koi health, My koi

PP-ing the lower pond

Posted by lorivertin on

PP – potassium permanganate — Everyone seems to be at ease working with this stuff, but I think it’s kind of scary. Here’s our little adventure…

6:15 pm – feeding and checking on the koi, one of the kohakus has two white spots. I decided to bowl the koi and check it out.
Yuck – what is this? Doesn’t look like ick or koi pox… Pond builder comes home and says ‘text the experts’… Our friend Matt responds immediately with “cool water fungus…PP the koi or alternatively treat the pond since others may start sporting those spots.”

It makes more sense to PP the entire pond since I don’t want to be catching and dipping koi over the next few days. Our consultant asks “Do you know the formula?” Well of course we don’t because I avoid using the stuff. He kindly does all the math for our 5000 gallon pond and it comes out to 73 grams of PP, treat for 5 hours, neutralize with 16 oz of peroxide tonight and 16 oz tomorrow. He did mention sodium thiosulfate of which there is at least 50 pounds of that stuff at the pond builder’s plant, but that’s not helping us tonight.

The pond builder perused through the files of a Facebook group Koi Keepers of North America and it looks like we’re going to be treating at the 4PPM level.

Step 1 – make sure you are wearing old clothes or purple clothes and gloves just in case some of the PP gets on you accidentally.
Step 2 – measure carefully using a gram scale
Step 3 – have the pond builder add the PP to the pond minimizing the chances that you or your clothes will turn purple. Make sure he has turned off the filtration system.
Step 4 – monitor fish and neutralize after 5 hours
The water turns quite purple and the koi seem to be very active but do not look uncomfortable.
good water color for a Vikings fan
9:00 pm – koi are all doing well, swimming around closer to the top of the pond
the water will eventually turn brown like the bubble on top
The pond builder decided to add a little more aeration since plenty of oxygen is important when you are using PP
10:00 pm — in two more hours we can start neutralizing with regular drugstore peroxide
5 hours after we started, it’s midnight and the koi look tired swimming around
the pond builder added 16 oz of peroxide, waited 15 minutes to add another 16 oz of peroxide and turned on the filtration system
The koi look a little tired but everyone appears to have made it through the PP treatment.