Koi Ponds Gorder Nursery, Sumner Wa, Palms, Concrete, Koi

Helpful Tips for Koi & Ponds

Remember to stop feeding your koi when the water temperature reaches 55° (approximately in September). Don't start feeding again until spring when water temp is 55 degrees or higher. Koi hibernate in the winter at the bottom of the pond. In the spring, start feeding your fish with a wheat germ food product, as it is easy to digest. Then advance to higher protein foods. Don't over feed first thing in spring when they first start to eat. In mid-season feed them enough food as they can eat in one minute, twice a day. This helps keep your water quality in check. In spring examine your koi for any sores or other health problems and treat as needed.

Types of Koi

Butterfly Koi: long fins.

Imported: Koi More brilliant colors. reds are truly red and all other colors are vibrant in appearance. Our imports are certified clear of KHV.

Domestic Koi: born here in the USA. Colors are now competing with imported quality.

Koi Breeds

Asagi: fully-scaled, resemble Magoi, wild black carp some say they are dull and unrefined. potential to grow very large.

Shusui(shoo-soo-Ee): sky blue back highlighted by Doitsu scalation.

Karasu: Black koi Breed.

Koromo: white koi,deep crimson hi, dark lining along the scales.

Goshiki: meaning five colored red, black, white, light blue and dark blue tones,a sixth color purple is formed when black and blue overlay each other.

Gin-rin: koi that appear to have reflective scales.

GO Sanke: is a broad term describing Kohaku, Sanke, & Showa Varieties.

Pond Care

First thing in spring clean all filter materials and place beneficial bacteria in, do a 50% water change. In the fall do the same in September. Check your UV light, they should be changed yearly, we carry most sizes of replacement bulbs.

Do weekly tests on your water thru out the season Ph should be 7.8 and no higher than 8.0. Ammonia should test at 0 ppm. Ammonia is the primary waste product of fish and can also accumulate from decaying fish food and other organics. Accumulation of ammonia causes reddening of the fish skin and damage to the gills.

Fish suffering from high ammonia will isolate themselves, lie on the bottom. We recommend that No ammonia level be regarded as "tolerable." If you ask, "what can I do if levels are high?" Do a water change… it is wise to do weekly changes of 20-40% of the total volume in your system. But first make sure water change doesn't radically change the temperature of the system.