Water test:
Nitrate 5.0ppm
Ammonia 2.0ppm
Nitrite 2.0ppm
PH 7.6
High range PH 8.0


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My first mistake was rescuing eight Koi fish. Nobody needs to tell me that I have too many fish in here or that it’s too small for them, trust me, I know. They are moving into a 1700 gallon above ground pond in a few months. Currently I have a 470 gallon above ground pond. I have a spectacular filter in there, but it is obviously not enough for the amount of fish that I have in here. I also have four sponge filters constantly running with air stones. Along with some water lettuce. In total there are:

8 young koi (5” or so)
5 comet goldfish (1-2”)
3 mosquito fish (tiny)

About three days ago, I did a 60 to 70% water change because the water was just getting gross. I will say, I tend to keep my pond as clean as possible. The water is almost always clear, I use the pond vac anytime there’s excess waste on the bottom and it sucks it all up very nicely. BUT I realize that clear doesn’t mean good. I decided to also change the filter, but here’s where the mistake is… There was fish poop everywhere on it and I took it out, hosed it off with tap water and then put it back in the filter and then back in the pond. I now know that was not a good idea. I didn’t touch any of the sponge filters. All four of them are still running however I noticed that one of my goldfish started flashing today… Now, these goldfish have been a problem since the first day I got them. Two of them have had to have a few weeks in a hospital tank for parasites, both of those goldfish were added back into the pond about a week ago. I wanted to start by testing the water before I worried about parasites again and here were my results:

Nitrate 5.0ppm
Ammonia 2.0ppm
Nitrite 2.0ppm
PH 7.6
High range PH 8.0

The nitrite and ammonia are SO high! The ammonia doesn’t really surprise me, but it kind of does at this level because even with the extreme amount of fish in here, my ammonia levels almost never test high. But still, it is high nonetheless. Nitrite I don’t know anything about it. The only thing I know is that disturbing the bacteria in that biological filter is what probably caused this.

The point of my post: WHAT DO I DO? 
And: I keep prime and stability on hand at all times. What other products for high or low levels of quite literally anything should I be keeping on hand. Or I guess what are their products in general? I am new to us. These Koi or rescued from someone’s house who used to invite their friends over to go fishing out of their quiet pond…

I think I made a mistake. HELP!