In a word, yes. Koi Fish are a bit messy by nature, and that is why it is crucial that their tank or pond is clean.
Starting The Koi Hobby: A Step By Step Guide…
Unlike a river and stream that is continuously replenished with fresh water, a tank or a pond is a closed system. So, the water is unlikely to move much until it is moved by an external force entering the pond or tank.
Why are clean ponds important for Koi? Koi fish are sensitive to water changes. To keep them healthy, proper filtration is critical; otherwise, Koi Fish or any other fish for that matter can quickly get sick or can grow slower. Therefore, keeping a good filter for the Koi fishpond is essential.
Why are Filters Important for Tanks and Ponds?
The reason is that not using filters can cause unbalanced pH, excessive waste, and other impurities in water that is awfully bad for koi fish health. Filters are necessary for the breakdown of harsh materials present in water that are not good for Koi fish and filtering out free-swimming debris from pond water.
“The easiest and most efficient way to remove all contaminants from the pond is to use different filters and making partial water changes gradually.
• Poor Water Quality
70% of koi health problems are actually due to low water quality in the pond. Poor water quality is the number one reason for a koi’s death. It determines how long your koi fish will live.
Regular water testing, proper filtration and the proper number of fishes in a pond is necessary to keep your koi fish healthy.
You must keep in mind many other things for healthy koi fish.
• Lack of Oxygen
Balance is very crucial. Balancing the right number of koi fish, plants, and artificial oxygen sources are especially important. You must plan for all the changing situations.
For example, if your pond has 4 to 6 Koi fishes, as the season progresses the koi can double in size and existing resources will not enough for them. In this case, if you are unable to provide more oxygen, the risk is high that you will lose your koi.
Want to increase oxygen in the tank? You can use HOB (hang on back) filters as they are small plus extremely easy to use. The filtered water will fall from a height so that the oxygen will equally distribute at the bottom and throughout the tank.
Some filters work with the coexistence of air pumps known as pump filters. They are merely just air passing throughout the air stone, generating bubbles and movement in the water.
It breaks the surface of the water, and in this way, the water gets more oxygenated. The water movement is also good so that all areas of the tank can get appropriately filtered.
• Fast-moving water
Other things should be considered as Koi will grow fast in the right conditions. It involves fast-moving water.
For instance, if you have a 60-gallon aquarium, purchase a filter that is rated for 55 to 80-gallons.
Can Koi Fish Survive Without a Filter?
Koi Fish can survive without a filter, but you will have a mess on your hands.
If there is no filter in your Koi pond, the pond will fill algae and dirt.
Not having the right pH in the water is also not suitable for koi; the water’s pH can be disturbed due to impurities in water caused by not using the filter.
Dirty water means that your koi are consuming all their waste back into their bodies, affecting their immune system, making them sick.
Ammonia in your Koi Pond
Poor water filtration and insufficient beneficial bacteria are the causes of ammonia in a pond; the water in the pond needs to be cycled under a filter to ensure the water quality.
Many other forces can make your pond dirty with floating debris or green water, but there are some threatening and toxic impurities such as ammonia and even nitrite levels.
Ammonia is continuously released through the koi’s gill tissue when it breathes, also from its vent when it urinates and defecates, so it cannot be avoided. But using beneficial bacteria can decrease ammonia in the pond.
Without beneficial bacteria, the ammonia will go everywhere and gradually rise to dangerous levels. New ponds often have problems when not cycling correctly, and mature pools where filter boxes are not cleaned regularly, and beneficial bacteria die.
Can Koi Fish Live in Small Ponds
A Koi Fish can live in small ponds, but there are few things that you must take care of.
Ensure your filter box and filter media are regularly cleaned and improve your filter media for the maximum amount of debris removal and beneficial bacteria populations.
If there are a lot of koi, it is especially important to use better filters. The more koi you have, the better filtration you will need to provide, and since you can never over-filter a pond, the bigger, the better.
How Long Can Koi Fish Live Without an Air Pump or Filter?
Unless the koi are really crowded or not healthy, they can survive under shallow-water conditions caused by not using filters and air pumps for more than two days, sometimes over a week or more.
Survival Without a Filter?
It depends on the type and number of koi fish, whether a pond needs a filter or not. For instance, a small number of Fish in a big pond, with lesser bio-load and particularly good air pumps, can survive without a filter in the pond.
But with higher bio-load that mostly comes from koi fish feeding and waste, the filter is the most important thing to keep the pond clean.
A pond with significantly fewer koi does not need a filter if there are plants that can act as a natural filter, bacteria supplements, proper pump systems, regular water changes, and cleaning.
What Kind of Filters are Needed?
There are three types of pond filters. These types are:
1) Mechanical Filters
They trap and remove sediments and debris.
2) Biological Filters
They breakdown pond waste using beneficial bacteria and convert the waste into less harmful compounds. These compounds can be used as aquatic plant fertilizers.
3) Water Sterilizers
They kill living microscopic particles in the water by passing the water through a tube that houses an ultraviolet bulb.
What is the Most Effective Way to Filter Water?
The most effective way to filter water is by using a sound biological filtration system with a proper mechanical filter so that solids can be removed from the water before the water enters the biological filtration unit.
By using adequate biological and mechanical filtration, the need for sterilizers is stopped altogether; hence it will ensure a natural ecosystem in the pond.
Conclusion
To conclude everything, you can take the example of yourself like you can imagine spending your entire life in a room; it is challenging to do that, right? Similarly, koi spend their entire life in a pond, and their waste is also in that pond, now you can understand how important it is to clean the pond and filter out all the impurities so that Koi can live healthily and comfortably.
Though it is not compulsory to use a filter in a pond or tank, for koi to be healthy and for its proper growth, using filters is the most important thing. Why? The reason is that not using filters can cause unbalanced pH, excessive waste, and other impurities in water that is awfully bad for koi fish health. So, for keeping Koi healthy and proper growth, using filters in the tank is a must.
