The Zen of Stability and Other Koi Pond Pursuits

People love the word pristine. The idea that something is clean and unspoiled offers purity in a messy world. But that really isn’t something you can apply to a healthy and vibrant koi pond. By its nature, a koi pond has to have some warts, or at least have had some to become a vital, functioning pond.

For a koi pond to be an environment where koi are hale and hearty, plants grow and algae blooms don’t happen, the water in it has had to have gone through a stabilizing process. Bacteria has to be introduced. Balances upset and recalibrated, upset and recalibrated until you can add fish. Then the quest for balance starts again.

Koi ponds cannot exist in a silo (although building one inside of a silo would be a cool idea!). There are so many internal and external factors that influence a pond’s stability. Rainwater, runoff, leaves, overfeeding. Some things owners will have control over, some they will not.

There has to be synergy between all of the facets that come together as a natural cycle to create water quality that does more than just sustain life, but promotes growth and wellbeing. And keeping it there requires that those core components exist in harmony.

Paralyzing Parameters

This harmony can take time, too. Natural processes happen over a period of time when it comes to seasoning a koi pond. The readings may not always be within “acceptable” parameters as the process happens, even in an established pond.

It can’t be stated often enough, so it should be stated again—clear water does NOT mean clean water. Or more importantly HEALTHY water. Koi keepers are driven by water quality, as is denoted by tests and parameters. But water health isn’t always denoted by parameters.

There is a living and dynamic ebb and flow in a pond. To hyperfocus on one aspect or reading in an attempt to get it “up to snuff” can mean that something else will then be thrown out of whack as a result. Similarly, when fixing one thing quickly usually means that something else in the cycle will struggle all for the sake of staying within parameters.

Responding to parameters in a panicked fashion can disrupt the conditioning process and end up doing more harm in the long term while looking for a short-term solution.

Balancing Act

Koi keepers will lose fish. Sometimes their favorites. It is all part of learning how to balance a pond and why the idea of pristine doesn’t work in a pond. Because it is always a balancing act that requires vigilance and patience as well as an understanding that it won’t always be perfect.

Healthy water is not a binary thing. As much as koi kichis want water conditions to be either one thing or another when looking for a ready answer to creating balance, the reality is that it isn’t that neat, tidy or simple. The truth is that it is somewhere in the middle.

Finding balance and stability doesn’t keep regular office hours or have a set schedule either. And it is very rarely on the pondkeeper’s timetable. Unless the pondkeeper has set up systems and responses that are historically successful in his/her pond.

A Unique Body of Water

And herein lies the rub. Each pond is its unique universe. There are generally accepted guidelines and practices that address general imbalances and issues that arise, but it is the trial and error that each koi owner undergoes with their own pond that ultimately helps them to determine what is the right course for stability and thereby healthy water conditions.

We recently talked about bubble koi and how one system, no matter how out of “normal” parameter it is, can continue to thrive as a result of the inhabitants and the other contributing components having become accustomed to one another.

Which is why being aware of what it is that makes your pond function as a balanced and healthy entity is important. This requires an understanding how any changes will potentially shift that balance. Things like adding koi (both as a stocking and “critter” concern), changing food types or brands, putting in plants or water additives all play a role in changing the balance.

A koi keeper has more chance of curing the common cold than eradicating all the potentially harmful aspects of pond water. And in fact, some of them are vital in the health of their koi. Bacteria—like aeromonas—is everywhere, living symbiotically until such time as the balance is upset and then they become an issue. A stable environment is a stress free environment, wherein biology has a chance to work together to the benefit of all.

The thriving koi pond is not about quick fixes or radical shifts from one extreme to the other. It is about management of fluctuations in a measured and repeatable fashion. Large and quick swings in chemistry and parameters results in stress on the closed environment as well as the fish—and both will suffer as a result.

This may all sound like a “one hand clapping” exercise, but it is all part of a pond keeper’s pursuit of zen. It is a journey.

On your next job application, add Koi Keeper. Your potential future employer will know immediately that you aren’t deterred by hard work or set backs and that you can handle anything life throws at you. Because you will have a lot thrown at you until you find that balance which gives your pond and it’s water the stability.