In article . com,
Kelly wrote:

Go Fig wrote:

The problem I have is nitrite.... not nitrate as Hal said.

That's odd - but serious. Nitrite is usually a very transient product of
ammonia breakdown. In an established pond, it generally gets converted to
nitrate as fast as it's created. Assuming this is a caused by recent
spawning activity,

It is a new pond going through a trypical cycle... except koi are not a
good choice to cycle a new pond with.


Exactly, and a self admitted mistake I made.

Or the shop that sold you the stuff, that said, even a cursory look at
a good pond book would have clued you in though.


We will be constructing a
new and much larger pond next season (big enough for 4 koi), but until
then, I"m trying to make this thing work.

This product works :

http://www.aquariumpros.com/p-MWE53400,MWE.html

I have a lot of experience with ponds and quick cycling them.. a lot!.

As suggested, have some store check your water parameters... these
massive water changes are a threat by itself.

What does 'biological filter' mean specifically in your filter?

Can you post a pic of your set-up ?


Every night this week I have done a 50% water change. Despite my
efforts, I measured the nitrite today and it was OFF THE SCALE at over
3.5 mg/L. Pardon my language but ****!!!

Don't feed the fish!

I'm not understanding how it's getting so high so fast even though I'm
doing changes. Well I know what most of you will say, the pond is
SMALL!! Damn.

.... and wat to many fish ;-)

So I was forced to remove about 80% of the water for fear that my poor
koi will suffer the extreme.

.... be sure to match the pH with the new water.

When I'm doing these water changes, should I be adding more of the
commercial bacteria stuff

Product name ? Depends on what type of Bio filter you have.


each time? Or will this just make the
situation worse?

I haven't fed the koi in about a week. But now that there are eggs in
the pond they are eating these. I don't want to remove the eggs
because it really stirs up the pond and they are hard to remove.

sigh

So what I'm going to have to do is do TWO water changes each day. And
test each day and make sure the nitrite is not rising.

Add a lot of Water Hyacinths. Independently check water quality.

jay
Thu Jun 01, 2006



Kelly