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Using Potassium
Permanganate to treat koi ponds, water gardens |
Warning! |
Using potassium permanganate can and does kill fish. Trust me, I have killed
many fish in my early ponding years by not fully understanding just how
Potassium Permanganate works.
It is very important that you read through
the following and understand exactly what you are doing and why you are doing
it.
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A much better
over all solution to a dirty pond, is
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| a bigger filter |
regular water changes |
less fish |
| siphoning
off the bottom
or vacuuming at least
every week or so. |
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| But if You Must You Must .
. . |
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If you follow these directions to the "letter" you
will not have any problems. DO NOT INCREASE THE DOSAGE FOR ANY REASON!!
The following treatment will kill algae and dissolve organic
matter (uneaten fish food, leaves, mulm etc). It is safe to use with pond plants
and fish, so do not remove these from the pond
Plan to do this treatment while you can stay right by the pond the entire
time. Should the fish start "gasping" at the surface, immediately add
hydrogen peroxide. If you walk away and the fish get in trouble you may come
back and find that they are all dead. I am very serious about this!! You MUST
watch the fish at all times!!! The fish will begin to move close to the surface
as the treatment progresses, and that is ok. They may occasionally come up to
the surface for air, and that is ok too.
I am talking about all of the fish gasping hard at the surface. If this
happens immediately add the hydrogen peroxide.
Add potassium permanganate at the rate of one TEAspoon per 1,000 gallons.
MEASURE VERY CAREFULLY. Do not get this in your eyes, or on your skin. Stand
down wind so there is no chance that you will breathe in the dust from it.
Potassium Permanganate is a very strong oxidizer. I'll give you a couple of
hints in addition here:
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The Water Needs to Stay an Honest Pink for 8-10 Hours. |
If you have any
question about color, fill a white five gallon bucket of water with pond water
and stare at it in full sunlight. Still can't tell if its pink? Add five drops
of Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) There should be a *radical* color change. No color
change? Then the water isn't really pink and you need to add more potassium
permanganate. Ponds which have a high load of organics can eat-up a lot of
potassium. Be warned. Your first couple of doses may only last a few minutes
before they turn yellow or brown. Keep hammering on it.
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Aerate, Aerate, Aerate! |
This is no joke. You need to have every possible bit of aeration happening
and you want to keep it happening for at least 8 hours after the PP treatment is
over. Potassium permanganate can drop the O2 content in a warm pond by quite a
bit. We don't want this to happen when your fish is already oxygen-stressed.
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Keep Hydrogen Peroxide on Hand at All Times! |
Hydrogen Peroxide instantly terminates the effects of potassium permanganate
in an emergency. If the fish start to crash, add hydrogen peroxide using 1 quart
for 5000 gallons of water. Do not overdose with the peroxide!! Measure
CAREFULLY. The treatment will grind to a halt in about 60 seconds (given good
pond circulation). H2O2 instantly decolorizes the pond after treatment so you
can check on the fish. It also adds a bit of oxygen to the water as well. If
your fish starts to crash, remove him to a separate container and add 1 cc of
hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water . He should rally in under an hour.
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Bypass the Biofilter. |
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PP will sterilize your biofilter in about 10 minutes flat if you don't bypass
it. The biofilter may experience a bit of a stumble in warm weather, but this
isn't usually a problem. If you can rig a small pump or air stone inside your
biofilter, this would be ideal.... but not critical. At this point the fish is
the primary concern. I'd like to see you accomplish the potassium permanganate treatment (above)
TWICE over the course of a week. Ideally, you'll wait 2 days between doses.
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As the Algae Dies, the Water Will Turn Crystal Clear. |
This should happen over
the course of 8 to 10 hours. The dead algae will drop to the bottom of the pond.
You need to siphon this "stuff" off the bottom of the pond a sludge
remover to the pond to help it break down of your pump is not big enough to
remove it to your filter. If your pump and filter is big enough to remove the
dead organics, make sure you clean your filter every few hours
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