyway answers to your questions:
1) Ok, Ammonia and PH, that's a good start. I would advise getting Nitrate and Nitrite as well. These 4 ar the most important ones, you will need. KH, Salinity, chlorine etc come later. Yes you are correct, Ammonia and Nitrites are th emost toxic to koi. These levels will be kept to a minimum by a good bio filter. It will stillbe necessary to test for Nitrites and Nitrate if you have tested water. If you have a level of 0.1 ammonia, you may not see a great difference in the Nitrite, however the nitrate could be anything. You are also correct in assuming plants will get rid of nitrates. Plants work very well as a vegi filter, along with a trickle tower this is the most effective way to reduce Nitrates. However, plants will do a better job in the stream or filter chamber, with water passing through them constantly, than in the pond. Coral chips will buffer PH, but will not control it.
As for constantly checking the water, I only check my water once a month and record the data, Iwill also check the water when something doesn't look quite right. i.e. 2 days ago, one of my ogon's flashed, so I check the water params, they were fine, so I took a scape of the ish and found samples of both Gyrodactylus (skin flukes) and Trichodina.
2) I would agree and disagree, I agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if you like a koi and you think it's well worth the money, then it is cheap. I can not comment any mor on the pricing of koi and in th eUK, we have a differne tpricing system. i.e. everythink is so dam expensive  .
do not agree that newgen should not start with cheap koi. I can't remember if Newgen is new to the hobby or not (I'm talking practical experience here). If he is then I would sugest keeping cheap tester koi, just to get a feel for it. It's very hard if you see expensive koi you like to resist. But only time will tell how much you have learnt.
3) Spending timewith the koi, spending time with other peoples koi (in this forum), vistiting koi web pages, take drives at the weekend to visit koi farms and aquarium shops, with no intention of buying anything. I think koi kichi sums it up. .
Also my koi say thank you in their own speacial way. I nettig a platinum Ogon a few days ok, put him in a display bowl for 30 mins, lifted him out, by hand a few times for detailed checks and a scape. Left him in the bowl (29", bowl not koi), while I check the results. When I release him back in the the pond, I decided to sit in my normal place which tells my koi its feeding time. And guess who was the first one up before I even threw and food in ?. Yes he was, as if to say, "Thanks for testing me for desiese, now that you have found what was causing me trouble, I'm sure you will fix it. Also while I am here can I have some food for being such a good patient ?"
I hope this ansers your question an also proves that we are all NUTS 
Stuart
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Re: [mattloui] Step of Setting a Pond
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