STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO STARTING/OPENING YOUR POND
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Pond Startup Product Checklist: 

Critical Temperatures - These are the changes that take place in your pond as the water temperatures rise.

40° No bios established. No bad elements to be concerned about.

48° Aeromonas bacteria (ulcer disease) begins to develop.

50° Danger Zone Begins… Cold-water parasite "Costia" thrives! Flukes begin to grow and reproduce (slower than in warmer temperatures). This is where the Proform C kicks in, these parasites start in while the koi immunity system is weak, coming out of a long winter, they have little energy to protect themselves. Proform C is used as a preventative and is very safe for your fish.  Use Debride Prohealth which is used before the Proform C to help calm the koi who are coming out of the long winter. 

52° Nitrobacter (the good bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites) is slowing growing. Treatment: Start using Koizyme to fight Aeromonas bacteria

60° Nitrosomonas (the good bacteria that converts nitrites to nitrates) begins to grow. Fish’s immunity system wakes up but not fully developed.

62° Other parasites (such as trichodina, chilodinella and ich) thrive!

65° Danger Zone Ends… Immunity system on fish is kicking in, still not 100%. You can now start using Beneficial bacteria likeJump Start.

74° Past the danger zone - All good bacteria "bios" are fully active, Fish immunity system is fully developed 

Step by Step Guide

CLEAN YOUR POND: Use a Pond Vacuums to clean the pond of all leaves and debris accumulated over the fall and Winter months

WATER TESTING: Before adding Ultimate Water Conditioner, do an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test using a Water Test Kit to check parameters just so you know where your water parameters are at when you start.

ULTIMATE WATER CONDITIONER: Add Ultimate Water Conditioner at the proper dosage rate for your size pond.

Ultimate adds slime coat removes metals, prepare the water (basically ages the water). This is the only thing you will need to do prior to putting the fish in. Removes & Detoxifies Chlorine, Ammonia, Copper, Heavy Metals, and Chloramines.

DOSAGE RATES: 5 fl.oz/10 gal, 1/2 fl.oz/30 gal, 1 fl.oz. 60 gal, 2 fl.oz/120 gal, 3 fl.oz/180 gal, 1 cup/480 gal.

DEBRIDE PROHEALTH: Add Debride Prohealth (At the proper dosage rate for your size pond). Debride Prohealth is a broad spectrum treatment that calms Koi & Goldfish, reduces losses, eases stress, minimizes infection and aids healing, thereby helping to protect Koi & Goldfish during illness, handling and transportation. DOSAGE RATES: 1 fl.oz/60 gal, 16 fl.oz/960 gal.

PROFORM C: 2 hrs after adding Debride Prohealth, add Proform C (At the proper dosage rate for your size pond). Proform C is the safest and most effective treatment for the control of Koi diseases caused by Ichthyophthirius (ich), Costia, Trichodina, Chilodonella, Oodinium and fungal infections. NOTE: Do not add nitrifying bacteria yet! Before Adding in Nitrifying Bacteria, wait until Proform C has run its cycle as Proform C will knock some of the bacteria. See Proform C for dosages and cycle details. 

WARNING: Do not add Salt when using Proform C.

DOSAGE RATES: The standard use-dilution of ProForm-CF is 5 mL (1 teaspoon) per 50 gallons of pond water. Prior to starting treatment with ProForm- C™ perform a large, initial water change (at least 1/3 of the pond's present volume). It may be necessary to perform such water changes at least 24 hours in advance of the adding ProForm-C™ to the pond so that suitable water conditioners may be added. A nearly complete water change, prior to the use of ProForm-C™, will often prove to be highly beneficial to the ultimate success of the treatment. Repeat treatments, as necessary, with pre-dosing water changes of 10% to 25%. Repeat at least every 24 hours until a cure is affected. Re-treatment as often as every 8 hours is possible if the fishes can be closely observed and progress of the disease careful observed. For such frequent re-treatments, the diseased fishes should be moved to an aquarium with suitable filtration. This will make the course of the treatment easily observable. For "ich", observation of the cycle of the appearance and disappearance of the white spots should dictate the course of the treatment. At those times when the spots are gone, or reduced in number, the ProForm-C™ should be re-dosed following a water change.

KOIZYME: Add Koizyme at the proper dosage for your pond. When used as directed, Koizyme will reduce the bacterial count of Aeromonas, Pseudomonas and other pathnogenetic bacteria to such low levels that they will not be a threat to the health of our fish. 

You start treating with Koizyme in the Springtime once the water temp reaches 50 to 52 degrees. If you had treated with Koizyme the previous year you would still "start over" and do the five initial treatments at full dosage rate, then go into the "Maintenance" program. You should continue the "Maintenance" program the entire season until the water temp drops back into the low 50 degree area. DOSAGE RATES: 50 to 62 degrees -- Double the label dosage of 20ml (4tsp) to 40ml (8 tsp). 63 to 68 degrees -- 1.5 X the label dosage of 20ml (4tsp) to 30ml (6 tsp). 69 and above -- normal label dosage

JUMP START BENEFICIAL BACTERIA: You want the water temperature to be a minimum of 65, if below 65 degrees, it will take longer for the water to cycle. WATER PARAMETERS: Look for an ammonia level of .5 ppm before adding Beneficial Bacteria. Once .5ppm is reached, add a beneficial bacteria like Jump Start. Jump Start is a professional formula of 50% Nitrosomonas and 50% Nitrobacter nitrifying bacteria. Jump Start is excellent for rapid "cycling" in a new bio-filter or re-starting of existing bio-filters in Spring or after use of harsh medications.

IMPORTANT: Turn off your UV when adding in Nitrifying Bacteria, the UV will kill the bacteria. 

WATER CYCLING INFO: It will take at least 1 week to start forming ammonia eating bacteria. Nitrosomonas turn ammonia to nitrite, nitrobacter converts nitrate to nitrate. Nitro Bacter will take at least 2 weeks to cycle, it is a slow process. (Nitrites) will take 10-20 days for this to cycle. After adding Jump Start, a few days later, you need to do Nitrite test. If nitrites get above 1.0, you need to add 0.1% Salt. (Nitrite is absorbed through the skin of the fish which can cause brown blood disease).  Adding salt will protect the fish during cycling of the filter. Nitrifiers don't like salt in the early stage of cycling, it’s ok once pond is established. 

When seeing nitrites, that means your producing the 2nd food which is the nitrobacter. Once seeing 3-4 days of nitrites in the water, start testing for nitrates.  If you see nitrates, that means the system is cycling. IMPORTANT: Don't mess w/ the PH level, if the level changes quickly, that is what causes problems. It doesn't hurt to check PH but don't mess with it. DOSAGE RATES:1oz./36 gal, 8 oz./288 gal, 32oz./1200 gal

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