Hello! New Koi pond person

[Alidandi]

Hi all!

I'd like to introduce my 4 koi: Brightly (yellow with pinecone pattern, possibly butterfly but I don't know what he/she could be); Speckles (maybe a Sanke), Bwain ( perhaps a Bekko--it looks like you can see his little pink brain right through the top of his translucent head) and Blanca (not sure--thought she was Platinum Ogon but I'm starting to see these very pale, pretty peachy-apricot marks on her body). I promise to get more/better photos this weekend. In the meantime, any thoughts on what you think they are is most welcome!

I also have a question about pump/filter: our pond is about 400 gallons. I don't know if I have too many fish... four koi between approx 5 and 10” and four little goldfish—two shubunkin and two comets (I had thought my koi had turned into raccoon food, i could NOT find them--then voila! They appeared...). Given that fish load and size pond, what size pump would you recommend—I got an 800gph two weeks ago because I wasn't sure if the 600gph one I had was doing the trick... my nitrites were a bit high; I did add some marine salt and a bacteria product to counter the nitrite... now with this 800 gph one, about every three days the flow basically stops and the thing starts to float (I have it attached to a submersible filter that has five of those “tubes” with foam around them plus bio-filter balls on the inside—I also wrapped additional filter material around it lightly for an extra layer of filtration). Is it too powerful...? I thought the gph had to go up to compensate for how many fish. I really want an external gravity filter so I don’t have to keep fishing around (hah!) for the pump/filter every three days to clean if off then try to re-orient it.

Again, any and all help, ideas, suggestions are very welcome!

 

[dieselplower]

It was a good idea to increase the pump size but I would increase the filter size as well. Seems like you kind of did already. A number I hear thrown out often by koi keepers is that you want 300 gallons per koi so they can grow to their potential without you having to do a huge amount of work to keep the water parameters at acceptable levels. I imagine you are seeing nitrite because the bacteria that break it down have not been able to pupulate enough to handle the waste load of 4 koi.

 

[j.w]

Alidandi
Think you need to start digging for a bigger pond now and your fish are beautiful

 

[Fishylove]

Welcome to our forum!
In your first picture, your yellow one is a Ki Matsuba Butterfly. The one next to it (taking a guess, others would be better at this) I think is a Sanke. The white/Hi Bekko is small and it's hard to tell, but I think you are right, as he gets bigger the black spots should come to the surface. It will be interesting to see how he turns out very pretty fish

 

[addy1]

to our group! Nice looking fish you have.

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome!

 

[Tula]

Very beautiful fish and welcome. IMO, the pond is too small to support 4 koi and the others. My pond is 1670 gallons with 5 koi, and I can't imagine anymore with the way they've grown over the years! I'd love to have a butterfly, but feel I'd need to re home one I already have.

 

[JohnHuff]

Welcome!
4 koi and 4 gf is too many for that small pond of yours.
The turnover of the pond 600 gallons per hour vs 800 will not make a difference if you don't have the biofiltration needed. Tell us more about your pump (brand) and the filters you have on it. A pic would be great.
Adding salt and that bacteria thing won't really counter nitrites. I'd recommend some water changes asap as you don't want to see any nitrites or ammonia at all. "Nitrites a bit high" is not a good sign and you should probably stop feeding for a while.
I think you can still keep your fish in that pond for a while, but you're going to need to seriously buff up your biofiltration. We'll know more once you tell us more about your current filter set up and your pond dimensions.

 

[Alidandi]

ty to EVERYONE - i will take a pic of the pump/filter and some more of the fishies...i already told my hubby we might need to rent a small bulldozer very soon!! will get back to you w/those pix asap...ty!!

 

[Dave 54]

Welcome from sunny Plymouth in the UK we are 27 year koi veterans nice to have you aboard , question was that white or brown bread you were feeding your koi in the photo's ?
Never feed white as there is too much in the way of starch in them always if your feeding bread feed brown or wwhole meal bread which has far less in the way of starch
Most koi keepers I know never settle with their first pond so yes get that bulldozer in your going to need it



Dave

 

[Alidandi]

Welcome from sunny Plymouth in the UK we are 27 year koi veterans nice to have you aboard , question was that white or brown bread you were feeding your koi in the photo's ?
Never feed white as there is too much in the way of starch in them always if your feeding bread feed brown or wwhole meal bread which has far less in the way of starch
Most koi keepers I know never settle with their first pond so yes get that bulldozer in your going to need it



Dave

tnx dave from "across the pond" (oh i never get tired of puns)... that was actually freeze-dried brine shrimp- in addition to koi food i give them treats. also freeze dried tubifex worms. they start splashing around and jumping on top of each other to get to it!!

 

[Alidandi]

ok all im going out to take more pix! stay tuned!!

 

[Alidandi]

hi everyone! ok i have more photos to share. i took a pic of the filter and pump i am using right now. my pond is approx 6x8 feet and the depth varies from a few inches to 2 1/2 feet--we think it's about 400 gallons. the pump is magnetic and submersible obviously- a Beckett 800 gallons per hour--i am trying to decipher the information here and it says 115 volts, 60 hz, .90 amps, 70 watts.i have to clean the filter every three days. this is the way it looks without the extra layer of filter i usually wrap around it. i got some more pics of the fishies, that's coming next.

 

[Alidandi]

AND now here are some more pics of the fishies. this is Blanca (or Blanco). it is really hard to get a good pic of him/her. i'm thinking maybe, maybe hikari-moyomono... it's very silvery white and i'm seeing these patches of the lightest peachy-apricot-pink, plus there seems to be a pinecone pattern on its back but not really any color there. it's young--i got it late last summer and it was probably about 3 inches, now i'm thinking maybe 5...

 

[Alidandi]

Here are more fishie pix!