What are biological solutions?

Biological solutions are basically cultivated bacteria and other microorganisms or enzymes to improve the ecosystem of your pond.

What? Bacteria? Won’t that make my children or me sick? No. Of course you should not directly drink the biological solutions, but there are bad bacteria and good bacteria. It is the bad bacteria that make you sick. In fact as human beings, we have bacteria inside our bodies, which help with digestion. Without these bacteria, we would have problems digesting what we eat.

The same thing applies to your koi pond, for fish there are good and bad bacteria. The good bacteria can benefit you pond and your fish in many different ways. This article will cover the biological solutions available for your koi pond and explain what each strain benefits.

Biological treatments versus chemical treatments

In the water garden/pond industry there are a whole variety of both biological and chemical solutions for your pond. Many of these solutions claim to do the same things that the biological solutions do.

What’s the difference?

Well, chemical solutions only provide a band-aid solution to the various problems that ail your pond. For example, murky water is a problem that many people with fish or koi ponds have experienced from time to time. Murky water is caused by a number of factors. The main culprit is fish waste that decays in the water and the filtration not being adequate may also contribute to murky water. There is no chemical solution that can solve that problem.

Koi Pond

There are flocculants (special chemicals), which cause the particles that make the water murky get bigger. This, however, adds another problem. When flocculants are used and particles floc together, your filters will clog faster and will need to be changed more often.

Bacteria as the savior of your Koi Pond

Here comes the role of the bacteria, which is a biological problem solver.

There are several companies that have biological solutions to deal with murky water. My personal favorites are the biological solutions out of the Microbelift line.

Whatever brand you choose, biological solutions do a far better job in making your water clear than any chemical solution would. Further more, there are biological solutions that can deal with other problems that chemicals cannot deal with.

Various problems that ail your pond and the biological solutions that solve the problems

There are various problems that can ail your pond. Some of these problems can get out of hand and turn your pond into a smelly mosquito farm if you do not pay attention to them.

Look at a wild pond. Notice that a natural pond or lake always has clear water. Have you wondered why? Well the bacteria in those wild ponds are already there and the wild plants provide the filtration.

Your koi pond may look natural but it is still man-made. These biological solutions are developed from those natural bacteria in wild ponds and lakes to improve your ponds. The various problems that ail your pond and the right biological solutions to solve these problems are listed below in greater detail.

1. Preventing Murky Water in your Koi Pond

Murky water is a problem that most people complain about. It is quite understandable to want clear water when you have over $300 worth of beautiful koi in your pond, however, the larger the fish and the more fish you have, the more waste will be produced.

Your mechanical filters can only do so much. Bacteria are the best solution to take care of this problem.

Further more, when you have a new pond, it is quite common for the water to become murky for the first month as the water cycles itself. The best bacteria that I have used to keep the water clear are Microbelift PL. This is a basic strain of bacteria that is found in wild ponds. This bacterium consumes all the particles that cause the water to be murky.

These bacteria will also colonize in your filters. Which is also good because as these bacteria colonize the filter medium, it will consume the waste particles that collect in your filter. This is a very good benefit because you do not need to change the filters as often.



Water Lili (Koi Pond Plants)

2. Preventing Muck and Sludge in your Koi Pond

Muck and sludge is that nasty smelly black stuff that collects at the bottom of your pond.

Decaying plant matter, leaf litter, fish waste, and falling pollens make muck or sludge. This especially applies to older ponds that have been around for a couple of years or more.

You normally notice the muck and the odor of the muck in the spring as you get the pond clean and ready for the summer. The best solution for muck or sludge is a product called Sludge Away. This is also part of the Microbelift line. This strain of bacteria is a strong bacterium that consumes a lot of oxygen, so use it only in early spring or late in the fall.

This bacterium has a rancid odor when you open the jar, but it does clean your pond up very fast. The solution that holds this bacterium is very black and when you add it to your pond, it will turn your water black for a couple of days. It will clear up and your water will return to its normal color after a while. This is a great cleaner.

3. Take care of Leaf Litter and Dead Plant Materials in your Koi Pond

It is a struggle to manually remove leaf litter from your pond, especially if you live in the Midwest with continental deciduous trees. Fall can be a nightmare for your pond in that region.

It is always good to net freshly fallen leaves out of your pond in the fall as they come down, but some will still stay and over the winter leaves from other properties can also blow over into your pond.

Microbelift provides a whole line of solutions with bacteria and enzymes that decompose the leaves. The enzymes are a powder in a water-soluble packet. These enzymes are very easy to dispense. Just take a water-soluble packet and throw it into the pond.



Koi Fish

I have noticed that in the spring using a combination of the Microbelift Sludge Away and the enzyme packets, also manufactured by Microbelift work best in getting the leaf litter and muck simultaneously. I usually start the treatments in late March or early April, when the weather starts to get warmer. I let the bacteria and enzymes do their work and by Memorial Day I have a clean pond.

Sludge Away is a fast-acting bacterium that can clean up the muck in your pond in a couple of months.

4. Preventing Mosquitoes in your Koi Pond

In the summer, mosquitoes are always a major problem around ponds.

There are many chemical solutions available to make your pond mosquito free, but does it do any harm the fish too? No body is sure about any long-term adverse consequence of using these chemicals.

A much safer and more effective approach to the mosquito problem is Microbelift Biological Mosquito Control. Mosquitoes are also a problem because of the diseases they can spread. This biological solution is a strain of a bacillus variety of bacterium that will attack the mosquito larvae. This bacterium is safe for your fish, pets and you.



Water Iris (Koi Pond Plant)

The best part is that it will cause the larvae to bleed internally and not fully develop into full fledged mosquito. This bacterium is also very strong, so use only 5 ml per 1000 gallons of pond water.

5. Biological solutions for your Koi Pond for the autumn season

In autumn, when it starts getting colder, you will notice your fish start to become more lethargic and hug the bottom of your pond.

You will also notice the leaves will start to fall — especially into your pond (Oh no…). Leaves can be a serious problem for your pond, especially in the spring when they congregate around the filter box and impair water flow as you turn on your pumps for the first time.

Netting out your leaves on a regular basis in the fall is very necessary; to keep the leaves from choking your pond, but a good windstorm can choke your pond with leaves within hours. Netting your leaves should be done at least two or three times a day during the peak times when the most leaves falling.

However, Microbelift has a product called “Fall/Winter Prep.” This is a combination of a special strain of PL bacteria that can handle near freezing temperatures along with the water-soluble enzyme packets.

The bacteria will help decay leaves that have already been moistened and the enzymes will break down the celluloid material that makes up the leaf matter. This will help keep the leaf litter under control during the winter months.

Do not treat your pond with biological solutions in the dead of winter. The freezing temperatures will kill the bacteria.

More information on Microbelift biological solutions can be found at www.microbelift.com. This website shows the availability of all the biological solutions available. You can look at PondCare products by looking up www.pondcare.com.

Biological solutions are the best for your pond, simply because it is natural. Bacteria appear naturally and are the best addition to your pond’s echo system.

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