Comments on: Koi Pond Question?

By: bgee2001

bgee2001 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:50:17 +0000

There is a coal based additive that you can buy at stores selling fishpond accessories, that worked for my son in his Koi pond.

By: jhg

jhg — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:05:04 +0000

We just started our own Koi pond and went on a pond tour and informational tour about ponds and how to upkeep them. We found out that it actually has to do with the filter that you have. They have just come out with a new filter called a
bio-filter. It is really interesting how it is made, and they make it so that the bacteria that is good and helps the fish stay healthy and helps the pond stay healthy stays in the water, and the bacteria that causes algae and the green, brown, growth that we don’t want it filters out that bacteria to keep that from growing. It is very interesting, but it works amazing and the water stays nice and clear and the environment stays healthy for the fish.

By: Bama

Bama — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:15:26 +0000

Start Right builds good bacteria in new water and makes it really cloudy, so that may be the problem. It will clear in a few days if that is the problem.
You may need pond clarifier. Lowe’s and Home Depot have it if there is no pond supply store near you.
Be VERY careful about taking out algae. Don’t clean the pond thoroughly. Leave a lot of the old water and some of the algae (take out string algae) because if you clean too thoroughly, you may kill all your fish. I’ve seen it happen.
Good luck.

By: Venice Girl

Venice Girl — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:47:36 +0000

The brown sludge is brown algae and the cloudy water is new bacteria forming and it came about because you cleaned your pond. Detoxifiers won’t cause this. You must have cleaned it too well and removed too much of the cycled water of the pond and now the water is having to cycle all over again. The algae, while unsightly, is not harmful and can be easily wiped down, nor is the cloudy water. You just need to allow the water to do its cycle and the cloudiness will eventually go away, and as the water becomes more cycled, the algae will reduce as well. Plants will help with the reduction of algae. Yes, also, the light will help. Brown algae is different from green algae in that more light will reduce its growth vs. less light like the green. Be careful in the future not to remove all of the water so that the pond doesn’t have to cycle all over again.