Filters who needs them?

18 years ago

I've just got home after five months away (wasn't in prison) and my pond's a mess. One of my pumps has seized, rendering the whole filter system inoperative. A major rethink on the filter system is in order. I haven't tested the water yet, afraid to know how bad the water has got. But the startling thing is the fish seem to have thrived without working filtration, even growing very well. Out of fifteen fish only two seem to have health problems, and not major ones at that. They are all still eating well, six large hand fulls a day. For the last couple of months the pond has had a couple of hundred gallon water changes per week and a dose of 'Klear' weekly. Perhaps a mature pond ecosystem along with good planting and aeration is a good back up to a filter system. What do you think, koi are hardier than common perception, a mature pond with assisted aeration acts as an acceptable filter even with artificialy high stock density?

Kazzie, the ghost looks massive.

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Comments (5)

Kazzie
18 years ago
Sorry to hear you've come home to pond problems, but great that fish are OK.

I'm sending you an email.
AJC_1
18 years ago
Hi Chris, sorry to hear that, that is one of the draw backs of having a pump out filter system, they need regular checking, so makes going away for any length of time risky!

But you are an experienced koi keeper, so you will now how to sort any probs out, I doubt it will be as bad as you think, but you know yourself you need a filter lol

just as well we have dry weather this weekend, you can freeze ya hands off sortin it lol
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It is possible that the excessive pressure has damaged your pressure guage meter. They are notoriously finky and not very accurate...they just have a spring in there. And the springs wear out or can be overflexed so they won't retun back where they should be or require very little real pressure to measure high. Don't know how old the filter and pressure guage is but if its more than a few years, you might want to consider replacing it first to make sure that your measurements are not simply wrong because the pressure guage is worn out. The new ones have a little clock on them so that you can set the pressure with one hand when you first turn it on and then the second orange hand points to when its time to clean. This is a better way of doing it because the intial pressure is not that useful, its the pressure "change" that is indicative of the filter needing to be cleaned.
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mark22
18 years ago
Been a while since I been on here, slow ponding times right now. Chris, I would think the water changes were helping keep the water clean and filters are working on a minimum this time of year. If your pond isn't heated then I wouldn't be feeding at all right now. You're never going to keep koi healthy and happy without a filter, it's not there natural environment and it needs work to keep them content. I recently cleaned all the filters, stopped feeding and did a little pp dose to keep bacteria down for winter.

What problems have those two fish got? I'd expect red spots and bacterial problems this time of year through personal experiance. If you get the water good again and kill off any bacteria, which likely built up from you not being there to keep it clean, you should be fine. Maybe salt to 0.1% till spring just to be safe.

Hopefully you sorted it all out already anyway.
chris11
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi Mark,
The problems aren't critical. I've got the filter system working at 50% and waiting for delivery of a new pump. The two koi with problems aren't too bad, one has scraped some scales off her side, but seems like it's well on the way too healing. The other is a bit worse with an infection in his left pec fin. I caught him for a closer look but hadn't got any suitable treatment to hand. He seems ok at the moment, feeding and swimming with the rest of the gang. I'll buy some treatment, trim and treat the fin this weekend. My pond is heated which will help with his recovery.
Chris.
chris11
Original Author
18 years ago
Update to pond problems;
New pump fitted and filter system back to 100%.
Io-Sal to treat infection on order, should arrive tomorrow.
Pond at 14'c despite the freezing weather.
Hopefully things will return to normal soon.
Chris.

Filters who needs them?

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