Water Treatment for Koi

Koi Carp magazine has recently printed a few articles about a new product called Aqualibrium. It's been described as a revolutionary water treatment for koi or any other type of fish pond. Not to be confused with Interpets' Aqualibrium salt which is used as a tonic and ph buffer, this Aqualibrium was developed by a company in holland that worked together with the Indian government to purify waterways often poluted by industry. They have had great success with freshwater shrimp and so they are now targetting the lucritive koi market. It's made from 100% plant extracts that apparently activates microbes in the water to produce a balanced reaction of carbon and hydrogen ions to infuse the water with oxygen. It retails at £49.95 for a litre bottle which isn't cheap but the dosing rate of 5ml per 1000 litres every week, it should last the summer for the average pond. So far it's only available online from www.aqualibrium.eu .

These are very grand claims and I believe that this product will work very well to clear green water and blanket weed but any other benefits to a healthy koi pond are probably limited. I don't want to be too critical until I try it for myself but I don't think it's some kind of silver bullet that many koi keepers may be led to believe. After all barley straw and its extract has been around now for a while and has been proven to be very effective. When barley straw was first suggested it seemed too good to be true, which may be the same with Aqualibrium but the ingredients look very similar and so I would expect similar results. Natural pond remedies seem to the latest thing but care should still be taken not to overdose or mix them. I thought it was quite amusing that the person who wrote the April star letter in Koi Carp magazine and was testing it on his own koi pond, was given a packet of Nishikoi Blanc-Kit Excel Koi for his efforts.