Marine Sea salt in koi pond/Benifcial bacteria

[gouldianguy68]

I have a 12,500 Gal pond, in WI. I added 62# of Instant ocean Marine salt to my pond. Treatment would than be 1 cup of salt per 100gal. Last Tues I got 20 new butterfly koi, and this Tues today, I got 20 reg finned koi, they are approx 6-7" long. They are now with 100 Comet Goldfish, approx 3' long , I have a 3/4 horse air max diffusers x2, and a single air pump, and diffusers in Lilly pads, so 3 seperate diffusers are 8" around. Pump is actually for 1-3 acre lakes/ponds, so in 12,500 gal, there getting alot of air, plus a large waterfalls, falla 4.5' to pond surface and 7 smaller falls in stream beds into pond, pond is 36' long x23w at widest point, deepest area is 4.5' deep (where the 2 largest diffusers are) 3rd air diffusers is in about 2.5' water., I have 2 bio falls that feed large water falls, and the other feeds the 2 stream beds. Because winter is coming soon, and my New koi are far behind there "fat" reserves for winter, I been feeding them about 4 times per day to pack weight on them for the winter "Shut down". Today I noticed that last week's new butterfly koi were acting strange, coming to shore line and swimming slow, and gasping for air. But when touched, would swim fast away back to deep water, just a few were doing this, I was wondering if because I added the Marine salt to pond, that it may have upset my beneficial bacteria colonies? I have rocked walls, and 4" pea Gravel on the bottom, several clumps of Iris, and a large area of water Lillie's. I clean the filter pads about every 7 days, because of an unknown erosion soil issue, that got into the pond, so I'm useing the reg 2" thick filter pads, as well as 15 fine filter pads in each box, to try and get dirt out of water, the fine pads are a bit time consuming to clean, but the water coming out looks like coffee!! In 24hrs I noticed a huge difference!! Water was crystal clear
I'm thinking I have an ammonia SPIKE!!? From feeding fish so much,? And that's why there acting so weird I don't want to do a water change, because I added the very pricy $$ Marine salt for there benefits . I don't have a water test kit yet, so can't offer you any parameters on water quality . I also have 2 large nylon bags of activated charcoal, that I change every 4 weeks. But I need a quick fix fast, for what I bieleve is my fault on the ammonia levels, I added a full gallon of beneficial bacteria today, I'm almost afraid for sunrise, cause I might have a few dead koi,? Laying on there side tonight, breathing ok, touch them, swim away fast and normal, but 5-10 min later, back to shallow areas, laying sideways, or gasping for air,? There is way more than enough 02 in pond, it's way OVER AERATION if anything, I ordered ammonia neutral liq, but won't be here till Friday. Does the salt mess with beneficial bacteria at my dosage that much?

 

[gouldianguy68]

Thankyou

 

[j.w]

I myself don't use salt, never have. I have goldfish only. I don't put gravel or anything on the bottom of my pond either. I had gravel in a small bathtub pond at one time and the gravel collected all the scum and muck and made that pond useless for life. I stick w/a bare bottom pond now. Easier for me to keep clean, or for my filter to keep clean actually. If too much muck accumulates it's easier to just net it out w/no gravel or rocks. Some here do have rocks on the bottom of their ponds, not sure how they keep things right tho. I'll let them tell you.

 

[j.w]

Oh and

@gouldianguy68

 

[WaterGardener]

Have you tested the water? Please get liquid type tests if you don't have them and post the results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate KH and pH. There is no way to guess what is going on without testing.

There is no need to use salt. You have fresh water fish and the pond doesn't need salt. The only time it is recommended is when you have a nitrite spike, but there are other ways to deal with that.

Also, you have added way too many fish for the size of your pond. If you have enough filtration you can get away with it as long as they are very small. But they will quickly outgrow your system.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

Just curious, but why did you add 62# of salt?

 

[Stephen Noble]

Dumping 40 large fish at one time into any closed system (pond) will disrupt the balance. And if I calculate correctly, the salt added has made your freshwater pond slightly brackish. None of those fishes are brackish water species. I would test your water parameters as soon as possible. Then begin removing the salt. At this point, I wouldn't worry about the cost of the salt. I would worry about the well-being of your fish. Please let us know what your water test readings are and we can try to assist. What state do you live in? Welcome to the forum!