Until you added fish, you had nothing to generate ammonia. Now that you
have your first fish, they will generate ammonia, and it will rise before
the bacteria develop to convert it to nitrites. Nitrites are toxic and it
will take the filter longer to develop the bacteria population to consume
them. For the size of your fish and size of your pond, you may not even
measure the ammonia and nitrite spikes, but if you add a bunch of fish at
one time, the levels can become very toxic and cause the fish to develop
diseases, or just plain die. As for tests, pH, ammonia, nitrite are the
three most important, though I use KH (alkalinity) and if it is up around
100 or higher, the pH will be rock solid and you won't even need to test the
pH.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
wrote in message
om...
HMM, looks like one is missing. I dont know if he is just hiding well
or what. I can see one, and he is moving around when he doesnt see
me, but one I cant see at all. He was there this morning, Ill keep
you posted as to whether he comes back

My PH is about 8 1/2 - 9, which Im told is kind of high for my plants,
but the fish should have no problem with it
Amonia is non existant, been running the pump and bio filter for about
2 weeks and there are no fish
water temp is about 65 - 70 degress
anything else I should test for? Any advice?


"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
om...
Just got my pond ready for fish and got 2 small koi (3-4") to start.
The pond is aboout 8x12 and 3 feet deep in the deepest point. They
have been in for two days. The two litle guys have been swimming a
bit, but when I tried to feed them today for the first time they just
hide in the oxegeninator plant I have in the deepest spot. Are they
two small to eat or are they just eating other things in the pond? A
neighbor said he has a few comet fish I can have, I was planning on
adding them in the next few days, but I want to make sure these guys
are ok 1st

Fish in a new pond typically run and hide. Just watch the Nemo movie,
there
is a nice documentary piece when he is captured, bagged and then dumped
in
the aquarium. There is a lot of "What the h..." going on. They won't
starve.
They'll eat plant matter, algae, etc. You can keep trying to feed them
but
don't overdue it. If they don't eat it, you don't want that food just
rotting in the pond. Also try to get on a schedule. Go to the same spot
in
the pond everyday at the same time. Pretty soon, they'll be there
waiting
for you.

As for your neighbors fish, I'd wait just a bit. Check your water for a
short time, to make sure the filter is properly cycled and handling
these
fish, then add more.

BV.