Koi, Goldfish & Pond Health Crowding - How Many Koi or Goldfish For the Pond or WaterGarden?

Koi, Goldfish & Pond Health In Twenty Steps

Koi, Goldfish & Pond Health In 20 Steps
Ulcer Treatments
Parasite Treatments & Cures
Koi Water Quality
Koi Quarantine & Health
Medications

Read These In Order:

The Twenty Steps:

Step One

Step Two

IMPORTANT Links

-More Links-

Medications - Koi & Goldfish Disease Remedies & Treatments - To your door overnight. Usage guides by Dr. Erik Johnson.

Koi Health & Disease Text Book - Fish Disease Treatments Simplified but leaving nothing out! 160 pages, satisfaction guaranteed.

Koivet Koi & Goldfish, Pond & Water Garden Forum or Message Board - Message with some of the best hobbyists and experts in the industry.

Chat about Koi & Goldfish Ponds and Water Features. Top of the hour, especially 9AM and 9PM EST

Koi & Goldfish Diseases Symptoms Chart - KoiCrisis.com

Other Links

Step Nine

Assess Pond Space

This should probably be moved to Step One, because it's certainly the leading cause of illness in Koi. The detriment of overcrowding is a direct function of necessarily-high feeding rates, always-present under filtration, too infrequent water changes, and then the resultant buildup of noxious compounds including nitrogen, fish solid waste, and Carbon Dioxide as a result of overcrowding. Ponds should NEVER contain more than one inch of fish per ten gallons of water. In fact, if I were advising someone on how to "have an almost effortless pond experience", I would recommend 1/2 inch of fish per ten gallons of water, as a MAXIMUM stocking density. Of course, we know from research done at Auburn University that fish can live in water at a rate of several pounds of fish per single gallon. But these conditions are highly micromanaged and difficult to sustain, to put it mildly. In practice, it is VERY common to encounter ponds crowded with two or even three inches of fish per ten gallons of water, and the fish are "okay." However the density and ecological strain of this loading make these ponds into fragile "card houses" you could not leave alone on vacation. The pH tends to sag, the fish tend to grow more slowly and disease is a much more common occurrence. Johnson's Law: You will not salvage sick fish that are overcrowded. Invariably, Mother Nature will pick of your favorite fish to achieve her ideal stocking density based on the system the fish are in, and then the remainder will recover as if by magical intervention.

So "spread 'em out" and accomplish a reduction in crowing before Mother Nature handles this crucial step for you.

Go To Step Ten

Supplemental Reading:

Crowding - How Many Koi or Goldfish For the Pond or WaterGarden? - Article by Dr. Erik Johnson with formulas.

Keywords: Crowding - How Many Koi or Goldfish For the Pond or WaterGarden? Crowding formula stocking densities populating aquaculture ponds fish farming stocking ornamental ponds

Koivet.com
Koivet is a venerable, long lived koi and pond fish health site started by Dr Erik Johnson in 1994 as an off shoot of his first few websites at Mindspring.com. Now Koivet is full of information and movies and more.

Koi Beginner
Once you've leapfrogged through this tutorial you will have a solid, working concept of the Koi hobby and what it's all about. This is done just about exclusively with video and very little written material.

DrJohnson.com
More than koi health, this site spans all things animal, by a real veterinarian who shoots you straight.

Fishdoc.co.uk
By Frank Prince-Iles. A UK authority who put this site together some time ago and which is still relied upon as a major source of good Koi and pond fish information

Fish Medicines
Learn about fish medicines, what they do, and where to get them.

PondCrisis.com
If you have a koi, pond or fish problem, this site takes you through twenty easy questions and at the end you know what you need to fix in your pond to create restored Koi health.

KoiCrisis.com
Koi Crisis has a symptoms chart by system you can choose the symptom by fish part, and resolve a lot of Koi pond fish problems or at least, learn about them understand how to remedy them.

Buying Domestic Koi
What does "Domestic" koi mean? Why would you buy that kind? How do you pick good and healthy ones? Who sells them and where do you find the best ones?

Buying Imported Koi
A Japanese or Israeli imported Koi is a beautiful thing. Why would you buy one of those? How do you identify a "good one"? And what kinds are there? Who would you buy one from?

Koi Filtration - Bead
With a little bit of management every week or so, you can have gin clear water in your koi or fish pond. Bead filtration is more than ten years old and defines the state of the art in Koi and pond fish ponds.

Koi Filtration - Natural
Requiring no weekly management but one big yearly overhaul, natural filtration is the easiest there is. Relying on live plants and organic processes, water quality is usually superb. Described and common mistakes illustrated, visit this site!

Koi Food & Feeding
What should you feed your koi? How many times per day? Is Corn really that bad in a Koi diet? What are the most common feeding mistakes people make? What's the best food?

Koi and Pond Hard Goods
So many places these days, are pure ripoffs. Finding a reputable dealer of koi and pond hard goods isn't as easy as you would think but there's ways to tell. The product line should be to-the-point and not contain shams. Who's doing it right? Visit this site!

Finding Reputable Dealers
The fish are only as good as the dealer holding them. Quarantines, guarantees and fish quality all factor in. What to ask, what to see and how to handle your new fish.

Books on Koi Diseases
You will be introduced to Dr Johnson's Koi Health book but also to other books he's reviewed.

Help With Koi Problems
Koi Community rates a variety of forums and message boards on ease of use, friendliness and quality of help. Not all boards are created equal. Not mincing words here.

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