Koi pond Nitrite - What Every Koi Keeper needs to know!!
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- Koi ponds are susceptible to nitrite levels which if left unchecked will eventually build to a level sufficient to kill your Koi.
In this video I explain what Nitrite is, how it comes to be in our ponds, what affects its toxicity levels, how it affects our koi and how we can get rid of it safely. This is the definitive guide to all things Nitrite in relation to koi fish ponds.
Check out my website at www.dazzlekoi.com/
If you enjoy the video and find it useful please hit the like button and subscribe to my channel here rb.gy/dp57so for more content on this wonderful hobby.
#koi #koipond #fishpond #dazzlekoi #japanesekoi #qualitynishikigoi #pondbuild #nitrite
Hi Daz once again great video lots of info too take ON love learning a bit off your video keep it up cheers
Another excellent video to compliment the “series”. Great learning aids 👍
Good day. Thank you for rhe video. The information in this video took me hours off research to understand. The one on ammonia/ammonium I've found to be 100% correct according to my knowledge and research on the topic.
The info you've supplied on salt is particularly interesting to me. Ive always had salt in my pond as a general buffer. Will now certainly look deeper into it because what you say here makes sense.
Looking foward to the next one. Very glad I stumbled onto your channel.
Thanks Rikus, I appreciate that🍻🍻
Great Info Daz best technical channel that is easy to take in. keep it up mate.
Thanks Martyn 🍻🍻
Thank you so much. Once again a wealth of helpful information. Appreciate you. Cheers.
Thank you very much mate 👍👍👍🍻🍻🍻👍👍👍
Love learning from this lad. Top man
Cheers mate, that's very much appreciated 🍻🍻👍👍🍻🍻
Great video and most importantly a simple to understand explanation about the effects of nitrite on the koi. Well done.
Cheers mate, thanks for taking time to comment, much appreciated 🍻🍻🍻
Very useful information on Nitrite Daz , look forward to some more over winter . Thanks Carol
Thank you 🍻
Excellent video. You've got some great information on your channel. It's great to have the science behind it it explained rather than just peoples opinions 👍
Thank you Dan 👍👍
Excellent video an so well explained
Excellent information. Well explained. Keep up the good work Daz.
Thanks Jon, good to hear 🍻
I am a Koi owner for over 15 years and learned quite a bit about water quality. I find this to be very informative. Best video on the subject(s)!!!
Hello and welcome, thank you very much, its nice to that 🍻👍🍻👍🍻
Great video mate, we had a spike in nitrite at the beginning of this year and it took us many weeks to rectify this issue. Fingers crossed! catch you on next video, cheers.
Thanks mate. I'm working on the first bakki shower video at the moment. Should be ready to go next Saturday morning hopefully 👍
Thanks👍
Phenomenal information! Very interesting
Thanks George, I appreciate that 🍻
Great video and very knowledgeable great help love learning 👌
Thanks David, much appreciated 👍
Very detailed explanation, with sensible advice. Unfortunately nitrite is often not easy to eradicate particularly in a new system.
Very informative thank you
Cheers mate 🍻🍻
A thumbs up on this vid. Thanks
Cheers Kirk 🍻🍻
Good info thanks 👍👍
Thanks a lot, I appreciate that 🍻
very well explained great video
Thanks Andy, much appreciated 🍻
Another brilliant video Daz. 👍
Thanks Andrew, seems a lifetime ago now that video, so much has happened since 🍻🍻👍👍🍻🍻
@@DazzleKoi ... they're so informative, and if I'm unsure I just keep rewatching them ...
LOL, I can't imagine anyone wanting to sit through me talking once, never mind twice !!!
Good to hear its useful for you though mate 👍👍🍻🍻
Great video.
🍻🍻
Can you do a vid on what treatments nock back the filters as i believe this has not been covered in anyone else’s vids and yours are spot on
Hi Mitch, yes that's a good idea, I'll definitely do that 👍👍
Very interesting knowledge is power as they say thank you .👍👍👍
Thanks Andrew 🍻
Well explained 👏
Thank you very much Collette 👍👍
Excellent 👌. Cheers 👍
Thank you Richard 🍻
Thanks for the informative video! My 4000 gallon pond has been running a few months now and everything was going good until my automatic feeder malfunctioned and put way too much food in the pond and it took me a couple days to figure that out. Now I’ve added salt and ran my trickle much faster and have changed the volume of my pond almost twice now over the past week and the nitrite just won’t go away! I’ve also added a Pure pond bomb to my 3 cubic feet K2 media filter and the Pure bacteria balls to both my Oase 18000 screenmatic box filters. I’m going crazy!
I feel your pain mate, it can be a real nightmare at times. You are not helped by the time of year now either, everything is slowing right down. You just need to keep going, keep vigilant, and be patient and I reckon and it will come. Might be spring before its fully right now though.
If you get chance, give the pure+ gel a go. I didn't have much success with the bombs and balls and I thought they where a bit of a gimmick but when I tried the gel it really worked 👍👍
@@DazzleKoi thanks for the feedback! I forgot to mention my pond is heated! I plan on trying to feed year round. After I watched this video I did look up the pure gel and order that along with another bomb and big tub of the small pure time release balls. It’s just crazy how too much food entering the system can mess up the cycle so much.
Yep, consistency is definitely the key. Once you upset the balance it can take a while to get it back. I'm confident you'll have some good results with the gel though 👍
As always best informational channel on CZcams. Great job. Can you do a video on salt in your pond. Some say yes some say no but if a problem occurs most say add salt?????
Hi Kent, thanks very much. Yes I think its time I tackled salt, I'll put it on the list 🍻🍻
Hi, Thanks for the info. Wish you were about 30 years ago when I started. Lost about 30koi this year prior to your KH. Vid . Would have paid good money for this info. Keep the brilliant work again a big thanks from all my big girls and their young fry
Sorry to hear that Thomas, it can be a cruel hobby at times. Was it a pH crash?
@@DazzleKoi No just me not fully understanding Anglesey council water. Just got used to the farm spring water we had. Never lost a koi or fry until we moved into the new house. Lesson learnt. Cheers
I just found your channel. This late bit of advice is to add Folic Acid supplement tablets into the pond water as it goes into the filter. I had a 10000 gallon/40000L pond that I would put a dozen or so tablets every day for about ten days. Folic acid is very cheap and works wonders. Add every time that you work on filters, clean ponds, etc. The good bacteria eat the folic acid and makes them stronger, reproduce faster, and they will continue to function much later into the cold months. Plus the filter will recover faster in the Spring when your season begins again.
Hi Dave, sorry for the late reply. I must confess Ive never heard of using folic acid. I will definitely research it though, thanks a lot 👍👍
Brilliant video again Darren.Is there a chart similar to the one you put up for ammonia to know how the ph and the temps effect the toxicity?
Hi Baden, I don't have one as I haven't been able to find enough data to create a chart. Leave it with me though, I'll have look in to it 👍
@@DazzleKoi top man👍
Hi Daz, good video very interesting if you don't mind i will give you an overview of my pond, it is certainly not your normal Koi pond as for the last 8-years its purely been a wildlife pond , with an abundance of newts and frogs ( i also have a smaller pond which i hope next spring the wildlife will migrate too ) the pond is around 1700gallons with a liner been fitted for about 15-years, its surrounded with boulders so looking quiet natural, the filter system is a hozelock 8000lt/hr going through a 14000ltr bio filter, there is also a skimmer sitting on the top of the pond and i have added a 320ltr /hr air pump for extra oxygen. the fish are 5- koi between 5-6" in length and look very good and eating well, all water parameters are ok according to api test kit . ant thing else i should be looking at.
Regards
Hi Nick, it sounds like you have a good setup there. The key for me is consistency. If you keep doing what you do day in day out and don't make big changes nature finds a balance. As its so well established and everything is good I wouldn't change anything.
The air pump is a good addition 👍
I guess you just need to be extra vigilant now at this time of year but other than that I cant think of anything else 👍👍
Very informative thank you. I just had a question on the best cause of action. I am in the process of buying a house with a functioning pond. It has had Koi in there in the past (but not now) and the filters and waterfall are still opperating. i havent tested the water or seen if the filters have been cleaned lately but wanted your opinion on where to start with it to introduce koi into it? A full drain and clean or sustain the environment in there already and get the levels checked and just add fish or what are your thoughts. Thank you and great videos.
Hi there, I think you have two options really. First you can drain it all down, clean it out completely, fill it back up and add a few koi. See how it goes, take it slowly and build it back up to a functioning pond with a balanced eco system and functioning biological filter.
Or you could add a few fish, maybe goldfish to start, to it as it is and just use them to check everything is ok and safe.
The main thing to note is that if there are no fish in there at all now then you have no biological colony to deal with your fish waste products. Without fish the filter bacteria have no food source and so they are all dead.
Personally I'd go with option 1 to be safe. I'd get it all spotless and add some koi in the spring. You are effectively going to have to go through a new pond start up process either way so best to do it properly I think.
All the best mate mate and good luck 👍🍻👍🎅👍
Just subscribed and have found your videos very informative. Just one question on the winter feeding. In the past I have used wheatgerm during the winter. During the summer I started using medikoi probiotic pellets which they say can be fed down to 5C and wonder whether to continue using these throughout this winter rather than buy wheatgerm separately. I feed down to 5 or 6C provided the fish are wanting them.
Hi Keith, welcome to the channel 🍻
I haven't fed Medikoi myself but I do know it is very highly thought of. Yes if they say it can be fed down to 5C there is no reason to switch to wheatgerm. I haven't heard of a summer food that can do that before, I'll have to look into it 👍
I'm going to do another video on winter and feeding as the short video I did generated a lot of questions. I actually feed hikari wheatgerm only, all year round to my koi when they are all over 3 years old. I only use a higher protein food for young fish as I think they need it to get off to the right start.
Im new to ponding and your channel very informative thank you. Can u make a vid on the importance of acclimating new fish to a pond . i always float my fish for 45 min. Or more and still have lost fish with water parameters being good
Hi Juanito, welcome to the channel, thanks for your feedback 🍻
Yes I will certainly make a video on that 👍
Hi, late to your channel, but I was looking for good advice now my koi pond is set up and running since May 22. I have been researching water quality and have learnt a lot and your advice is much appreciated. I have a 5.400litre pond, gravity fed with easypod which I kept from my old pond so was in storage for 1 year. My koi (7 off) have been in the pond for nearly 3 months (my son kept them for me in his pond as I have moved house and built a new pond). All water parameters seemed ok apart from Nitrite which I was getting readings of 3ppm which I was doubtful of, despite regular water changes and filter cleans, so I have just purchased a Hanna tester that measures NH3-N in ppb and converts to NO2 by multiplying the reading by 3.29 and then divide by 1000 to get ppm. My readings last night was 1.15ppm but the fish seem OK, but I panicked and did a 40% water change. This morning I checked the tap water and it is zero, so now I have 0.73ppm in the pond from dillution. I will try stopping feeding for a couple of days and then if OK start at once per day (I've been feeding twice/day to date). Does this appear the right course of action, as I want to avoid adding salt unless necessary? Thanks Dave
Hi Dave, those readings do sound a bit odd but if you are sure they are correct then you are doing the right thing. Nitrite can be stubborn to colonise on plastic media, patience is the name of the game. Control the level by how much you feed and be aware that it is a day or two delay from feeding to seeing the nitrite. Definitely no need for salt at those levels. I can recommend EA pure+ gel to. Poor some on your media every 3rd day for a week or two and it usually speeds things up. Consistency in everything you do is vital to.
great video! could you do a video on carp pox?
Thanks Jason. Yes I'll put carp pox on the list, I hadn't thought about that 👍👍👍
Brilliant video, I currently have a nitrite spike due to over feeding before my filter was fully established. The video explains about feeding the bugs by slowly increasing feed amounts and type of food given.
I have a question, I'm doing 2 X water changes each week and have put 1 pond bomb and another bacteria start treatment in to help get the nitrite level down. How long could it take to get to normal levels again? I'm into my third week currently, Sunday will be week 4
Also only feeding 1 X per week
Hi Adam, its hard to say for sure as there are so many factors such as bio media capacity, food type used, temps etc etc etc. Nitrite bacteria is much more difficult to colonise and the process is a lot slower than for ammonia.
I've seen it take 12 months to fully mature a filter and get a good balance in the pond. On the flipside I've seen little or no problems and people able to feed from day one.
It sounds like you are doing the right things so I 'd say just be patient and keep doing what you're doing. If you can set up a trickle in trickle out that helps rather than changing big amounts of water in one go. Also make sure you have as much oxygen going in as possible.
EA pure+ is a really good filter start product to, much better than the bombs.
Have a watch of the 'Start up a new koi pond' video if you haven't seen it. That might be useful to you 🍻🍻👍👍🍻🍻
Another excellent video with a lot of good info, I gather from your vids your not a big fan on using salt. Is there enough salt in tap water for koi to form a good enough protective slime coat and osmo regulation? I'm a bit of a newbie to all this lol
Hi Mathew, no I'm not a fan of salt at all if I'm honest. I've read so much conflicting information so I choose to believe the bad stuff (just in case) and avoid it. I'm a big advocate of keeping things simple and the fact that nature always knows best. Koi live in nature in fresh water so I'm happy to trust her.
However, that's long term exposure. I do accept that salt is a chemical that can be used as a short term treatment of certain conditions, but usually there is a better chemical available. None of them are without side effects and negative impact on koi.
Yes, in my opinion there is everything a koi needs to thrive in our (UK) tap water. Carbonates, minerals, salts etc are all sufficient. I've never known of any instance of koi not getting the salt they require from tap water or of koi having issues with osmoregulation (essentially controlling the concentrations in bodily fluids) due to a lack of salts etc
@@DazzleKoi Thanks for clearing that up, I like how in depth and detailed all your vids are and info you put out, really great content keep up the good work :-)
Hi mate, learned so much from your videos as I’m starting off in the hobby. Just wondering if you could give some advise? Just about to finish my 2200g pond (including filters) which will be run on a nexus 320 off bottom drain and 20”k1 bead off skimmer. I was thinking of starting off with 50 litres of k1 in the nexus and adding 3 tosai koi for the first couple of months then buying more koi once the filters have established themselves. Is 3 small koi and the waste they secrete too small amount to get the filters mature and start off a bacterial colony? How many would you add starting a new pond? Just don’t want to give my koi a bad start with poor water quality. Thanks for all the effort you put in the vids
Hi mate, 3 small koi in that volume of water is a bit on the sparse side to be honest. Think of it in terms of food rather than fish. You could put 100 koi in there and if they are not fed for 48 hours before they go in and then you continue with no food then they wont produce any ammonia.
I would get a few more fish in and control the amount of ammonia they produce with the amount of food you throw in. The colony of bacteria will only grow to a size that the food supply can sustain. You need a low level of ammonia to be present to encourage them to populate.
If you haven't seen it , have a look at my ammonia toxicity video, that you be beneficial to you going in to the start up process 🍻👍🍻👍🍻
@@DazzleKoi thanks for taking the time to reply Daz, will get a few more koi to help start the filter and feed sparingly for the first 6 weeks or so with maybe a trickle in trickle out. Your vids are super helpful for newbies like me. Keep up the good work! 👍
Thanks mate, let me know how you get on 👍👍
Hi Elena from WA State again. I have heard ADDING clay (cannot overdose) to keep nitrite cycle down. What are your thoughts/recommendations on that? I didn't hear anything specific in your nitrite video on that. Thanks! Blessings...
Hi Elena, I've never heard of clay having any bearing on the nitrogen cycle if I'm honest. Clay is one of those things that people seem to suggest has all manor of magical benefits but personally I've never seen any of them. Some say the minerals are beneficial but koi need very little by way of minerals and everything they could ever need and more is present in source water and food.
Others say adding clay helps remove fines from your water but to me that's a temporary cover up for inadequate filtration so I'd rather try and address the issue at source.
I've also seen regular feedback that it improves skin quality and luster. This one seems more likely to me but I'm not keeping show quality koi or intending showing my koi so I don't really feel the need for that either.
All that said, a lot swear by it and a lot of people have asked if I will do a video on it so I have actually bought a bag of mediclay to try. Hopefully I will have a video on it soon 👍👍👍
Hello can you give me idea if some fishes get sick die ( like fin rotten, scale body ulcers ) do we have to do 100% deep clean up pond and bio filter ? And restart filter like new pond too ?
Hi mate, its not easy to say without knowing exactly why they died really. It sounds like you have a bacteria problem so I would look at why it has happened. Is the bottom of your pond dirty? Do you have waste build up in pipes (bottom drain etc), do you clean your filters often enough.
I would be concerned that whatever has caused the problem will cause the problem again for other fish.
Can your do a video on the best air pumps 👍
Hi Graeme, yes I'll do that, watch this space 👍👍
Hello Dazzle , can you do a video on Nitrate and how harmful it is and how we can get rid of it from a koi pond etc .
Hi Duncan, yes I do plan to do a dedicated Nitrate video👍 I'm also working on a bakki shower series of videos at the moment which have a lot of reference to nitrate as showers are one of the few ways you can remove nitrate with a filter.
I’ve just lost all of my koi. Their insides looked pulverized. There was also thin layers of black stuff inside of them. Prior to dying they were acting like they had been shocked, and my air pump stopped working at the same time. My fish also had red areas on fins and tails, and some were losing their scales, and they were gasping for air. I bought food from a well know website and there was a lot of dust and small particles in the food. Which leads me to believe that this may have contributed to high nitrate levels. I am not sure if I am going to try koi again, but if I do what can I use to totally clean my pond?
Hi Helen, I'm really sorry to hear that, that must be awful for you.
I have no idea what could cause something so sudden and total like that. I can't imagine its a desease or parasite as you would have seen symptoms for weeks before.
Can you rule out poisoning? Maybe a neighbor?
Or what about electric shock from the faulty pump?
Maybe lightning?
To sterilise it fully just use a very high dose of PP and keep it purple for 4 hours. That will kill anything and become harmless quickly afterwards.
Hi there I have ammonia at zero on the test nitrite is between zero and .25 idk know what that is and nitrate .5 I had a spike of nitrite.25 I got it down but can’t seem to get back to zero I used nite out seemed to help . Any suggestions I one fish who is have visible issues and a few flash occasionally. I am adding a additional filter in less that a week a nexus to go with my bead filter. And suggestions would be amazing!
Joe
Hi Joe, in any pond system you will always have a small level of ammonia and nitrite, its impossible not to have as it is produced continuously. Test kits that we use can't accurately measure at those low levels and as such some return a zero and some return a 0.25. Its nothing at all to worry about and isn't the source of your issue. they can tolerate a lot more than that without a problem. A have an ammonia toxicity chart on my website somewhere that may be useful to you. I wouldn't bother with nite out or any chemicals like that. They only tie it up and sometimes it can be released back in a big spike. You need some ammonia and nitrite present so your colonies of bacteria can grow.
I would definitely look at a parasite issue for the flashing, can you scrape 3 or 4 koi?
@@DazzleKoi
Hi there thanks for the response I am coming down of the spike now I believe it was higher before I caught it . The pond is very established but we used a high protein food to early I believe and that started it . We also have had a ton of rain I believe added to some problems. I also tested our tap water and the ph from the tap was much lower than normal like 7 and normally we have hi 8 from the tap . Wondering what you would do for the fish while they recover . Thanks
Joe 🙏🏼
Also for got I did 2 rounds of aqua prazi and a round proform c like 2-3 weeks ago I believe And I was thinking parasites but think I had water quality issues. I know better but I should have been watching the water quality. Thanks for any advice.
Yes that can definitely cause the issue you saw. I only feed wheatgerm all year round as the high protein stuff just seems to end up as pollution in your water to be honest. The best thing you can give them is clean fresh water. I wouldn't worry about the nitrite level you had, they will be absolutely fine.
Yes, definitely only treat once you diagnose the exact issue. This will have set your koi and your system back and led to the issue you had. Chemicals really knock a koi's immune system and general health so if you treat for the wrong thing you leave them extremely vulnerable to whatever ailment they actually have.
Hi I got nitrite n nitrate not very good readings changed my filter back in august And repotted the plants .PH is reading ok and so is Ammonia been doing water changes once a week and not feeding will this help me bring the readings down please ? Thanx
Hi Trevor, yes it sounds like you are doing the right thing. The nitrite ultimately comes from feeding your koi so by not feeding it will stop going up after around 48 hours. It will then come down when bacteria colonise in your filter and consume it. You need to balance how much you feed with how much nitrite and ammonia you have. You will need to be patient, especially with the nitrite, and especially more so at this time of year as low temps slow everything down. It might be that you only really get it straight in spring now.
Water changes are a good way of diluting the nitrite and ammonia too. Dont worry too much about nitrate, if you have plants they will take care of that.
I've just done a water test.... my amonia is low but my nitrite is high... I PPd a week ago. Im just doing a big water change and filter start. Is this right ?
Thankyou...... and all great vids
Hi John, and thanks very much 👍
Yes you're doing the right thing. Just hold off feeding for a day or two until nitrite comes down. Don't change too much water as it can upset things but a bit of dilution wont hurt. You didn't say what the reading is but assuming its not dangerously high, you just need to be patient to allow bacteria to colonise and consume the nitrite rather than remove it all and be in the same boat again in a few days.
@@DazzleKoi hi... thankyou for the reply. Its a colombo test kit and it seems to be roughly 2ppm ...im not near the kit now.... if you know the test I think it was the third one down. I changed about 25% of my water and I've ordered EA filter plus....should be here Monday.
Thanks again.
John
Hi John, 2ppm is VERY high if that's correct. How are the koi behaving? Are they showing any signs of distress?
@@DazzleKoi hi mate... sorry the reading on the colombo is 20mg/l
Its different from ppm so I'm not sure how that relates.... the fish seem ok ... 1 clamps sometimes but not at the moment. No feeding going on... cleaning filter daily and water changes....
Thankyou.for your time again.
Hi mate, mg/l and ppm are effectively the same. I think you must mean 2mg/l as the Colombo kit only goes up to 5mg/l.
That's still pretty though. Don't feed them again until its down to 0.25 mg/l and make sure you have plenty oxygen going in. As long as they don't look to stressed you should get away with it and any damage is repaired in a few weeks so not permanent.
If it goes above that I would recommend throwing some salt in to negate the toxicity of the nitrite but you should be ok as long as they appear ok.
Does a higher pH mean a lower number on the pH scale?
Hi Josh, I've got a couple of vids on everything you'll need to know about pH but no, higher pH means a higher number on the pH scale. pH is neutral, pH 14 is the most alkaline and pH 1 is the most acidic. pH 6 is 10 times more acidic than pH 7 and so on.
Great video, thank you. I have a bit of an issue with my pond currently. Testing at 0mg ammonia, but have 0.5mg nitrite. I have been doing loads of water changes to try and get this level down, but it turns out my tap water has the same level of nitrite, so if anything it’s making things worse.
I’ve tried adding filter starter gel and a bomb and some other products. But so far it isn’t helping.
I’m quickly running out of ideas to get the level down, any ideas?
Hi Joe, I think from memory the maximum permitted nitrite level in UK drinking water is 1.0 mg/l so your supply is within an acceptable range unfortunately. All you can really do is make sure you have sufficient amounts of biological media to house enough bacteria to handle it and then be consistent with everything you do.
Nitrite bacteria are very slow to colonise compared to ammonia. They can be very stubborn, particularly on plastic media. A proper bakki shower will handle it well, but other than that you just need to be patient. EA pure+ I found to be really good, have you tried that one? I pour some on the media every 3rd day during filter maturation.
@@DazzleKoi thanks mate, yeah I’ve tried EA pure+ a couple days ago. Just put in a couple bacteria balls in today too (Cloverleaf Absolute Pearls), hopefully they will sort it out. But probably the next step would be to add a bakki shower like you suggested. Cheers
@@DazzleKoi also tried microbe-lift nite-out II, but that didn’t help either 🤦♂️
Hi Joe, have you had any success yet?