Proper Koi pond maintenance is critical to the survival of your fish and the enjoyment of your garden pond overall. The best way to keep a pond is to always be on top of things and never let problems start - once problems get out of hand, it may be a race against time to correct it and save your pond.

The quality of your pond water is key and you need to have a good filtration system in order to keep the water safe for your fish. There are two different types of water filtration - biological and mechanical. The mechanical filtration takes out the debris through a filter and the biological filtration introduces a bed of good bacteria that help remove the ammonia that builds up from fish waste and uneaten food. Both types of filtration are critical to the survival of your pond.

How do you tell if your water is good quality?

When you look into the pond, the water should be clear with no floating debris. More important than a visual check is testing it to see the ammonia and PH. You can buy test kits that are easy to use and will tell you exactly what the chemical makeup of your pond is. If your pond is off kilter, you can then buy chemicals to put in it that will bring it back in alignment and restore the quality.

Anther important part of Koi pond maintenance is to make sure you feed your fish the appropriate amounts. Fish don’t really need much, but the tendency can be to overfeed - especially if they are trained to eat out of your hand. Overfeeding will produce large amounts of waste from the fish as well as uneaten food that will lay at the bottom and decay. If too much builds up, then the water can become toxic to the fish.

You also want to be on the lookout for disease in your Koi -especially when you introduce new fish. New fish can have the beginnings of disease and you will never know but once they are in the pond for a few days they can infect all your other fish. That’s why it’s important to buy from a reputable source. You might also consider having a quarantine tank in the house where you can keep the new fish for a couple of weeks before releasing them into the pond.

Having a fish pond can be fun, but you must routinely perform the proper Koi pond maintenance in order to keep the pond running smoothly and to have happy and healthy fish. It only takes a few hours a week and the rest of the time you can spend enjoying your pond!