My baby water lilies are growing well. As mentioned in my previous post, these are grown from seeds that germinated at the bottom of my pond.
The before and after pictures are shown below.
I am looking forward to see them flowering. Currently, only my older water lily plant is flowering consistently. One bloom per day, non stop!
I recently noticed many small baby fishes in my lily pond. I am not sure if they are baby Koi or baby Comet Goldfishes as they are too small for me to determine the breed. My main Koi pond and lily pond are interconnected via a common filtration system. I did not notice any spawning or eggs in my pond as I have been busy and did not pay a lot of attention to the pond in the last few weeks, except the usual feeding routine.
Many months ago, one of my nephews released 4 comet goldfish into my lily pond. He won them at a fun-fair game stall but did not want to keep them at home. So into the lily pond they went, to join the 2 resident smaller Koi.
I believe this babies could be comet goldfish since they are only seen in the lily pond and not in the Koi pond. However, the adult comets are still relatively small (about 4 inch or 10cm in length measured from nose to tip of tail). The 4 adult comets are all light pink and single colour (like an albino goldfish) but these babies come in all colours – orange, black, pink, white and combination of these.
Or could these babies be Koi? I will probably be able to tell in a few weeks time when they grow bigger.
I learnt about using salt to combat against parasites in my Koi pond from the books I bought when I first started by hobby (Koi Kichi by Peter Waddington and Koi Health and Diseases by Dr Erik Johnson). Salt is effective against some parasites so I use it as my “first line of defence” when I suspect there are parasites affecting my Koi. Symptoms are Koi flashing or rubbing themselves on the bottom of the pond or in some cases, visible white spots caused by the Ich parasite).
I have also used salt as a disinfectant to treat my Koi that was suffering from ulcers and external injuries suffered from knocks against the sides of pond or overhanging rocks.
Advantage of using salt is that it is relatively cheap, does not kill the bacteria in the filter and somehow helps the Koi to recover faster. There are, however, side effects on some of the water plants. The leaves would turn yellow on prolonged exposure to the salt in the water.
The recommended concentration level is 0.3% salinity. 3 kg of salt for every 1000 kg of water. 1000 kg of water is the weight of 1 cubic metre of water. The Koi Kichi book actually suggests 0.5% for used in a special Koi treatment pond.
For my first and second ponds, which hold 7 tons and 13 tons of water respectively, I need about 21 kg and 39 kg of salt for each treatment. The books recommend to use special salt that are formulated for the pond and aquarium, but I just buy the coarse cooking salt (not the refined table salt) that comes in 3 kg bags from the neighbourhood grocery store. Cheap and good. There are occasions where I have to buy from a few stores as I would practically clear out their entire stock for the week or month, to the store owners’ amazement. They must be wondering what I am doing with all that salt!
I add the salt to my pond over a period of 3 days, starting with 1/3 of the salt on the first day, another 1/3 on the second day and the rest of the salt on the third day. I would normally pour the bags of salt into the first chamber of my filter, and allow the return pump in the last chamber to distribute them into the pond. By doing so, I hope that the higher initial salt concentration in the filter would kill any parasites or larvae that are lurking in the filter media. Salt does not kill the useful bacteria in the filter, hence the advantage of using salt over other kinds of medication.
I would leave the salt in the pond for about a week or until the ulcers or wounds are healed or symptoms of parasites have disappeared.
How to remove salt? The only way is to remove salt from the pond water is by partial water changes. Unfortunately, this is a slow and gradual process carried out over a period of a few weeks as I would not change more than 20% of my water each time.
Note: Salt may not be able to treat all Koi ailments. For information on other Koi medications and pond treatments and/or to buy online, click here.
I received a question recently from one of the visitors to my blog asking if I was using UV light filter since I did not write anything about it. He was wondering if UV light filter is good for preventing algae bloom.
I did not use UV filter for my first 2 ponds. A UV filter was installed in my current pond’s filter system in Jan 2008 when it was built by my pond builder. The water from the return pump was passed through it before being released back to the pond. I cannot really tell if it was effective or not. Right now, I am not sure if the bulb is still working since I can’t see the light. Any way to check without opening up the filter?
I have no problems with algae bloom in all my 3 ponds, with or without UV light filter. I don’t think a UV light filter is necessary as a means to control algae. Algae is caused by high nitrate levels in the pond. Once I feel the nitrate level is high (slight increase in algae seen or water tint) and confirmed through water testing, I would do partial water change to reduce the nitrate levels. Better to control nitrate (the cause) than algae (the effect).
Having said that, I think a UV light filter may be useful to as a means to control bacteria or parasites, kill germs and sterilised the pond water.
For more information on UV light filter or to buy UV light filter and accessories online, click here - ( US Customer, UK Customer)
Every pond ought to have a way to remove floating debris from the water surface. Dust, oil, protein scum, and small floating debris (insects, dead leaves) can be removed with a surface skimmer device.
The following picture shows the simple surface skimmer I used for my 3 ponds. I am using a gravity-fed filtration system. This skimmer pipe leads to the first chamber of my biological filter system. Alternatively, you may want to link this pipe to the second chamber to provide faster water flow since the water level in the second chamber is slightly lower than the first (due to gravity effects and water flow resistance between the first and second chamber).
The construction is simple. A 75 mm or 4 inch diameter PVC pipe that protrudes slightly above the water surface. Slots are cut to allow surface water to enter the pipe. In my case, the slots are a little too big and my floating koi pellets are entering the skimmer through them. Hence I need to add a netting to solve this problem. Don’t make the same mistake. Cut narrower slots and have more of them around the pipe.
The skimmer is best located at a corner of the pond, near your filter. It would be best if you are also using venturi pipes for aeration and have position your venturi pipes in such a way as to have water circulation around your pond.
