Today is September 11, 2010.
Yesterday I treated our pond to remove algae on the
rocks in the waterfalls and streambed. While this
does work on algae on rocks, PP or potassium
permanganate is more often used for the removal of DOC
(dissolved organic compounds). DOC is fish feces,
uneaten fish food, plant particles: organics that build
up in a pond and causes foam on the water. DOC is
not to be confused with foam on the water from spawning.
Before you dash me off to email me, PP will NOT kill
green water algae! Trust me on this, I have tried it
many times over many years. And I am well versed
in treating ponds with Potassium Permanganate. You
do need to read and fully understand its use and think
long and hard about it using it. PP can and
will kill fish!
Read more
here
A little off topic..
In a spawn the water will have a very distinct fish
odor. This is usually just after you fish chasing
one another and bumping going on. During a spawn the
males chase the females and bump up against the females
and cause her to release her eggs. Then the males
release milt (sperm) in the water. Koi do not get
pregnant. A female with eggs is called gravid, not
pregnant!
Female koi will get their eggs in the winter. I
am not talking about goldfish and goldfish types, they
are a "horse of a different color". You can
generally see her bulging abdomen during the winter
months.
While I was doing the PP, I had the idea to do
a tour via videos. I hope you enjoy my tour!
You may want to adjust your volume on your speakers
because the volume seems loud to me. I have written text
below for each video so that if you do not understand
what I am saying. Sorry about the wind you can hear in
the video.
My middle pond, the dark foam on the water from the PP
treatment. Then I move to the lower pond
At the lower pond,
tea stain colored water. Meet Thor, my 36 inch male. Meet
Sunny my 26 year old butterfly. Sparkle Plenty is Sunny
and Lucky's daughter. She is the mother of all my yellow
butterfly koi I sell. Cali the Ki Utsuri, a yellow and black standard
fin. Zorro has the longest fins of any butterfly koi I
have ever seen. Utsee, a Shiro Utsuri, Rich's koi.
Still at the lower pond. Meet Cleo who I bought as a
female and turned out to be male. She is a leather, has no
scales and feels like fine leather. Patches, who I could not
think of the name, was a leather Hi Utsuri, turned Hi Shiro.
Darter a Kujaku. Her name came from the way she darted
around the pond when we first got her.
My plant shelf, 2 rows of banana trees. October Sunset maples
were 3' tall just 10 years ago! Filter box that hides the
2.5 horse pump and the bubble feed filter.
Pink flowers are
Mandevilla. Dutchman's Pipe. Behind is Burning Bush and
Wisteria. My "banana lane" Gardenia plant, I
actually have 2 of them. View of the plant shelf in the pond
from the back side of the lower pond.
Stock tank to remove floaties from the pond. Asparagus
Fern, 2 Bougainvillea pots. Bird of paradise I have had
for many years, it is divided every few years, Variegated
Scheffelera, Glory
Bush. Back up at the middle pond.
Streambed plants: Rose Hibiscus, Black Magic Taro, Red Bog
Lily, other side of the bridge Imperial Taro. Steppable
plants in the path. Upper pond, Blushing Bride hardy
lily (and the color in the video does not do this lily justice!)
Almost Black is the faded hardy lily.
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