how do i eliminate the nitrite in my pond ?

Question

we built a pond approx 5 weeks ago, gradually getting new fish, now we have 3 gold fish, 3 shabunkins and 4 malasian koi. weve been feeding them on nishikoi, a general fish food. the water was a bit murky so we did water tests, the ph is fine, the amonia is a bit below normal but the nitrite is at a dangerous level. weve done the water changes and stopped feeding them ( 3 days now ) and its still really high, can anyone help ??????

Answer 1

Chemical treatment will probably fix it for now, live plants and better filtration are probably needed

Answer 2

Nitrite in a pond is a normal part of the waste disposal of the crap your fish produce it goes from amonia to nitrite to nitrate
to reduce it
set up a filter system with a good flow you need to turn over the water in your pond at least once every 2 hours

aerate well this can be by the water retuning to the pond from the filter on by using an air pump and air stone this causes the nitrite to be removed into the atmosphere

the next stage of conversion is from nitrite to nitrate to remove this run your pond water through a vegetable filter or have plants in the pond
for more information contact me with your email address or get good book on koi don't add any more fish until you have resolved this problem only feed what your fish will eat in a couple of minutes

Answer 3

A balance of floating plants, and potted plants should provide 60%-70% surface coverage. No more than 75% of the surface should be covered because this will interfere with proper oxygen and gas exchange in the water. Floating plants (plants that are not potted) will use nitrate (fertilizer) from the pond that would otherwise feed algae. Floating leaved potted plants will help shade the water which will help starve out algae.

Taken from the link below. Good luck with your new fishies.

Here's some info on doing it yourself. I have no idea with Pond salt is but check with your local home depot or something?

http://watergarden.com/catalog/pond_treatment/pond-salt.php

Answer 4

This is what you do in my painless, step-by-step giude to domestic reconstruction!

(1) Take all the fish out and relocate them to an uber-fantastic aquairium in you're house.

(2) Place 3 1 pound charges of pure semtex in the pond in a strategic triangle formation.

(3) Detonate the charges while drinking a sangria, wearing a sombrero and screaming 'andalay,andalay!' at high pitch.

It will be fun, honest!

Answer 5

you need to set up a reverse osmosis filter on the pond, we have 9 koi and 14 HUGE goldfish with a regular filter pumping out a waterfall and another Reverse osmosis filter which pumps out into a different waterfall. (small, small waterfalls mind you)

Answer 6

You are using a filter aren't you? Cos there's no way you can keep the pond healthy without a decent filter

Answer 7

Have you tried Plocher?

They do a really good set of products for fish. Take a look at their website.

Answer 8

if you've done the water changes, add some salt....then add bacto-N to make your filters mature... don't go adding more fish until everything stabilises. good luck..

Answer 9

I agree with william710902 answer