Simply Koi and More Koi

Hi All
I have a problem with my water clarity,been using Nutrikoi food for a long time but it went up to over £100,so thought I would try a cheaper brand as a well known name on Koimag said it was good,started with 75% Nutrikoi 25% orchid Fisheries(only £4.20 kg) every thing was fine so I then fed 50% 50%,my water is now so bad I can only see 12" down,I have never been hucked-up on clear water but I do like to see the bottom in case there are any problems with the koi,

I have a Nexus300 and the water coming out of the exit chamber isn't much better than the water going in also have a Pod on the skimmer,my TDS as gone from 200 to 264,Sunday I tried a 1.5per ton dose of PP to see if that would help but it hasn't,I don't usually add anything to my water and the UV hasn't been on for about 3years,now the koi have gone off there food,hope someone can help.

Regards Geoff

Hi Geoff,

I would suggest you out the food and move on to a good quality food as its surprising how much changing food can have on the pond and fish.

I wouldn't use any more treatments either as this can sometimes cause more problems than you started with.

Geoff,

I know we've talked about food a bit in the past and i still stand by what i said back then that if you stick within the know koi foods then you'll not go far wrong. There is as you know a Japanese koi food in the same kinda price range (£4.40 per kg) that i have used with no issues - it is very much horses for courses.

I this year have fed:-

Yamato Nishiki
Nobori
Hikari
EA (wheatgerm and Premier)
Probites
Takazumi

All koi, ponds and filters and water are different - so you'll get differing results in waste, clarity etc. Find the food that suits your koi, pond and your budget and use that.

Thanks for your replies,I can only put this down to the new food I tried,in 6 years I have never seen my water look so dirty and fine it hard to belive it's just the food,the pond still looks terrible,I have read many posts about poor water but didn't know how bad it could be,the worry is whats happening in the pond when I can't see the bottom there could be a dead fox,cat or koi in there for all I know,

At least the koi are now eating so I can account for most of them,I'm so desperate I have thought about some kind of additve,when I clean the filters the water looks like charcoal so it must be taking some crap out,I just wonder how long it's going to take now I just feed the normal food I have used for years.

Regards Geoff

Geoff,

In all reality it will take a while to get the clarity back - you could speed this up by changing larger amounts of water if you want.

Thanks Greg,I needed that as I was worried,I don't mind the water looking so bad as long has the koi are ok mate,just got my self in a state and started to think all sorts of things that could be happening,

When I turn the air off the koi just seem to glide along looking for food so I don't think theres too much of a problem,I'll keep cleaning the filters every other day as I do in the Summer,pond is down to 17.2c now so they are slowing down only eating 250gram per day now,was eating 450gr when the pond was 20c

Regards Geoff