Koi Care Guide
Properly caring for Koi can be a difficult task for beginners and excited Koi owners everywhere. Keeping your Koi and their habitat healthy requires a lot of knowledge.
Getting Your Koi
Preparing a Habitat
Giving Koi a proper space to live and grow is vital to their health.
Koi may not be the largest fish, but they require spacious habitats to thrive. Allow about 200 gallons of water for each Koi. To maintain a healthy habitat, the pond should be at least four feet deep.
Not providing a large enough habitat can have harmful repercussions for your Koi. Tight living spaces can cause diseases to rapidly spread over all the Koi in a pond. If one Koi in a small pond contracts a disease, it will spread easily due to increased contact with other fish.
Koi ponds should contain plants to enhance the habitat. Plants will not only make your pond more visibly appealing, but will benefit the well-being of Koi. Plants provide shade and protection for your koi. Protection created by plants greatly decreases the risk of death by predator for your fish.
Plants produce oxygen that is necessary for your fish to survive. They will also absorb nutrients from Koi waste that could harm your pond if large amounts are present. Submerged, floating, and shoreline plants are all great options for Koi ponds.
Adding Your Koi to Your Pond
If you already have koi in your pond, adding koi is different. When introducing new koi to a pond that already has an existing koi family, quarantine is essential to protecting the health of your fish
New Koi can carry bacteria and disease that can be harmful to other koi. The new Koi are also acclimated to habitats that may contain different bacteria and nutrients. The best way to ensure your Koi have a good transition is to quarantine them in a separate aerated tank for about three weeks.
This separate tank should begin with the water they were transported in, filtered water, combined with water from your existing pond. Continue to introduce more water from your pond as time passes.
In this quarantine period, monitor your fish for any abnormalities. Consistent monitoring is the best way to prevent introduction of diseases into the existing colony.
Adding pond salt when koi are added to the pond improves slime coat production and cleanses fish of disease, which is vital to disease spread prevention.
If the Koi you are introducing will be the first koi in your pond, the transition process is simpler. Check the water quality of your pond before considering adding Koi.
Allow the bag that the Koi were transported in float in the pond for about 30 minutes. This will allow the Koi to adjust to the temperature change and prevent shock. After waiting 30 minutes, add water from the pond into the bag. The bag should contain equal parts of transport water, and pond water. After 15 minutes in the mixed water, your Koi can then be added to your pond.
Basic Koi Care
Feeding
How and what you feed your koi is essential to nurture vibrant, healthy, and growing koi. Feed Koi about once everyday. Feeding your Koi is a fun way to interact with your fish, but over-feeding can become a massive issue. Koi food is rich with nutrients that are beneficial for your fish, but these nutrients can easily become harmful to a pond.
Feeding Koi too much or too often can lead to a nutrient overload. Excess nutrients are harmful to the pond, and Koi. Algae thrive in environments with an abundance of nutrients. Algae blooms can quickly overrun a pond.
Naturally occurring elements such as nitrate not only cause algae blooms, but are dangerous to Koi. High nitrates can cause koi to become lethargic, and develop sores. High levels of these nutrients can also stunt the growth of Koi.
Feeding your Koi properly is vital to maintaining pond health. Uneaten food can easily turn into nutrients that harm the ecosystem of the pond, and the koi. To prevent overfeeding, keep to the rule that if your koi aren’t eating all of the food in ten minutes, it’s too much food. Feed your koi in multiple small handfuls of food until the Koi leave a small amount of food on the surface after a minute.
It is important to feed your Koi with high quality food that is specially tailored for Koi. Koi blends contain nutrients to allow for better growth, and brighter colors: these nutrients may not be found in general fish food.
Disease
Several environmental factors can result in disease in Koi. Koi can obtain diseases from water quality issues, environmental stresses, and bacteria.
Monitoring your koi for any changes in behavior or appearance is the best way to prevent wide spread disease among your fish.
Koi are most susceptible to disease when they are stressed, as stress causes them to stop producing slime coat.
Cottony white spots, sores, bloating with scales fanning out, deterioration of fins, fungus, dangerous green color changes are all signals of disease.
Koi Pond Care
Ammonia
Ammonia is a naturally occurring chemical in ponds that can be caused by plant and animal waste. Excessive waste sinks to the bottom and then breaks down releasing ammonia and other nutrients into the water.
High ammonia levels can lead to illness, and death in fish. Ammonia should be as close to zero as possible to maintain a healthy environment for fish.
Koi Life's Nutrient Knockout is one of the best fish safe products to reduce ammonia levels.
pH
pH is a common issue in bodies of water. pH can become difficult to maintain due to the range of issues that tamper with pH.
Low pH is more commonly harmful and more commonly occurs. Run off, algae buildup, densely populated ponds, and too little oxygen can cause low pH. Low pH can cause both illness and death in fish.
Excessive amounts of magnesium and calcium in a body of water cause high pH. Consider using a pH reducer to bring your pH down into normal range.
A pH from 6-8 is optimal for koi health. Test the pH of your pond using pH test strips or water testing kits.
If pH is low, consider aeration, adding a pH adjuster, or perform a water change.
Chlorine
Is it important to know if your water source for your pond consists of city water, or well water. Many water sources contain chlorine. Chlorinated water can have a dangerous effect on fish.
If Chlorine is present in water, it can cause irritation to the gills and eyes of fish. Chlorination can cause breathing issues that can ultimately lead to death among fish colonies.
Dechlorinators can be used to lower chlorine levels in water that contains chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals.
Oxygen Levels
Oxygen levels are a major contributor to the success of a koi pond. Without proper oxygen levels, fish become stressed which can lead to further issues in koi health. Levels from 7-9 ppm are ideal for koi fish. Levels of 5 or below will cause your fish to struggle with illness, and become stressed.
Dissolved oxygen levels are more difficult to maintain in hotter water. If you live in a warm climate, and there is no shade over your pond, consider options to improve oxygenation such as aeration.
Adding aquatic plants can help improve the dissolved oxygen levels of a pond as well as alternative options like aeration and fountains.
What's Wrong with my Koi Pond?
Murky Water
Murky water can be a result of many different pond issues. The breakdown of natural waste such as leaves, fish waste, and uneaten food, can create murky water. The breakdown of these organic wastes can create excess nutrients in the water. This can lead to not only murky water, but dangerous living conditions for koi.
Algae overgrowth can lead to water with a murky appearance. If the water seems murky and green, this could be due to an overgrowth of algae in the water. Use a fish safe algaecide to control this.
Murky water can also be caused temporarily by pond treatments containing beneficial bacteria. If you have just treated your pond and the water appears cloudy, give the water a few days to clear before taking other steps to improve clarity.
Lime, which contains calcium carbonate, is often used to treat low pH and act as a buffer. This treatment can result in murky water that appears gray for a few days. This is not cause for alarm.
My Koi are Dying
Koi death can be a result of a variety of environmental issues. Water issues, and issues within a colony can both cause sudden fish kills.
If your Koi are dying, a water test should be done immediately to identify any issues in the habitat. Ammonia, pH, and chlorine can all be causes of koi death.
Overcrowding can lead to koi death. Assure that each koi has about 200 gallons of water to prevent overcrowding.
Upon inspection, if your koi are exhibiting strange behavior, or have unusual physical wounds, refer to the disease page to identify what may be the cause of their illness.
Outside predators can also cause koi death. If you notice your koi are disappearing, this may be the case. Consider installing netting over the top of your pond to prevent predators from being able to enter the pond.
Algae
Algae issues in a pond are often caused by imbalances in the ecosystem.
Excessive nutrients, overheated water, and low levels of beneficial bacteria can cause algae blooms.
Algae issues can be solved by many means. Aeration, and water movement devices can be used to circulate water and kill algae. An algaecide can be used to kill algae, but it is essential to ensure any algaecide you wish to use is safe for fish.